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Quantifying the behavioural consequences of shark ecotourism.
Joel H Gayford1,2, William D Pearse3, Rafael De La Parra Venegas4
1Department of Life Sciences, Silwood Park Campus, Imperial College London, London, UK. joelgayford@yahoo.co.uk.
Scientific Reports
|September 7, 2023
Summary
Shark ecotourism can disturb whale shark behavior, increasing energy use and potentially harming conservation efforts. Future studies must consider individual shark responses and context for accurate impact assessments.
Area of Science:
- Marine biology
- Conservation science
- Animal behavior
Background:
- Global shark populations face severe declines, threatening marine ecosystems.
- Shark ecotourism is growing but may negatively impact shark ecology and conservation.
- Understanding whale shark (Rhincodon typus) responses to ecotourism is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantitatively investigate the behavioral consequences of ecotourism on whale sharks.
- To assess how individual variation and behavioral history influence responses to ecotourism.
- To highlight the need for context-dependent models in shark ecotourism impact studies.
Main Methods:
- Utilized Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) videography for data collection.
- Applied deep learning algorithms for behavioral analysis.
- Employed multivariate statistics and hidden Markov models (HMM) to analyze behavioral data, accounting for individual variation and history.
Main Results:
- Whale sharks exhibited a higher probability of being in a disturbed behavioral state due to ecotourism.
- This disturbed state likely increases energetic expenditure, with potential downstream ecological effects.
- Accurate assessment of impacts requires models that incorporate individual differences and prior behavioral states.
Conclusions:
- Whale shark behavioral responses to ecotourism are context-dependent, influenced by their initial state.
- Ecotourism's negative behavioral impacts necessitate careful management to support conservation.
- Future research should integrate individual variability and context into models assessing ecotourism effects on sharks.
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