Genetic evidence for plastic reproductive philopatry and matrotrophy in blacktip reef sharks (Carcharhinus melanopterus) of the Moorea Island (French Polynesia)
Eustache, Kim B., Boissin, Émilie, Tardy, Céline, Bouyoucos, Ian A., Rummer, Jodie L., and Planes, Serge (2023) Genetic evidence for plastic reproductive philopatry and matrotrophy in blacktip reef sharks (Carcharhinus melanopterus) of the Moorea Island (French Polynesia). Scientific Reports, 13. 14913.
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Abstract
The exploitation of sharks and the degradation of their habitats elevate the urgency to understand the factors that influence offspring survival and ultimately shark reproductive success. We monitored and sampled blacktip reef sharks (Carcharhinus melanopterus) in nursery habitats of Moorea Island (French Polynesia), to improve knowledge on shark reproductive behavior and biology. We sampled fin clips and morphometrics from 230 young-of-the-year sharks and used microsatellite DNA markers to process parentage analysis to study the reproductive philopatric behavior in female sharks and the matrotrophy within litters. These traits are driving the success of the local replenishment influencing selection through birth site and maternal reserves transmitted to pups. Parentage analysis revealed that some female sharks changed their parturition areas (inter-seasonally) while other female sharks came back to the same site for parturition, providing evidence for a plastic philopatric behavior. Morphometrics showed that there was no significant relationship between body condition indices and nursery locations. However, similarities and differences in body condition were observed between individuals sharing the same mother, indicating that resource allocation within some shark litters might be unbalanced. Our findings further our understanding of the reproductive biology and behavior that shape shark populations with the aim to introduce these parameters into future conservation strategies.
| Item ID: | 80509 |
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| Item Type: | Article (Research - C1) |
| ISSN: | 2045-2322 |
| Copyright Information: | © The Author(s) 2023. Open Access: 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 licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence 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 licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| Date Deposited: | 07 Feb 2024 02:43 |
| FoR Codes: | 31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3109 Zoology > 310907 Animal physiological ecology @ 100% |
| SEO Codes: | 28 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 2801 Expanding knowledge > 280102 Expanding knowledge in the biological sciences @ 100% |
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