OverviewCoastal marine habitats are some of the most ecologically and socio-economically important on the planet, and over 50% of the population of the United States lives on a coastline. As a result, human-induced changes are altering the ecosystems of these habitats. A variety of flora and fauna, including sharks, that were previously associated with pristine, undisturbed habitats are now living in increasingly stressful environments. However, a large variety of marine animals are thriving in close proximity to humans, suggesting that they have adapted to new stressors, food sources, and predators.
As these human-induced processes and patterns persist, it is important to understand how the animals’ biology and physiology, behavior, and life-history has changed to allow them to survive. Urban areas can serve as laboratories for studying the ecological and evolutionary selection processes that affect threatened species. However, the ramifications of urbanization on the basic life history, health, and connectivity of coastal shark populations remains unknown.
Coastal Florida presents a variety of reef, mangrove, and estuary habitats that provide essential living and breeding grounds for a variety of fish species, and these waters contain high densities of ecologically important marine predators such as sharks. However, Florida has been identified as a global hotspot for “coastal syndromes,” areas marked by a series of synergistic stressors such as habitat fragmentation, eutrophication, exploitation of biotic resources, and water run-off. Northern Biscayne Bay has been heavily impacted by the 2.5 million people living around Miami. The port of Miami is ranked as one of the largest ports by volume in the United States and the Biscayne Bay watershed encompasses the city of Miami, the 44nd largest city by population in the United States. Consequently, the ratio of weekend recreational boating traffic within Miami-Dade County is the highest of any county in Florida. As such, northern Biscayne Bay is a highly polluted, degraded and urbanized environment. Accordingly, the overall scientific goal of our current research is to understand how coastal urbanization affects the distribution, movements, and immunological health of coastal sharks in South Florida.
Some of the major objectives of this work include:
- Determine shark distribution, habitat use and residency patterns of sharks across a gradient of habitats from highly altered/developed to relatively pristine.
- Examine shark use of a highly developed and disturbed urban water system in South Florida.
- Assess the immune status and condition of sharks in urbanized versus non urbanized areas
- Evaluate shark diet and nutrition of across a gradient of habitats from highly altered/developed to relatively pristine.
- Assess reproductive status of sharks in urbanized versus pristine areas.