Dynamics of Whale Shark Occurrence at Their Fringe Oceanic Habitat
Studies have shown that the whale shark (Rhincodon typus), a vulnerable large filter feeder, seasonally aggregates at highly productive coastal sites and that individuals can perform large, trans-boundary migrations to reach these locations. Yet, the whereabouts of the whale shark when absent from t...
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ftciteseerx:oai:CiteSeerX.psu:10.1.1.662.7774 2023-05-15T17:35:01+02:00 Dynamics of Whale Shark Occurrence at Their Fringe Oceanic Habitat Pedro Afonso Niall Mcginty Miguel Machete The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives 2014 application/pdf http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.662.7774 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4100814/pdf/pone.0102060.pdf en eng http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.662.7774 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4100814/pdf/pone.0102060.pdf Metadata may be used without restrictions as long as the oai identifier remains attached to it. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4100814/pdf/pone.0102060.pdf text 2014 ftciteseerx 2016-01-08T16:57:21Z Studies have shown that the whale shark (Rhincodon typus), a vulnerable large filter feeder, seasonally aggregates at highly productive coastal sites and that individuals can perform large, trans-boundary migrations to reach these locations. Yet, the whereabouts of the whale shark when absent from these sites and the potential oceanographic and biological drivers involved in shaping their present and future habitat use, including that located at the fringes of their suitable oceanic habitat, are largely unknown. We analysed a 16-year (1998–2013) observer dataset from the pole-and-line tuna fishery across the Azores (mid-North Atlantic) and used GAM models to investigate the spatial and temporal patterns of whale shark occurrence in relation to oceanographic features. Across this period, the whale shark became a regular summer visitor to the archipelago after a sharp increase in sighting frequency seen in 2008. We found that SST helps predicting their occurrence in the region associated to the position of the seasonal 22uC isotherm, showing that the Azores are at a thermal boundary for this species and providing an explanation for the post 2007 increase. Within the region, whale shark detections were also higher in areas of increased bathymetric slope and closer to the seamounts, coinciding with higher chl-a biomass, a behaviour most probably associated to increased feeding opportunities. They also showed a tendency to be clustered around the southernmost island of Santa Maria. This study shows that the region integrates the oceanic habitat of adult whale shark and suggests that an increase in its relative importance for the Atlantic population might be expected in Text North Atlantic Unknown Gam ENVELOPE(-57.955,-57.955,-61.923,-61.923) |
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Studies have shown that the whale shark (Rhincodon typus), a vulnerable large filter feeder, seasonally aggregates at highly productive coastal sites and that individuals can perform large, trans-boundary migrations to reach these locations. Yet, the whereabouts of the whale shark when absent from these sites and the potential oceanographic and biological drivers involved in shaping their present and future habitat use, including that located at the fringes of their suitable oceanic habitat, are largely unknown. We analysed a 16-year (1998–2013) observer dataset from the pole-and-line tuna fishery across the Azores (mid-North Atlantic) and used GAM models to investigate the spatial and temporal patterns of whale shark occurrence in relation to oceanographic features. Across this period, the whale shark became a regular summer visitor to the archipelago after a sharp increase in sighting frequency seen in 2008. We found that SST helps predicting their occurrence in the region associated to the position of the seasonal 22uC isotherm, showing that the Azores are at a thermal boundary for this species and providing an explanation for the post 2007 increase. Within the region, whale shark detections were also higher in areas of increased bathymetric slope and closer to the seamounts, coinciding with higher chl-a biomass, a behaviour most probably associated to increased feeding opportunities. They also showed a tendency to be clustered around the southernmost island of Santa Maria. This study shows that the region integrates the oceanic habitat of adult whale shark and suggests that an increase in its relative importance for the Atlantic population might be expected in |
author2 |
The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives |
format |
Text |
author |
Pedro Afonso Niall Mcginty Miguel Machete |
spellingShingle |
Pedro Afonso Niall Mcginty Miguel Machete Dynamics of Whale Shark Occurrence at Their Fringe Oceanic Habitat |
author_facet |
Pedro Afonso Niall Mcginty Miguel Machete |
author_sort |
Pedro Afonso |
title |
Dynamics of Whale Shark Occurrence at Their Fringe Oceanic Habitat |
title_short |
Dynamics of Whale Shark Occurrence at Their Fringe Oceanic Habitat |
title_full |
Dynamics of Whale Shark Occurrence at Their Fringe Oceanic Habitat |
title_fullStr |
Dynamics of Whale Shark Occurrence at Their Fringe Oceanic Habitat |
title_full_unstemmed |
Dynamics of Whale Shark Occurrence at Their Fringe Oceanic Habitat |
title_sort |
dynamics of whale shark occurrence at their fringe oceanic habitat |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.662.7774 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4100814/pdf/pone.0102060.pdf |
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ENVELOPE(-57.955,-57.955,-61.923,-61.923) |
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Gam |
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North Atlantic |
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North Atlantic |
op_source |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4100814/pdf/pone.0102060.pdf |
op_relation |
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.662.7774 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4100814/pdf/pone.0102060.pdf |
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Metadata may be used without restrictions as long as the oai identifier remains attached to it. |
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