Effects of a COVID‐19 lockdown‐induced pause and resumption of artificial provisioning on blacktip reef sharks ( Carcharhinus melanopterus ) and pink whiprays ( Pateobatis fai ) in French Polynesia (East‐Pacific)
| Autor: | Clémentine Séguigne, Johann Mourier, Nicolas Buray, Eric Clua, Thomas Vignaud |
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| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
geography 2019-20 coronavirus outbreak geography.geographical_feature_category biology Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Carcharhinus melanopterus 010604 marine biology & hydrobiology Provisioning Memory retention biology.organism_classification 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences Fishery Abundance (ecology) Long period Animal Science and Zoology 14. Life underwater Reef Ecology Evolution Behavior and Systematics |
| Zdroj: | Ethology. 128:119-130 |
| ISSN: | 1439-0310 0179-1613 |
| DOI: | 10.1111/eth.13246 |
| Popis: | The tourism activities linked to artificial provisioning of blacktip reef sharks (Carcharhinus melanopterus) and pink whiprays (Pateobatis fai) on a specific site in French Polynesia were suddenly and completely stopped due to a COVID-19 lockdown that lasted 6 weeks from March 20 until April 30, 2020. Using both drone footage and underwater counting, we were able to track the abundance of those two species before, during, and after reopening and thus investigate the impact of provisioning on wild shark populations. The absence of any stimulus during this long period resulted in almost total desertion of the site by the elasmobranchs. However, 1 day prior to reopening, some individuals of both species positively reacted to the single acoustic stimulus of an engine boat, showing the resilience of conditioning, and some elasmobranchs reacted to acoustic and olfactive stimuli linked to the provisioning practice from the first day after reopening. During the first 2 weeks after reopening, the abundance of both species remained at reduced levels comparable to those observed between 2008 and 2010 for sharks;i.e., around 9 animals in the presence of local tourists. Pre-lockdown abundance levels, reaching approximatively 15 individuals for sharks and 10 for rays, were considered restored 1 and 2 months after reopening for blacktip reef sharks and pink whiprays, respectively. These findings improve our capacity to better understand the potential effects of artificial provisioning tourism on the abundance of elasmobranchs by showing that conditioning is resilient for several weeks, suggesting that intermittent interruption of elasmobranchs feeding would not really help to decrease its impact on animal welfare. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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