Cargando…

Sex Differences in the Individual Behaviour of Bait-Attracted White Sharks (Carcharodon carcharias, Linnaeus, 1758) Are Linked to Different Environmental Factors in South Africa

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Feared by some and loved by others, the white shark is globally distributed and easily found in some well-known hotspots. The development of telemetry tools has contributed to the increasing knowledge of the movement ecology of these predators. Meanwhile, the cage-diving industry has...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Azevedo, Olga Mouteira, Correia, Ana Mafalda, Micarelli, Primo, Reinero, Francesca Romana, Rijllo, Giuseppe, Giglio, Gianni, Sperone, Emilio
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9774687/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36552245
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biology11121735
_version_ 1784855469043482624
author Azevedo, Olga Mouteira
Correia, Ana Mafalda
Micarelli, Primo
Reinero, Francesca Romana
Rijllo, Giuseppe
Giglio, Gianni
Sperone, Emilio
author_facet Azevedo, Olga Mouteira
Correia, Ana Mafalda
Micarelli, Primo
Reinero, Francesca Romana
Rijllo, Giuseppe
Giglio, Gianni
Sperone, Emilio
author_sort Azevedo, Olga Mouteira
collection PubMed
description SIMPLE SUMMARY: Feared by some and loved by others, the white shark is globally distributed and easily found in some well-known hotspots. The development of telemetry tools has contributed to the increasing knowledge of the movement ecology of these predators. Meanwhile, the cage-diving industry has exponentially grown in the last few years, becoming a platform of opportunity for direct contact with them. Less well understood are the processes that influence the complex activity of a white shark. Using a non-invasive approach, it was demonstrated that different abiotic factors could influence the behaviour of this species. This study brings new insights into how females and males use environmental information to manage their activity and behaviour complexity. In the context of a changing climate, it is important to understand how sharks respond to a fluctuating environment to effectively manage and mitigate human–shark interactions while supporting conservation efforts. ABSTRACT: The white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) is a charismatic species and, consequently, one of the most studied and protected sharks. This species can be found in a wide range of temperatures and depths, showing site fidelity and migrating across the oceans. This offers a challenge to understanding the processes influencing their lifecycle and, more importantly, assessing anthropogenic disturbances to their populations. These predators’ behaviour has been linked to diverse abiotic factors. Here, an ethological approach was used to understand the influence of environmental variables on white shark behaviour. A different environmental impact was found between the activity of females and males toward the bait. Females performed a higher number of behaviours under daylight, lower sea surface temperatures, short wavelets, clear and cloudy skies, under La Niña events, elevated moonlight and high tides. Males behaved with more complexity at dawn, medium sea surface temperatures, large wavelets, few clouds, high tides, and elevated moonlight. The world’s aquatic habitats are experiencing significant physiochemical shifts due to human-induced climate change. Knowledge about how white sharks respond to environmental factors is essential to guide management and conservation actions.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-9774687
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-97746872022-12-23 Sex Differences in the Individual Behaviour of Bait-Attracted White Sharks (Carcharodon carcharias, Linnaeus, 1758) Are Linked to Different Environmental Factors in South Africa Azevedo, Olga Mouteira Correia, Ana Mafalda Micarelli, Primo Reinero, Francesca Romana Rijllo, Giuseppe Giglio, Gianni Sperone, Emilio Biology (Basel) Article SIMPLE SUMMARY: Feared by some and loved by others, the white shark is globally distributed and easily found in some well-known hotspots. The development of telemetry tools has contributed to the increasing knowledge of the movement ecology of these predators. Meanwhile, the cage-diving industry has exponentially grown in the last few years, becoming a platform of opportunity for direct contact with them. Less well understood are the processes that influence the complex activity of a white shark. Using a non-invasive approach, it was demonstrated that different abiotic factors could influence the behaviour of this species. This