Spatio-Temporal Genetic Tagging of a Cosmopolitan Planktivorous Shark Provides Insight to Gene Flow, Temporal Variation and Site-Specific Re-Encounters

Authors

• Lilian Lieber, University of Aberdeen - United Kingdom; Queen's University Belfast - United Kingdom
• Graham Hall, Manx Basking Shark Watch and Manx Wildlife Trust
• Jackie Hall, Manx Basking Shark Watch and Manx Wildlife Trust
• Simon Berrow, Irish Basking Shark Study Group; Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology - Ireland
• Emmett Johnston, Irish Basking Shark Study Group; Queen's University Belfast - United Kingdom
• Chrysoula Gubili, University of Aberdeen - United Kingdom; Hellenic Agricultural Organisation
• Jane Sarginson, University of Aberdeen - United Kingdom; Manchester Metropolitan University - United Kingdom
• Malcolm Francis, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research - New Zealand
• Clinton Duffy, Department of Conservation - New Zealand
• Sabine P. Wintner, KwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board; University of KwaZulu-Natal - Durban, South Africa
• Philip D. Doherty, University of Exeter - United Kingdom
• Brendan J. Godley, University of Exeter - United Kingdom
• Lucy A. Hawkes, University of Exeter - United Kingdom
• Matthew J. Witt, University of Exeter - United Kingdom
• Suzanne M. Henderson, Scottish Natural Heritage Great Glen House
• Eleonora de Sabata, MedSharks
• Mahmood S. Shivji, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow
• Deborah A. Dawson, University of Sheffield - United Kingdom
• David W. Sims, Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom
• Catherine S. Jones, University of Aberdeen - United Kingdom
• Leslie R. Noble, University of Aberdeen - United Kingdom; Nord University - Bodø, Norway

ResearcherID

G-4080-2013

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Scientific Reports

ISSN

2045-2322

Publication Date

2-3-2020

Abstract

Migratory movements in response to seasonal resources often influence population structure and dynamics. Yet in mobile marine predators, population genetic consequences of such repetitious behaviour remain inaccessible without comprehensive sampling strategies. Temporal genetic sampling of seasonally recurring aggregations of planktivorous basking sharks, Cetorhinus maximus, in the Northeast Atlantic (NEA) affords an opportunity to resolve individual re-encounters at key sites with population connectivity and patterns of relatedness. Genetic tagging (19 microsatellites) revealed 18% of re-sampled individuals in the NEA demonstrated inter/multi-annual site-specific re-encounters. High genetic connectivity and migration between aggregation sites indicate the Irish Sea as an important movement corridor, with a contemporary effective population estimate (N_e) of 382 (CI = 241–830). We contrast the prevailing view of high gene flow across oceanic regions with evidence of population structure within the NEA, with early-season sharks off southwest Ireland possibly representing genetically distinct migrants. Finally, we found basking sharks surfacing together in the NEA are on average more related than expected by chance, suggesting a genetic consequence of, or a potential mechanism maintaining, site-specific re-encounters. Long-term temporal genetic monitoring is paramount in determining future viability of cosmopolitan marine species, identifying genetic units for conservation management, and for understanding aggregation structure and dynamics.

DOI

10.1038/s41598-020-58086-4

Volume

10

First Page

1661

Comments

© The Author(s) 2020. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Additional Comments

Heritage Wildlife Grant #s: 16759, R00342; Scottish Funding Council grant #: HR09011

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

NSUWorks Citation

Lieber, Lilian; Graham Hall; Jackie Hall; Simon Berrow; Emmett Johnston; Chrysoula Gubili; Jane Sarginson; Malcolm Francis; Clinton Duffy; Sabine P. Wintner; Philip D. Doherty; Brendan J. Godley; Lucy A. Hawkes; Matthew J. Witt; Suzanne M. Henderson; Eleonora de Sabata; Mahmood S. Shivji; Deborah A. Dawson; David W. Sims; Catherine S. Jones; and Leslie R. Noble. 2020. "Spatio-Temporal Genetic Tagging of a Cosmopolitan Planktivorous Shark Provides Insight to Gene Flow, Temporal Variation and Site-Specific Re-Encounters." Scientific Reports 10, (): 1661. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-58086-4.