Marine Biology Commons^™

All-Inclusive Coral Reef Restoration: How The Tourism Sector Can Boost Restoration Efforts In The Caribbean, Macarena Blanco-Pimentel, Nicolas R. Evensen, Camilo Cortés-Useche, Johanna Calle-Triviño, Daniel J. Barshis, Victor Galván, Erika Harms, Megan K. Morikawa

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Following a strong decline in the health of Caribbean coral reefs in the 1970s, disease outbreaks, overfishing, and warming events have continued to push these reefs towards a point of no return. As such, researchers and stakeholders have turned their attention to restoration practices to overcome coral recovery bottlenecks on Caribbean reefs. However, successful restoration faces many challenges, including economical and logistical feasibility, long-term stability, and biological and ecological factors yet to fully understand. The tourism sector has the potential to enhance and scale restoration efforts in the Caribbean, beyond simple financial contributions. Its strengths include long-term presence in several …

Geomorphic Gradients In Shallow Seagrass Carbon Stocks, Jahson Berhane Alemu, Siti Maryam Yaakub, Erik S. Yando, Rachel Yu San Lau, Cheng Chang Lim, Jun Yu Puah, Daniel A. Friess

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Seagrass meadows are important sinks of organic carbon (C_org), in particular the near-surface C_org pool (≤ 15 cm) compared to deeper sediments. Near-surface carbon is highly susceptible to disturbance and loss to the atmosphere, however, inadequate accounting for variability in this pool of carbon limits their uptake into carbon accounting frameworks. We therefore investigated the spatial variability in seagrass near-surface C_org and biomass C_org across different geomorphic (estuary, lagoonal and reef-associated) and community typologies (pioneer and persistent). Near-surface C_org stock in vegetated areas (25.78 Mg C_org ha⁻¹ ± 26.64) was twice that …

Validation Of The Use Of Clathromorphum Compactum Growth And Skeletal Δ18o As A Proxy For Seawater Conditions, Teagan Mcmahon

Pitzer Senior Theses

Crustose coralline algae (CCA) are important organisms that create benthic habitat in the photic zone of oceans worldwide. CCAs mechanisms of photosynthesis and calcification may, in some cases, make them vulnerable to climate change and ocean acidification. Therefore, CCA are important not only for their ecological role within ecosystems but also for their ability to indicate the effects that ocean acidification and climate change may have on other marine calcifying organisms. Some species of CCA are known to be useful recorders of paleo oceanic conditions. These climate archives and reconstructions of past environmental conditions are important for understanding past changes …

The Atlantic Surfclam Fishery And Offshore Wind Energy Development: 2. Assessing Economic Impacts, Andrew M. Scheld, Jennifer Beckensteiner, Daphne M. Munroe, Eric N. Powell, Sarah Borsetti, Eileen E. Hofmann, John M. Klinck

CCPO Publications

The Atlantic surfclam (Spisula solidissima) fishery generates approximately USD 30 million in landings revenues annually, distributed across ports throughout the US Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. Overlap between areas of Atlantic surfclam harvests and offshore wind energy leasing make the fishery vulnerable to exclusion and effort displacement as development expands in the region. An existing integrated bioeconomic agent-based model, including spatial dynamics in Atlantic surfclam stock biology, heterogeneous captain behaviour, and federal management processes, was extended to incorporate costs and revenues for fishing vessels and processors and used to evaluate the potential economic effects of offshore wind development on the …

Assessment Of Temperature Optimum Signatures Of Corals At Both Latitudinal Extremes Of The Red Sea, Guilhem Banc-Prandi, Nicolas R. Evensen, Daniel J. Barshis, Gabriela Perna, Youssouf Moussa Omar, Maoz Fine

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Rising ocean temperatures are pushing reef-building corals beyond their temperature optima (T_opt), resulting in reduced physiological performances and increased risk of bleaching. Identifying refugia with thermally resistant corals and understanding their thermal adaptation strategy is therefore urgent to guide conservation actions. The Gulf of Aqaba (GoA, northern Red Sea) is considered a climate refuge, hosting corals that may originate from populations selected for thermal resistance in the warmer waters of the Gulf of Tadjoura (GoT, entrance to the Red Sea and 2000 km south of the GoA). To better understand the thermal adaptation strategy of GoA corals, …

