Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos and Carcharhinus albimarginatus underwater acoustic telemetry data - Chagos Archipelago 2014-2018

A wide array of technologies are available for gaining insight into the movement of wild aquatic animals. Although acoustic telemetry may lack the fine-scale resolution of some satellite tracking technologies, the substantially longer battery life can yield important long-term data on behaviour and movement for low per-unit cost. Typically, however, receiver arrays are designed to maximise spatial coverage at the cost of positional accuracy leading to potentially longer detection gaps as individuals move out of range between monitored locations. This is particularly true when these technologies are deployed to monitor species in hard-to-access locations. We develop a novel approach to analysing acoustic telemetry data, using the timing and duration of gaps between animal detections to classify movement behaviours into ‘restricted’ or potential wider ‘out of range’ movements synonymous with longer distance dispersal. We apply this method to investigate spatial and temporal segregation of...