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Intra-specific variation in movement and habitat connectivity of a mobile predator revealed by acoustic telemetry and network analyses

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Abstract

Few studies have considered linkages of mobile predators across large spatial scales despite their significant and often critical role in maintaining ecosystem function and health. The bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas) is a large, widespread coastal predator capable of undertaking long-range movement, but there is still limited understanding of intra-regional differences in movement and habitat connectivity across latitudes within the same coastline. This study used acoustic telemetry data and network analyses to investigate long-range movements, residency patterns and seasonal habitat linkages of sub-adult and adult C. leucas along the east coast of Australia. Our results revealed that C. leucas tagged in Sydney Harbour were mainly present within this temperate estuary in summer and autumn; the rest of the year individuals were detected in tropical and subtropical habitats from southern and central Queensland. In contrast, the detection probability of C. leucas tagged in the Townsville Reefs (central Great Barrier Reef) peaked in spring, with a portion of the tagged population migrating south during the summer months. Differences in residency time between tagging locations were also detected, as all C. leucas tagged in Sydney Harbour were absent between June and November, but 35% of the tropical-reef tagged population remained resident year-round. Network analyses complemented these findings by revealing different seasonal habitat use between regions, thus highlighting complex seasonal-habitat linkages of C. leucas along the coast. Our findings support the hypothesis that the timing, duration, and drivers involved in the long-range movements and connectivity of sub-adult and adult C. leucas vary between latitudinal regions, most likely driven by the interaction between seasonal temperature changes, foraging and reproduction.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS), Animal Tracking Facility database—https://animaltracking.aodn.org.au/

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Acknowledgements

We thank students and staff from the Centre for Sustainable Tropical Fisheries and Aquaculture and staff from NSW Department of Primary Industries, Fisheries Research for their support. Movement data were sourced as part of the Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS)—IMOS is enabled by the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS). It is a consortium of institutions as an unincorporated joint venture, with the University of Tasmania as Lead Agent. We are grateful to J. Hazel, L. Couturier, D. Zeh, D. Bowden, CSIRO and UQ for facilitating access to the data from the receiver arrays at LOI, LEI, HI, FI, S and MB.

Funding

This project was funded by the Australian Government’s National Environmental Research Program (Tropical Ecosystems Hub Project 6.1) and NSW Department of Primary Industries. MRH was supported by a Future Fellowship (#FT100101004) from the Australian Research Council and ME was supported by the PADI Foundation, internal funding from the College of Marine and Environmental Sciences, Australian Endeavour and AIMS@JCU Scholarships. The project was conducted under research permits from NSW DPI, Fisheries (PO1/0059A-2.0), the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (G10/33754.1 and G10/33758.1) and animal ethics approvals Ref 07/08-CFC (NSW) and A1933 (QLD).

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Contributions

ME, AFS, MRH, VMP and CAS designed the study; AFS, MRH, VMP and CAS acquired the funds; ME, EJL, AFS, MRH, VMP, AJT and CAS tagged the sharks; ME and EJL analyzed the data; ME, EJL, AFS, MRH, VMP and CAS prepared the manuscript; ME, EJL, AFS, MRH, VMP and CAS reviewed and edited the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Mario Espinoza.

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The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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Espinoza, M., Lédée, E.J.I., Smoothey, A.F. et al. Intra-specific variation in movement and habitat connectivity of a mobile predator revealed by acoustic telemetry and network analyses. Mar Biol 168, 80 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-021-03886-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-021-03886-z

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