Saturating Relationship Between Phytoplankton Growth Rate And Nutrient Concentration Explained By Macromolecular Allocation, Jongsun Kim, Gabrielle Armin, Keisuke Inomura

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Phytoplankton account for about a half of photosynthesis in the world, making them a key player in the ecological and biogeochemical systems. One of the key traits of phytoplankton is their growth rate because it indicates their productivity and affects their competitive capability. The saturating relationship between phytoplankton growth rate and environmental nutrient concentration has been widely observed yet the mechanisms behind the relationship remain elusive. Here we use a mechanistic model and metadata of phytoplankton to show that the saturating relationship between growth rate and nitrate concentration can be interpreted by intracellular macromolecular allocation. At low nitrate levels, the …

Impacts Of Plastic Pollution On A Pelagic Marine Mammal, The Northern Elephant Seal, Lauren M. Kashiwabara

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

As plastic pollution increases, top marine predators such as marine mammals are becoming increasingly susceptible to plastic particles and their additives. Plastic particles have been found in gastrointestinal tracts and scat of many marine mammals, and quantifying plastic pollution in those that are pelagic can provide insight into plastic pollution in mesopelagic ecosystems that are just beginning to be analyzed. Adapting well-developed laboratory techniques for microplastic (MP) isolation (i.e. density separation and chemical digestion), I isolated MPs from the scat of the deepest diving pinniped, the northern elephant seal (NES), and found that100% of scat samples (n=11) contained high counts …

A Trait‐Based Framework For Assessing The Vulnerability Of Marine Species To Human Impacts, Nathalie Butt, Benjamin S. Halpern, Casey S. O'Hara, A. Louise Allcock, Beth Polidoro, Samantha Sherman, Maria Byrne, Charles Birkeland, Ross G. Dwyer, Melanie Frazier, Bradley K. Woodworth, Claudia P. Arango, Michael J. Kingsford, Vinay Udyawer, Pat Hutchings, Elliot Scanes, Emily Jane Mcclaren, Sara M. Maxwell, Guillermo Diaz-Pulido, Emma Dugan, Blake Alexander Simmons, Amelia S. Wenger, Christi Linardich, Carissa J. Klein

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Marine species and ecosystems are widely affected by anthropogenic stressors, ranging from pollution and fishing to climate change. Comprehensive assessments of how species and ecosystems are impacted by anthropogenic stressors are critical for guiding conservation and management investments. Previous global risk or vulnerability assessments have focused on marine habitats, or on limited taxa or specific regions. However, information about the susceptibility of marine species across a range of taxa to different stressors everywhere is required to predict how marine biodiversity will respond to human pressures. We present a novel framework that uses life-history traits to assess species’ vulnerability to a …

Responses Of Benthic Calcifying Algae To Ocean Acidification Differ Between Laboratory And Field Settings, Heather N. Page, Keisha D. Bahr, Tyler Cyronak, Elizabeth B. Jewett, Maggie D. Johnson, Sophie J. Mccoy

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Accurately predicting the effects of ocean and coastal acidification on marine ecosystems requires understanding how responses scale from laboratory experiments to the natural world. Using benthic calcifying macroalgae as a model system, we performed a semi-quantitative synthesis to compare directional responses between laboratory experiments and field studies. Variability in ecological, spatial, and temporal scales across studies, and the disparity in the number of responses documented in laboratory and field settings, make direct comparisons difficult. Despite these differences, some responses, including community-level measurements, were consistent across laboratory and field studies. However, there were also mismatches in the directionality of many responses …

Element Contamination In Port Everglades – Preparing For Ecological Impacts, Laura White

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

Port dredging is of economic importance worldwide but its impacts to the marine environment through the remobilization of elemental contaminants are not well understood. A massive deepening and widening of Port Everglades, Florida, will begin in 2023. Contaminated sediment disturbed during the dredging process could be released and prove to be harmful to three coral reef tracks located beginning 1.5 miles away from the port. This study focused on identifying and quantifying 14 different trace elements: arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), cobalt (Co), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), mercury (Hg), lead (Pb), manganese (Mn), molybdenum (Mo), nickel (Ni), selenium (Se), tin (Sn), …

