Abstract:
My doctoral research explores spatial patterns of shark ecology in the Red Sea by presenting three distinct studies that examine shark occurrence and movements in relation to environmental features. More specifically, I implement a multi-method survey in my first chapter to characterize relative diversity and abundance patterns of elasmobranchs on coral reef pinnacles in the context of conservation planning. My second and third chapters utilize satellite telemetry to describe both horizontal and vertical movements of two large-bodied shark species in the Red Sea: the silky shark (Carcharhinus falciformis) and the tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier). Collectively, this body of work describes novel aspects of shark occurrence and behavior that provides insights into the ecology of these animals in a warming ocean and further informs spatial conservation planning in the Arabian Region.