Table_3_Spatial Connectivity and Drivers of Shark Habitat Use Within a Large Marine Protected Area in the Caribbean, The Bahamas Shark Sanctuary.xlsx

Marine protected areas (MPAs) have emerged as potentially important conservation tools for the conservation of biodiversity and mitigation of climate impacts. Among MPAs, a large percentage has been created with the implicit goal of protecting shark populations, including 17 shark sanctuaries which fully protect sharks throughout their jurisdiction. The Commonwealth of the Bahamas represents a long-term MPA for sharks, following the banning of commercial longlining in 1993 and subsequent designation as a shark sanctuary in 2011. Little is known, however, about the long-term behavior and space use of sharks within this protected area, particularly among reef-associated sharks for which the sanctuary presumably offers the most benefit. We used acoustic telemetry to advance our understanding of the ecology of such sharks, namely Caribbean reef sharks (Carcharhinus perezi) and tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier), over two discrete islands (New Providence and Great Exuma) varying in human activity level, over 2 years. We evaluated which factors influenced the likelihood of detection of individuals, analyzed patterns of movement and occurrence, and identified variability in habitat selection among species and regions, using a dataset of 23 Caribbean reef sharks and 15 tiger sharks which were passively monitored in two arrays with a combined total of 13 acoustic receivers. Caribbean reef sharks had lower detection probabilities than tiger sharks, and exhibited relatively low habitat connectivity and high residency, while tiger sharks demonstrated wider roaming behavior across much greater space. Tiger sharks were associated with shallow seagrass habitats where available, but frequently transited between and connected different habitat types. Our data support the notion that large MPAs afford greater degrees of protection for highly resident species such as Caribbean reef sharks, shark, acoustic telemetry, marine protected area, MPA, seagrass, coral reef, Bahamas, Caribbean

海洋保护区（Marine Protected Areas, MPAs）已成为保护生物多样性、缓解气候影响的潜在重要保育工具。在各类海洋保护区中，有相当比例的设立初衷为保护鲨鱼种群，其中包括17个在其管辖范围内全面保护鲨鱼的鲨鱼保护区（shark sanctuaries）。巴哈马联邦早在1993年便禁止商业延绳钓作业，并于2011年正式将其设立为鲨鱼保护区，由此成为针对鲨鱼的长期海洋保护区。然而，目前人们对该保护区内鲨鱼的长期行为与空间利用模式知之甚少，尤其是与珊瑚礁相关的鲨鱼类群——这类群本应是该鲨鱼保护区的主要受益对象。本研究于两年时间内，在人类活动水平存在差异的两座离散岛屿——新普罗维登斯岛与大埃克苏马岛——利用声学遥测（acoustic telemetry）技术，深入探究这类鲨鱼的生态学特征，研究对象包括加勒比礁鲨（Carcharhinus perezi）与鼬鲨（Galeocerdo cuvier，俗称虎鲨）。本研究借助由23头加勒比礁鲨与15头鼬鲨组成的数据集，通过两套总计13台声学接收设备组成的监测阵列对其进行被动监测，分析了影响个体被检测概率的因素、移动与出现模式，并明确了不同物种与区域间栖息地选择的差异。相较于鼬鲨，加勒比礁鲨的个体检测概率更低，且表现出相对较低的栖息地连通性与较高的居留性；而鼬鲨则展现出更广域的漫游行为，活动空间跨度更大。鼬鲨会优先利用现有浅海海草床栖息地，但也会频繁穿梭并连通不同的栖息地类型。本研究数据证实，大型海洋保护区能够为加勒比礁鲨这类高度居留性物种提供更为全面的保护。相关术语包括：鲨鱼（shark）、声学遥测（acoustic telemetry）、海洋保护区（marine protected area）、MPA、海草床（seagrass）、珊瑚礁（coral reef）、巴哈马（Bahamas）、加勒比海（Caribbean）