Impacts Of Deepwater Horizon On Fish And Fisheries: What Have We Learned About Resilience And Vulnerability In A Coupled Human-Natural System?, S.A. Murawski, C.B. Paris, Tracey Sutton, M. Cockrell, S. O'Farrell, J. Sanchirico, E. Chancellor, L. Perruso

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

The Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill occurred in a region of the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) supporting abundant, diverse and valuable communities of fishes and fishers. The economy of the northern GoM is inextricably tied to the natural resource bases of the region (tourism, fishing, oil and gas, etc.) and thus the coupling between the human and ecological systems is tight and subject both feed-back and, to some extent, feed-forward controls. Management actions taken during the 87-day DWH spill incident included the closure of over 280,000 km² of productive fishing area (about 1/3 of USA federal waters in the …

Validation Of Landsat 8 High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature Using Surfers, Quinton Vanhellemont, Robert J. W. Brewin, Philip J. Bresnahan, Tyler Cyronak

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Nearshore coastal waters are highly dynamic in both space and time. They can be difficult to sample using conventional methods due to their shallow depth, tidal variability, and the presence of breaking waves. High resolution satellite sensors can be used to provide synoptic views of Surface Temperature (ST), but the performance of such ST products in the nearshore zone is poorly understood. Close to the shoreline, the ST pixels can be influenced by mixed composition of water and land, as a result of the sensor’s spatial resolution. This can cause thermal adjacency effects due to the highly different diurnal temperature …

On Inter-Organizational Trust, Control And Risk In Transboundary Fisheries Governance, Gordon M. Hickey, Hunter T. Snyder, Jasper R. Devries, Owen Temby

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Inter-organizational collaboration is often considered essential to transboundary fishery governance, due, in part, to the high levels of task interdependence, the remote and often treacherous conditions, and the limited levels of information available to any policy actor on resource status. In the high seas, Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs) are responsible for sustainably managing highly migratory and straddling fish stocks through the implementation of ecosystem-based approaches and ensuring adequate inter-jurisdictional cooperation. A central question facing RFMO governance is therefore how to structure and sustain inter-organizational transboundary collaboration under high uncertainty? This paper presents the case of the North Atlantic Salmon …

Phytoplankton Community Response To Upwelling Events: Distribution And Abundance Investigated Using Genomic Methods, Sveinn V. Einarsson

OES Theses and Dissertations

Upwelling events are known to support blooms of phytoplankton, important primary producers at the base of the oceanic food web. Phytoplankton community structure changes in response to upwelling support higher trophic level growth and increased efficiency of carbon export from the euphotic zone. While these events occur globally, this study examined upwelling in coastal regions, where alongshore winds can drive Ekman transport and upwelling of deeper waters. The two upwelling regimes examined were the California Current System and the Alaskan Beaufort Sea. In the California Current System, the relative diatom community composition was examined using 18S sequencing to determine how …

Methodological Challenges In Studying Trust In Natural Resources Management, Antonia Sohns, Gordon M. Hickey, Jasper R. De Vries, Owen Temby

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Trust has been identified as a central characteristic of successful natural resource management (NRM), particularly in the context of implementing participatory approaches to stakeholder engagement. Trust is, however, a multi-dimensional and multi-level concept that is known to evolve recursively through time, challenging efforts to empirically measure its impact on collaboration in different NRM settings. In this communication we identify some of the challenges associated with conceptualizing and operationalizing trust in NRM field research, and pay particular attention to the inter-relationships between the concepts of trust, perceived risk and control due to their multidimensional and interacting roles in inter-organizational collaboration. The …

Binational Reflections On Pathways To Groundwater Security In The Mexico–United States Borderlands, Rosario Sanchez, José Agustin Breña-Naranjo, Alfonso Rivera, Randall T. Hanson, Antonio Hernández-Espriú, Rick J. Hogeboom, Anita Milman, Jude A. Benavides, Adrian Pedrozo-Acuña, Julio Cesar Soriano-Monzalvo

