Abstract

Understanding the distribution of marine species is critical for the development of conservation measures and predicting the potential impacts of global change on ecologically important species. As apex predators, sharks are at the top of a trophic cascade, influencing the control of prey populations. This top-down control makes them important indicators of climate and ecosystem changes (Hazen et al. 2019) and therefor important study species when investigating the response of species to global change. Satellite telemetry is a commonly used tool to understand the distribution of multiple coastal and pelagic species, movement patterns, and habitat use. Highly mobile shark species can traverse multiple oceans and across international boundaries, making it incredibly difficult to study their movements and implement proper conservation measures. This can lead to gaps in management as their entire habitat use or migration corridors are unknown and can shift in response to environmental changes. Additionally, their extensive geographic ranges lead them throughout multiple levels of protection and inside and outside of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), which can serve as crucial areas to mitigate negative stressors on populations. For MPAs to be effective in protecting migratory shark species, we must investigate areas of habitat use or migration corridors and the environmental drivers behind them.

PDF Preview