Under global climate change, storm events are predicted to increase in strength and frequency. Although aquatic animals can be affected by acute natural disturbances, information on the immediate consequences of these weather systems on the behavioral ecology of highly mobile aquatic predators remains limited. Here we examine the spatial distributions, activity spaces, and ecological change-points of four large shark species (mean: 193 cm fork length ± 70 SD) via passive acoustic telemetry in two different locations in the subtropical Atlantic (Little Bahama Bank, Bahamas, and Biscayne Bay, Florida, USA) in relation to two separate major hurricane events (category 4 and 5). We tested whether sharks would evacuate shallow coastal habitats (and thus exit the acoustic arrays) during the hurricanes and exhibit comparable size of activity spaces pre- and post-storms, as has been previously found for smaller (50–150 cm fork length) sharks elsewhere. Located on the northwest edge of the Little Bahama Bank, Bahamas, an acoustic array consisting of 32 acoustic telemetry receivers tracking tiger sharks Galeocerdo cuvier sustained a direct hit from Hurricane Matthew in 2016. Daily detections of tagged tiger sharks within the array were consistent before and during the hurricane. Immediately following the storm, daily tiger shark detections approximately doubled. Size and extent of tiger shark activity space within the array were consistent pre- and post-storm. Located off Miami, within Biscayne Bay, an array of 32 acoustic receivers tracking bull Carcharhinus leucas, nurse Ginglymostoma cirratum, and great hammerhead sharks Sphyrna mokarran was exposed to tropical-storm-force winds from Hurricane Irma in 2017. As the eye of the storm passed 140 km to the west, most sharks previously present in the array were no longer detected, while two nurse sharks remained at receivers near Miami. Numbers of tagged bull sharks declined following Hurricane Irma, whereas other species did not. Ecological change point analyses indicated that seasonal changes - rather than storm conditions - cannot be ruled out as the primary driver of post-storm shark behavior. Unlike smaller shark species which have previously been found to evacuate shallow water habitats during storms, we found variable responses of large sharks to storm events.

在全球气候变化下，预计风暴事件的强度和频率将增加。尽管水生动物可能受到急性自然干扰的影响，但有关这些天气系统对高度活动的水生捕食者行为生态的直接后果的信息仍然有限。在这里，我们通过被动声遥测技术在亚热带大西洋的两个不同位置（Little Bahama Bank，巴哈马，和美国佛罗里达州比斯坎湾），涉及两个单独的重大飓风事件（第4类和第5类）。我们测试了鲨鱼是否会在飓风期间撤离浅海沿岸的栖息地（从而离开声学阵列），并且在暴风雨前和暴风后展示出与活动空间相当的大小，如先前发现的较小（叉长为50–150 cm的鲨鱼）别处。位于巴哈马Little Bahama Bank西北边缘的一个声阵列，由32个遥测虎鲨的声波遥测接收器组成，Galeocerdo cuvier在2016年遭受了飓风“马修”的直接袭击。在阵列中，每天对带标签的虎鲨的日常检测前后一致在飓风期间。风暴过后，每天发现的虎鲨数量几乎增加了一倍。阵列内虎鲨活动空间的大小和范围在暴风前后均保持一致。位于迈阿密附近，位于比斯坎湾内，2017年，由32个声学接收器组成的阵列跟踪着公牛白斑沙迦，护士Ginglymostoma cirratum和巨大的锤头鲨Sphyrna mokarran受到了飓风“艾尔玛”的热带风暴风的袭击。当风暴眼向西经过140公里时，大部分不再发现以前在该阵列中存在的鲨鱼，而在迈阿密附近的接收者处仍留有两只护士鲨。飓风“艾尔玛”（Irma）袭击后，标记鲨鱼的数量有所减少，而其他物种则没有。生态变化点分析表明，不能排除季节性变化而不是风暴条件是风暴后鲨鱼行为的主要驱动力。与先前发现的较小的鲨鱼种类在暴风雨期间撤离浅水生境不同，我们发现大型鲨鱼对暴风雨事件的反应不同。