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Shared groundwater resources between Mexico and the United States are facing unprecedented stressors. We reflect on how to improve water security for groundwater systems in the border region. Our reflection begins with the state of groundwater knowledge, and the challenges groundwater resources face from a physical, societal and institutional perspective. We conclude that the extent of ongoing cooperation frameworks, joint and remaining research efforts, from which alternative strategies can emerge, still need to be developed. The way forward offers a variety of cooperation models as the future offers rather complex, shared and multidisciplinary water challenges to the Mexico–US borderlands.

Dioxins Contamination In Sediment And Their Effect On Accumulation In The Portuguese Oyster (Crassostrea Angulata) And White Shrimp (Litopenaeus Vannamei), Yin-Yu Chen, Yu-Sheng Wu, Hsiang-Yin Chen, Zhen-Hao Liau, Fan-Hua Nan

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

This research aims to realize whether the dioxin accumulation in the oyster and white shrimp which were cultured in the dioxin pollutant sediment. This presented evidence indicated that dioxin was detected in all experimental groups with high concentration accumulated in experiment animals. Observation of the concentration, the PCDD/F, 2,3,7,8-T4CDD was with high concentration in the sediment and declined with the time elapsed. Detection of the dioxin accumulated in the animal, the accumulative maximum amounts was in the oyster as 3746.16 (pg-TEQ/g d.w.) and in the shrimp as 705.44 (pg-TEQ/g d.w.). The detected amount of dioxin in the supernatant was quite …

A Meshless Method With Radial Basis Function For Solving Unsaturated Flow In Heterogeneous Porous Media, Cheng-Yu Ku, Chih-Yu Liu, Wei-Po Huang, Jing-En Xiao

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

This paper presents a study for solving unsaturated flow in heterogeneous porous media using the meshless method with the radial basis function (RBF). For modeling the nonlinear hydrological process in unsaturated zone, an exponential model is introduced in the Richards equation such that we may obtain the linearized Richards equation. We adopt the multiquadric function as the RBF in the meshless method for solving the linearized Richards equation. For simulating the unsaturated flow problems in layered heterogeneous soils, the flux and the head must satisfy the continuity condition at the interface. Several examples are carried out for modeling the hydrological …

Catch Rates And Distribution Pattern Of The Silky Shark, Carcharhinus Falciformis, Caught By The Taiwanese Large-Scale Longline Fishery In The Indian Ocean, Chia Yun Li, Xing-Han Wu, Shang Yin Vanson Liu, Sheng-Ping Wang, Wen-Pei Tsai

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

The silky shark, Carcharhinus falciformis, is widely distributed in tropical and temperate waters, and it is a common bycatch species for tuna longline fisheries. This study examined the distribution of and presents relative abundance indices of the silky shark in the Indian Ocean by using logbook and observer data from the Taiwanese large-scale tuna longline fishery between 2005 and 2019. Due to the high zero catch rate, a zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB) model was used to standardize catch per unit effort. Due to a lack of detailed targeting information, the fishery strategy was identified by using cluster analysis based on …

Accumulation And Bioavailability Of Heavy Metals (Cadmium, Chromium, Nickel, Lead And Zinc) In Water And Sediment Samples In The Musa Creek, Northwest Coasts Of The Persian Gulf, Saghafiankhoo Sedigheh, Battaleb-Looie Sedigheh, Amanipoor Hakimeh, Dravishi Khatooni Javad, Ghanemi Kamal

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

The current study aimed to investigate the total concentrations of heavy metals in water and sediment samples as well as their bioavailability in sediments of Musa Creek. Twenty samples including 10 sediments and 10 water samples were collected from 10 stations. The concentration of heavy metals was measured using inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry. The bioavailability of heavy metals was carried out by first step of Tessier sequential extraction method so called single extraction in the manuscript. The results showed that the mean concentrations of cadmium, chromium, nickel, and zinc in water samples was 0.17, 7.44, 43.80, and 8.85 µg/L, respectively. …

