Rapid assessment of bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) body condition: there's an app for that

Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) serve as sentinels of environmental impacts. A convenient and accurate way to get a “snapshot” of a dolphin’s health is to compare measurements to known reference intervals (RIs),... [ view full abstract ]

Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) serve as sentinels of environmental impacts. A convenient and accurate way to get a “snapshot” of a dolphin’s health is to compare measurements to known reference intervals (RIs), which are ranges of values considered normal or healthy. This technique is frequently implemented to evaluate various health parameters, but almost always conducted after a field assessment, limiting the ability to quickly diagnose problems and immediately perform more telling tests during the sampling process. Our objective was to develop a mobile application (app) for real-time evaluation of bottlenose dolphin body condition during veterinary health assessments. Using MIT App Inventor 2 software and previously published 95th percentile RIs for male and female body condition indices (i.e. mass:length, girth:length), algorithms were programmed to instantaneously determine whether a dolphin is underweight/low girth, normal weight/girth, or overweight/high girth. Furthermore, additional percentiles (i.e. 25th, 50th, 75th) were derived from historical data and coded into the app, allowing the user to further evaluate dolphins considered to be of normal weight and/or girth. Additionally, functions were coded to generate percentile graphs, providing the user with a visual interpretation of the data. Within the app framework, results are saved to a web-based information drive for additional analysis post-fieldwork. App performance was validated using simulated and historical body condition measurements, revealing 100% concordance with standard evaluation methods. Additionally, the feasibility of use during field projects was pilot tested during a capture-release health assessment in Sarasota Bay, Florida in May 2016. As marine/estuarine environments become increasingly stressed by natural and anthropogenic disturbances, we expect more frequent epidemiological field assessments to examine impacts following exposure to these stressors, suggesting that this app will significantly improve our ability to evaluate wild dolphin health immediately following natural disasters and other high-risk occurrences.