4.7 Article

Comprehensive analytical approaches reveal species-specific search strategies in sympatric apex predatory sharks

期刊

ECOGRAPHY
卷 44, 期 10, 页码 1544-1556

出版社

WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/ecog.05953

关键词

Atlantic Ocean; Carcharhinus leucas; Galeocerdo cuvier; movement ecology; satellite tracking; Sphyrna mokarran; statistical physics

资金

  1. Australian Government RTP scholarship at UWA
  2. Juan de la Cierva-formacion program (Subprograma Estatal de Formacion en I+D+i, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion, Spain)
  3. 2020 Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation
  4. Australian Research Council Discovery Project [DP210103091]
  5. Ministry of Science and Innovation (Spain)
  6. FEDER through project SPASIMM (AEI/FEDER, UE) [FIS2016-80067-P]
  7. Batchelor Foundation
  8. Disney Conservation Fund
  9. Wells Fargo
  10. Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation
  11. West Coast Inland Navigation District

向作者/读者索取更多资源

This study analyzed satellite tracking data from three co-occurring apex predators to identify high interspecific variability in shark movement patterns and search strategies. Tiger sharks displayed near-random movements, great hammerheads showed a mixed-movement strategy, and bull sharks followed a resident movement strategy. The species-specific search strategies identified here may help foster the co-existence of these sympatric apex predators.
Animals follow specific movement patterns and search strategies to maximize encounters with essential resources (e.g. prey, favourable habitat) while minimizing exposures to suboptimal conditions (e.g. competitors, predators). While describing spatiotemporal patterns in animal movement from tracking data is common, understanding the associated search strategies employed continues to be a key challenge in ecology. Moreover, studies in marine ecology commonly focus on singular aspects of species' movements, however using multiple analytical approaches can further enable researchers to identify ecological phenomena and resolve fundamental ecological questions relating to movement. Here, we used a set of statistical physics-based methods to analyze satellite tracking data from three co-occurring apex predators (tiger, great hammerhead and bull sharks) that predominantly inhabit productive coastal regions of the northwest Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. We analyzed data from 96 sharks and calculated a range of metrics, including each species' displacements, turning angles, dispersion, space-use and community-wide movement patterns to characterize each species' movements and identify potential search strategies. Our comprehensive approach revealed high interspecific variability in shark movement patterns and search strategies. Tiger sharks displayed near-random movements consistent with a Brownian strategy commonly associated with movements through resource-rich habitats. Great hammerheads showed a mixed-movement strategy including Brownian and resident-type movements, suggesting adaptation to widespread and localized high resource availability. Bull sharks followed a resident movement strategy with restricted movements indicating localized high resource availability. We hypothesize that the species-specific search strategies identified here may help foster the co-existence of these sympatric apex predators. Following this comprehensive approach provided novel insights into spatial ecology and assisted with identifying unique movement and search strategies. Similar future studies of animal movement will help characterize movement patterns and also enable the identification of search strategies to help elucidate the ecological drivers of movement and to understand species' responses to environmental change.

作者

我是这篇论文的作者
点击您的名字以认领此论文并将其添加到您的个人资料中。

评论

主要评分

4.7
评分不足

次要评分

新颖性
-
重要性
-
科学严谨性
-
评价这篇论文

推荐

暂无数据
暂无数据