Parametric Analyses Of The Dynamic Response And Fatigue Life Of A Compliant Vertical Access Riser With Internal Flow, Fuheng Li, Haiyan Guo, Xiaomin Li, Zhen Liu, Honglu Gu, Peng Cui

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

Subsea interventions on wellheads can be directly performed from a platform using a compliant vertical access riser (CVAR), thereby incurring tremendous economic benefits. The dynamic response and the fatigue damage of a CVAR subjected to regular waves are important for assessing its application feasibility. Therefore, a reasonable numerical model is presented for assessing the damage to a CVAR considering the internal flow using the slender rod theory. The finite element method combined with a Newmark-β scheme is employed to discretize the equations and update the time integration. The Palmgren-Miner rule is applied for fatigue life prediction, focusing on the wave-induced …

Using The Inverse Method To Investigate Flow Models For Mixed Convection Of Annular Finned Tube Heat Exchanger, Han-Taw Chen, Cheng-Hui You, Wei-Lun Hsu, Jiang-Ren Chang

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

The inverse heat conduction method (IHCM) and three-dimensional (3D) computational fluid dynamic (CFD) in combination with are used to select the appropriate flow model and near-wall treatment for the mixed convection of the annular finned tube heat exchanger. Thus, the numerical results obtained by all k-ε models and near-wall treatments are yielded for 4 m/s ≤ Va ≤ 5 m/s. First, IHCM combined with is applied to estimate and Q values. The obtained estimates of and Q are used as reference values for CFD. The results show that the Tk and results obtained by the standard (STD) k-ε model with …

Prediction Of Remaining Useful Life Of Wind Turbine Shaft Bearings Using Machine Learning, Jinsiang Shaw, Bingjie Wu

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

Wind turbines are a major trend in the current green energy market. Wind energy is abundant, and if utilized properly, can result in significant reductions in carbon emissions. Therefore, the development of wind power systems is urgently required. However, wind turbines are mainly built in unmanned areas. Regular inspections require substantial manpower and material resources, and doubts regarding the accuracy of the inspected data may occur. Therefore, it is necessary to establish an automatic diagnostic method for determining the remaining useful life (RUL) of a wind turbine to facilitate predictive maintenance. In this study, a multi-class support vector machine (SVM) …

Supply Chain Management For Superyacht Construction In Taiwan, Chun Pong Wong

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

In the last 20 years, Taiwan’s superyacht construction industry has performed well in the global market; however, numerous yacht builders still practice traditional supply chain management (SCM), which is often inefficient and regularly leads to time and cost overruns. This study aimed to answer two research questions: 1) what SCM challenges does the superyacht construction industry face? and 2) what SCM strategies and practices should be adopted to improve the efficacy and profitability of superyacht construction companies?

Numerous studies have explored supply chains (SCs) and SCM, but few have focused on the superyacht construction industry. Superyacht construction projects are highly …

The Impact Of Variable Curing Conditions On The Properties And Microstructures Of Mixtures Of Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag And Circulating Q1 Fluidized Bed Combustion Ash, Shao-Heng Hsieh, Wei-Chung Yeih, Ran Huang

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

The use of Portland cement, an important construction material, is encountering growing challenges because of its adverse environmental impacts. In this study, a new hydration system without Portland cement, which blends ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) and circulating fluidized bed combustion (CFBC) ash, was developed and tested. The variables included the effect of different types of CFBC ash, the mass ratios between CFBC ash and GGBFS, and different curing temperatures. The mortar properties were determined through the compressive strength test, absorption test, shrinkage test, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The main results were as follows: …

A Marine Gis-Based Alert System To Prevent Vessels Collision With Offshore Platforms, Sheng-Long Kao, Ki-Yin Chang, Tai-Wen Hsu

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

How to effectively use an intelligent aid-to-navigation (AtoN) to prevent ships from accidentally colliding with offshore marine platforms (OMPs) is an important issue for maritime environment. This study proposes a novel collision alert system with three components to process Automatic Identification System (AIS) data in the cloud and broadcast AtoNs to ships in order to avoid collision with OMPs. The first component receives as input fuzzy linguistic variables (vessel size, relative speed, and approach distance) from the AIS data and calculates the radius of the guarding ring. The second component serves a Marine GIS (MGIS), where the system simulates the …