study brings new insights into how females and males use environmental information to manage their activity and behaviour complexity. In the context of a changing climate, it is important to understand how sharks respond to a fluctuating environment to effectively manage and mitigate human–shark interactions while supporting conservation efforts. ABSTRACT: The white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) is a charismatic species and, consequently, one of the most studied and protected sharks. This species can be found in a wide range of temperatures and depths, showing site fidelity and migrating across the oceans. This offers a challenge to understanding the processes influencing their lifecycle and, more importantly, assessing anthropogenic disturbances to their populations. These predators’ behaviour has been linked to diverse abiotic factors. Here, an ethological approach was used to understand the influence of environmental variables on white shark behaviour. A different environmental impact was found between the activity of females and males toward the bait. Females performed a higher number of behaviours under daylight, lower sea surface temperatures, short wavelets, clear and cloudy skies, under La Niña events, elevated moonlight and high tides. Males behaved with more complexity at dawn, medium sea surface temperatures, large wavelets, few clouds, high tides, and elevated moonlight. The world’s aquatic habitats are experiencing significant physiochemical shifts due to human-induced climate change. Knowledge about how white sharks respond to environmental factors is essential to guide management and conservation actions. MDPI 2022-11-29 /pmc/articles/PMC9774687/ /pubmed/36552245 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biology11121735 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Azevedo, Olga Mouteira
Correia, Ana Mafalda
Micarelli, Primo
Reinero, Francesca Romana
Rijllo, Giuseppe
Giglio, Gianni
Sperone, Emilio
Sex Differences in the Individual Behaviour of Bait-Attracted White Sharks (Carcharodon carcharias, Linnaeus, 1758) Are Linked to Different Environmental Factors in South Africa
title Sex Differences in the Individual Behaviour of Bait-Attracted White Sharks (Carcharodon carcharias, Linnaeus, 1758) Are Linked to Different Environmental Factors in South Africa
title_full Sex Differences in the Individual Behaviour of Bait-Attracted White Sharks (Carcharodon carcharias, Linnaeus, 1758) Are Linked to Different Environmental Factors in South Africa
title_fullStr Sex Differences in the Individual Behaviour of Bait-Attracted White Sharks (Carcharodon carcharias, Linnaeus, 1758) Are Linked to Different Environmental Factors in South Africa
title_full_unstemmed Sex Differences in the Individual Behaviour of Bait-Attracted White Sharks (Carcharodon carcharias, Linnaeus, 1758) Are Linked to Different Environmental Factors in South Africa
title_short Sex Differences in the Individual Behaviour of Bait-Attracted White Sharks (Carcharodon carcharias, Linnaeus, 1758) Are Linked to Different Environmental Factors in South Africa
title_sort sex differences in the individual behaviour of bait-attracted white sharks (carcharodon carcharias, linnaeus, 1758) are linked to different environmental factors in south africa
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9774687/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36552245
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biology11121735
work_keys_str_mv AT azevedoolgamouteira sexdifferencesintheindividualbehaviourofbaitattractedwhitesharkscarcharodoncarchariaslinnaeus1758arelinkedtodifferentenvironmentalfactorsinsouthafrica
AT correiaanamafalda sexdifferencesintheindividualbehaviourofbaitattractedwhitesharkscarcharodoncarchariaslinnaeus1758arelinkedtodifferentenvironmentalfactorsinsouthafrica
AT micarelliprimo sexdifferencesintheindividualbehaviourofbaitattractedwhitesharkscarcharodoncarchariaslinnaeus1758arelinkedtodifferentenvironmentalfactorsinsouthafrica
AT reinerofrancescaromana sexdifferencesintheindividualbehaviourofbaitattractedwhitesharkscarcharodoncarchariaslinnaeus1758arelinkedtodifferentenvironmentalfactorsinsouthafrica
AT rijllogiuseppe sexdifferencesintheindividualbehaviourofbaitattractedwhitesharkscarcharodoncarchariaslinnaeus1758arelinkedtodifferentenvironmentalfactorsinsouthafrica
AT gigliogianni sexdifferencesintheindividualbehaviourofbaitattractedwhitesharkscarcharodoncarchariaslinnaeus1758arelinkedtodifferentenvironmentalfactorsinsouthafrica
AT speroneemilio sexdifferencesintheindividualbehaviourofbaitattractedwhitesharkscarcharodoncarchariaslinnaeus1758arelinkedtodifferentenvironmentalfactorsinsouthafrica