Regularized satellite tracks from: Ocean warming alters the distributional range, migratory timing, and spatial protections of an apex predator, the tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier)

Data are regularized tiger shark satellite tracks used in "Ocean
warming alters the distributional range, migratory timing, and spatial
protections of an apex predator, the tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier)"
published in Global Change Biology. Paper abstract below: Given climate
change threats to ecosystems, it is critical to understand responses of
species to warming. This is especially important in the case of apex
predators since they exhibit relatively high extinction risk and changes
to their distribution could impact predator-prey interactions that can
initiate trophic cascades. Here we used a combined analysis of animal
tracking, remotely sensed environmental data, habitat modeling, and
capture data to evaluate the effects of climate variability and change on
the distributional range and migratory phenology of an ectothermic apex
predator, the tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier). Tiger sharks satellite
tracked in the western North Atlantic between 2010 and 2019 revealed
significant annual variability in the geographic extent and timing of
their migrations to northern latitudes from ocean warming. Specifically,
tiger shark migrations have extended farther poleward and arrival times to
northern latitudes have occurred earlier in the year during periods with
anomalously high sea-surface temperatures. A complementary analysis of
nearly 40 years of tiger shark captures in the region revealed
decadal-scale changes in the distribution and timing of shark captures in
parallel with long-term ocean warming. Specifically, areas of highest
catch densities have progressively increased poleward and catches have
occurred earlier in the year off the North American shelf. During periods
of anomalously high sea-surface temperatures, movements of tracked sharks
shifted beyond spatial management zones that had been affording them
protection from commercial fishing and bycatch. Taken together, these
study results have implications for fisheries management, human-wildlife
conflict, and ecosystem functioning.