Peruvian Fur Seals As Archivists Of El Niño Southern Oscillation Effects, Mickie Rae Edwards, Susana Cardenas-Alayza, Michael Adkesson, Mya Daniels-Abdulahad, Amy Hirons

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Peru’s coastal waters are characterized by significant environmental fluctuation due to periodic El Niño- La Niña- Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events. This variability results in ecosystem-wide food web changes which are reflected in the tissues of the Peruvian fur seal (Arctocephalus australis). Stable isotope ratios (δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N) in Peruvian fur seal vibrissae (whiskers) are used to infer temporal primary production and dietary variations in individuals. Sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTA) recordings from the Niño 1+2 Index region captured corresponding ENSO conditions. Fluctuations in δ¹⁵N values were correlated to SSTA records, indicating that …

First Ecological Characterization Of Whip Black Coral Assemblages (Hexacorallia: Antipatharia) In The Easter Island Ecoregion, Southeastern Pacific, Jan M. Tapia-Guerra, Cynthia M. Asorey, Erin E. Easton, Daniel Wagner, Matthias Gorny, Javier Sellanes

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

One of the main priorities of marine scientific research is to provide practical information and guidance for biodiversity conservation and management. In this context, the identification of key and fragile habitat-forming species is particularly important. Despite their ecological importance, whip corals in the order Antipatharia remain poorly studied around the world, and especially in the South Pacific. During recent expeditions to explore mesophotic and deep benthic habitats around Rapa Nui (Easter Island), dense assemblages of whip black corals were observed in situ. We here report the first detailed description of the distribution and abundance of these black coral assemblages …

Nutrient Cycling In Tropical And Temperate Coastal Waters: Is Latitude Making A Difference?, Christian Lønborg, Moritz Müller, Edward C. V. Butler, Shan Jiang, Seng Keat Ooi, Dieu Huong Trinh, Pui Yee Wong, Suryati M. Ali, Chun Cui, Wee Boon Siong, Erik S. Yando, Daniel A. Friess, Judith A. Rosentreter, Bradley D. Eyre, Patrick Martin

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Tropical coastal waters are highly dynamic and amongst the most biogeochemically active zones in the ocean. This review compares nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) cycles in temperate and tropical coastal waters. We review the literature to identify major similarities and differences between these two regions, specifically with regards to the impact of environmental factors (temperature, sunlight), riverine inputs, groundwater, lateral fluxes, atmospheric deposition, nitrogen fixation, organic nutrient cycling, primary production, respiration, sedimentary burial, denitrification and anammox. Overall, there are some similarities but also key differences in nutrient cycling, with differences relating mainly to temperature, sunlight, and precipitation amounts and patterns. …

Overfishing Drives Over One-Third Of All Sharks And Rays Toward A Global Extinction Crisis, Nicholas K. Dulvy, Nathan Pacoureau, Cassandra L. Rigby, Riley A. Pollom, Rima W. Jabado, David A. Ebert, Brittany Finucci, Caroline M. Pollock, Jessica Cheok, Danielle H. Derrick, Katelyn B. Herman, C. Samantha Sherman, Wade J. Vanderwright, Julia M. Lawson, Rachel H.L. Walls, John K. Carlson, Patricia Charvet, Kinattumkara K. Bineesh, Daniel Fernando, Gina M. Ralph, Jay H. Matsushiba, Craig Hilton-Taylor, Sonja V. Fordham, Colin A. Simpfendorfer

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The scale and drivers of marine biodiversity loss are being revealed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List assessment process. We present the first global reassessment of 1,199 species in Class Chondrichthyes-sharks, rays, and chimeras. The first global assessment (in 2014) concluded that one-quarter (24%) of species were threatened. Now, 391 (32.6%) species are threatened with extinction. When this percentage of threat is applied to Data Deficient species, more than one-third (37.5%) of chondrichthyans are estimated to be threatened, with much of this change resulting from new information. Three species are Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct), representing …