JUNE 7, 2019
by Thomas
Deane, Trinity College Dublin
A team of
scientists led by experts from Trinity and a US-based NGO have just returned
from the Bahamas where they learned all about the secret lives of the region's
tiger sharks.
Cutting-edge
bio-logging devices fixed to the sharks are providing a suite of biological
information that has never been collected before, which will help the team
assess how the global climate crisis may impact these apex predators.
Tiger sharks
are classified as 'near threatened' by the International Union for the
Conservation of Nature, with commercial and artisanal fishing pressure and
infrequent (once every three years) reproduction contributing to this status.
Several countries continue to cull populations of tiger sharks given perceived
risks to human swimmers, despite some regions having seen declines in shark
abundance of ~ 75% in recent
decades.
These huge (up
to 5m in length) animals are found in tropical and sub-tropical oceans worldwide
but have always been difficult to study given their aquatic lifestyle. The
scientists involved in the current study got around this issue by using their
biologging devices on the sharks—with sensors recording video, body temperature, swimming activity
and orientation as the animals went about their normal routine.
By measuring
how temperature influences the sharks' behaviour and swimming performance, the
team will be better placed to predict how these animals will respond to future
climate change.
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