Cleguer Christophe auteur aut IRD Garrigue Claire auteur aut IRD Marsh H. auteur aut IRD text journalArticle eng text/pdf reformatted digital access Little is known about how the Vulnerable dugong Dugong dugon uses coral reef lagoons despite the importance of these habitats throughout much of its vast range. We used GPS satellite tracking systems to explore the space use of 12 dugongs at 3 locations in the coral reef lagoons of the main island of New Caledonia in the southwest Pacific: Cap Goulvain, Ouano and Nouméa. The movements of the tracked dugongs varied among individuals and all except one animal undertook large-scale movements (>15 km; mean [±SE] 37.7 ± 5.2 km) from their capture location (maximum waterway distance range: 13.8 to 72.9 km). The straight-line distances between the furthest GPS locations during each animal's tracking period ranged from 21.3 to 74.5 km. We identified areas used intensively by dugongs in all 3 study areas, some of which were areas where seagrass presence has not been verified, or where dugongs have not been observed during past aerial surveys. Dugongs spent most of their tracking time within the lagoons, with 99.4% of GPS locations found inside the barrier reef. Nonetheless, where the lagoon was narrow and confined, 3 tracked dugongs used the fore reef shelf outside the barrier reef in the open ocean to commute between bays. Our findings can inform conservation and management initiatives in New Caledonia as well as other countries within the dugong's range which have similar habitat geomorphology but where dugongs occur in numbers too low to be tracked and are considered Critically Endangered. specialized CONSERVATION DE LA NATURE MAMMIFERE MARIN LAGON RECIF CORALLIEN HABITAT DEPLACEMENT DUGONG GPS.SYSTEME DE POSITIONNEMENT GLOBAL NOUVELLE CALEDONIE PACIFIQUE 034BIOVER03 082FAUNE02 43 167-181 2020 1863-5407 https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010078724 10.3354/esr01061 1863-5407 [F B010078724] https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010078724 https://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/divers20-11/010078724.pdf IRD - Base Horizon / Pleins textes 2020-11-13 2025-02-24 fdi:010078724 fre