TY - JOUR
T1 - Physiological state predicts space use of sharks at a tourism provisioning site
AU - Rangel, Bianca S.
AU - Moreira, Renata G.
AU - Rider, Mitchell J.
AU - Sulikowski, James A.
AU - Gallagher, Austin J.
AU - Heithaus, Michael R.
AU - Cooke, Steven J.
AU - Kaufman, Les
AU - Hammerschlag, Neil
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank the Batchelor Foundation, the Disney Conservation Fund, Ocean Tracking Network, and the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo- FAPESP (grants 2014/16320-7 and 2017/25273-0, Ph.D. scholarship to B.S.R.) for funding and the Canada Foundation for Innovation for the support. We also thank Captain Jim Abernethy and the past and present crew of Jim Abernethy Scuba Adventures who provided logistical support for this research, in particular, George Hughes, Jamin Martineli, Jay Castellano, Matt Heath and Mike Black. For donating their time and expertise as well as enabling receiver deployments and data downloads, thanks to Carl Hampp, Bill Parks, Cheryl Carroll and Angela Rosenberg. This research benefited greatly from the dedicated contributions of all the University of Miami's Shark Research and Conservation Program team leaders and interns who assisted in-field expeditions as well as data organization for this project, especially Stephen Cain and Abby Tinari. We thank the International SeaKeepers Society as well as the owners, captain and crew of the yachts Fugitive, Penne Mae and Xiang for providing boats for this research. Finally, we thank Kelly Quinn for allowing us to use her illustration.
Funding Information:
We thank the Batchelor Foundation , the Disney Conservation Fund, Ocean Tracking Network, and the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo- FAPESP (grants 2014/16320-7 and 2017/25273-0, Ph.D. scholarship to B.S.R.) for funding and the Canada Foundation for Innovation for the support. We also thank Captain Jim Abernethy and the past and present crew of Jim Abernethy Scuba Adventures who provided logistical support for this research, in particular, George Hughes, Jamin Martineli, Jay Castellano, Matt Heath and Mike Black. For donating their time and expertise as well as enabling receiver deployments and data downloads, thanks to Carl Hampp, Bill Parks, Cheryl Carroll and Angela Rosenberg. This research benefited greatly from the dedicated contributions of all the University of Miami's Shark Research and Conservation Program team leaders and interns who assisted in-field expeditions as well as data organization for this project, especially Stephen Cain and Abby Tinari. We thank the International SeaKeepers Society as well as the owners, captain and crew of the yachts Fugitive, Penne Mae and Xiang for providing boats for this research. Finally, we thank Kelly Quinn for allowing us to use her illustration.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour
PY - 2022/9
Y1 - 2022/9
N2 - While a growing body of literature has shown that tourism provisioning can influence the behaviour of wildlife, how physiological state might be related to the nature and magnitude of these effects remains poorly understood. Physiological state, including reproductive and nutritional status, can have profound effects on an individual's behaviour and decision making. In the present study, we used multiple physiological markers related to reproductive (testosterone, 17β-oestradiol and progesterone), metabolic (corticosteroids) and nutritional ecology (stable isotopes and fatty acids), integrated with ultrasonography and passive acoustic telemetry to explore the possible relationship between physiological condition and space use of tiger sharks, Galeocerdo cuvier, exposed to dive tourism provisioning. Large, nongravid female tiger sharks, with higher plasma steroid levels (i.e. testosterone, 17β-oestradiol, relative corticosteroid), enriched δ15N and elevated nutritional status (in terms of fatty acids) spent proportionally more time at food provisioning sites compared to conspecifics. Testosterone levels also were positively correlated with the proportion of time spent at provisioning sites. Based on these results, we speculate that physiological condition plays a role in shaping the spatial behaviour of female tiger sharks within the context of food provisioning, whereby larger individuals, exhibiting higher testosterone levels and elevated nutritional status, show selective preferences for provisioning dive sites, where they outcompete conspecifics of relatively smaller size, lower testosterone levels and depressed nutritional state. While more studies are needed to explore whether sharks are making these decisions because of their physiological state or whether spending more time at provisioning sites results in altered physiological state, our findings highlight the importance of considering animal life stage, endocrine regulation, and nutritional condition when evaluating the biological impacts of provisioning tourism.
AB - While a growing body of literature has shown that tourism provisioning can influence the behaviour of wildlife, how physiological state might be related to the nature and magnitude of these effects remains poorly understood. Physiological state, including reproductive and nutritional status, can have profound effects on an individual's behaviour and decision making. In the present study, we used multiple physiological markers related to reproductive (testosterone, 17β-oestradiol and progesterone), metabolic (corticosteroids) and nutritional ecology (stable isotopes and fatty acids), integrated with ultrasonography and passive acoustic telemetry to explore the possible relationship between physiological condition and space use of tiger sharks, Galeocerdo cuvier, exposed to dive tourism provisioning. Large, nongravid female tiger sharks, with higher plasma steroid levels (i.e. testosterone, 17β-oestradiol, relative corticosteroid), enriched δ15N and elevated nutritional status (in terms of fatty acids) spent proportionally more time at food provisioning sites compared to conspecifics. Testosterone levels also were positively correlated with the proportion of time spent at provisioning sites. Based on these results, we speculate that physiological condition plays a role in shaping the spatial behaviour of female tiger sharks within the context of food provisioning, whereby larger individuals, exhibiting higher testosterone levels and elevated nutritional status, show selective preferences for provisioning dive sites, where they outcompete conspecifics of relatively smaller size, lower testosterone levels and depressed nutritional state. While more studies are needed to explore whether sharks are making these decisions because of their physiological state or whether spending more time at provisioning sites results in altered physiological state, our findings highlight the importance of considering animal life stage, endocrine regulation, and nutritional condition when evaluating the biological impacts of provisioning tourism.
KW - Galeocerdo cuvier
KW - ecotourism
KW - fatty acid
KW - stable isotope
KW - steroid hormone
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85136758527&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85136758527&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.07.004
DO - 10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.07.004
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85136758527
SN - 0003-3472
VL - 191
SP - 149
EP - 163
JO - Animal Behaviour
JF - Animal Behaviour
ER -