Seasonal occurrence and individual variability of bull sharks, Carcharhinus leucas, in a marine reserve of the southwestern Gulf of California

Photo Credit: © Miguel Grau

Seasonal occurrence and individual variability of bullsharks, Carcharhinus leucas, in a marine reserve of the southwestern Gulf of California

Frida Lara-Lizardi | Eleazar Castro | Vianey Leos Barajas | Juan Manuel Morales | Edgar Mauricio Hoyos-Padilla | James Ketchum

Peer J 12: e17192 (2024)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.17192

Abstract

Background. Studying how the bull sharks aggregate and how they can be driven bylife history traits such as reproduction, prey availability, predator avoidance and social interaction in a National Park such as Cabo Pulmo, is key to understand and protect the species.

Methods. The occurrence variability of 32 bull sharks tracked with passive acoustic telemetry were investigated via a hierarchical logistic regression model, with inference conducted in a Bayesian framework, comparing sex, and their response to temperature and chlorophyll. 

Results. Based on the fitted model, occurrence probability varied by sex and length. Juvenile females had the highest values, whereas adult males the lowest. A strong seasonality or day of the year was recorded, where sharks were generally absent during September November. However, some sharks did not show the common pattern, being detected just for a short period. This is one of the first studies where the Bayesian framework is used to study passive acoustic telemetry proving the potential to be used in further studies.

Keywords: Acoustic telemetry, Temporal patterns, Sexual segregation, Probabilistic models, Movement ecology, Bull sharks, Cabo Pulmo, Bayesian models, Residency patterns, Residency probability.