Tooth morphology is often used to inform the feeding ecology of an organism as these structures are important to procure and process dietary resources. In sharks, differences in morphology may facilitate the capture and handling of prey with different physical properties. However, few studies have investigated differences in tooth morphology over ontogeny, throughout the jaws of a single species, or among species at multiple tooth positions. Bull (Carcharhinus leucas), blacktip (Carcharhinus limbatus), and bonnethead sharks (Sphyrna tiburo) are coastal predators that exhibit ontogenetic dietary shifts, but differ in their feeding ecologies. This study measured tooth morphology at six positions along the upper and lower jaws of each species using elliptic Fourier analysis to make comparisons within and among species over their ontogeny. Significant ontogenetic differences were detected at four of the six tooth positions in bull sharks, but only the posterior position on the lower jaw appeared to exhibit a functionally relevant shift in morphology.No ontogenetic changes in morphology were detected in blacktip or bonnethead sharks. Intraspecific comparisons found that most tooth positions significantly differed from one another across all species, but heterodonty was greatest in bull sharks. Additionally, interspecific comparisons found differences among all species at each tooth position except between bull and blacktip sharks at two positions. These morphological patterns within and among species may have implications for prey handling efficiency, as well as in providing insight for paleoichthyology studies and reevaluating heterodonty in sharks. K E Y W O R D S dentition, ecology, elasmobranchs, feeding, morphology
Species exposed to extreme environments often exhibit distinctive traits that help meet the demands of such habitats. Such traits could evolve independently, but under intense selective pressures of extreme environments some existing structures or behaviors might be coopted to meet specialized demands, evolving via the process of exaptation. We evaluated the potential for exaptation to have operated in the evolution of novel behaviors of the waterfall-climbing gobiid fish genus Sicyopterus. These fish use an “inching” behavior to climb waterfalls, in which an oral sucker is cyclically protruded and attached to the climbing surface. They also exhibit a distinctive feeding behavior, in which the premaxilla is cyclically protruded to scrape diatoms from the substrate. Given the similarity of these patterns, we hypothesized that one might have been coopted from the other. To evaluate this, we filmed climbing and feeding in Sicyopterus stimpsoni from Hawai’i, and measured oral kinematics for two comparisons. First, we compared feeding kinematics of S. stimpsoni with those for two suction feeding gobiids (Awaous guamensis and Lentipes concolor), assessing what novel jaw movements were required for algal grazing. Second, we quantified the similarity of oral kinematics between feeding and climbing in S. stimpsoni, evaluating the potential for either to represent an exaptation from the other. Premaxillary movements showed the greatest differences between scraping and suction feeding taxa. Between feeding and climbing, overall profiles of oral kinematics matched closely for most variables in S. stimpsoni, with only a few showing significant differences in maximum values. Although current data cannot resolve whether oral movements for climbing were coopted from feeding, or feeding movements coopted from climbing, similarities between feeding and climbing kinematics in S. stimpsoni are consistent with evidence of exaptation, with modifications, between these behaviors. Such comparisons can provide insight into the evolutionary mechanisms facilitating exploitation of extreme habitats.
Marine snow was implicated in the transport of oil to the seafloor during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, but the exact processes remain controversial. In this study, we investigated the concentrations and distributions of the 16 USEPA priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in marine snow aggregates collected during a mesocosm experiment. Seawater only, oil in a water accommodated fraction (WAF), and Corexit-enhanced WAF (DCEWAF) were incubated for 16 d. Both WAF and DCEWAF aggregates were enriched in heavy molecular weight PAHs but depleted in naphthalene. DCEWAF aggregates had 2.6 times more total 16 PAHs than the WAF (20.5 vs. 7.8 µg/g). Aggregates in the WAF and DCEWAF incorporated 4.4% and 19.3%, respectively of the total PAHs in the mesocosm tanks. Our results revealed that marine snow sorbed and scavenged heavy molecular weight PAHs in the water column and the application of Corexit enhanced the incorporation of PAHs into the sinking aggregates.
1. Understanding animal movement often relies upon telemetry and biologging devices. These data are frequently used to estimate latent behavioural states to help understand why animals move across the landscape. While there are a variety of methods that make behavioural inferences from biotelemetry data, some features of these methods (e.g. analysis of a single data stream, use of parametric distributions) may limit their generality to reliably discriminate among behavioural states. 2. To address some of the limitations of existing behavioural state estimation models, we introduce a nonparametric Bayesian framework called the mixed-membership method for movement (M4), which is available within the open-source bayesmove R package. This framework can analyse multiple data streams (e.g. step length, turning angle, acceleration) without relying on parametric distributions, which may capture complex behaviours more successfully than current methods.We tested our Bayesian framework using simulated trajectories and compared model performance against two segmentation methods (behavioural change point analysis (BCPA) and segclust2d), one machine learning method [expectationmaximization binary clustering (EMbC)] and one type of state-space model [hidden Markov model (HMM)]. We also illustrated this Bayesian framework using movements of juvenile snail kites Rostrhamus sociabilis in Florida, USA.3. The Bayesian framework estimated breakpoints more accurately than the other segmentation methods for tracks of different lengths. Likewise, the Bayesian framework provided more accurate estimates of behaviour than the other state estimation methods when simulations were generated from less frequently considered distributions (e.g. truncated normal, beta, uniform). Three behavioural states were estimated from snail kite movements, which were labelled as 'encamped', 'area-restricted search' and 'transit'. Changes in these behaviours over time were associated with known dispersal events from the nest site, as well as movements to and from possible breeding locations. 4. Our nonparametric Bayesian framework estimated behavioural states with comparable or superior accuracy compared to the other methods when step lengths and turning angles of simulations were generated from less frequently considered distributions. Since the most appropriate parametric distributions may not be obvious a priori, methods (such as M4) that are agnostic to the underlying | 433Methods in Ecology and Evoluঞon CULLEN Et aL.
Understanding the environmental drivers of movement patterns are critical to the protection, management and recovery of endangered species. The Arabian Gulf is considered to be the hottest marine system in the world and is known for its extreme environmental conditions that pose substantial physiological stress on marine organisms living there. Satellite tags were deployed on hawksbill turtles in the Arabian Gulf and quantitative ecological modeling (i.e., Bayesian state-space models and GAMMs) was used to provide new insights into the ecological basis of observed hawksbill movement and behavior. Hawksbills used a relatively large core area in the southeast Arabian Gulf when transit and area-restricted search behaviors were included. The numerous hotspots identified suggest that important habitat occurs along a large area of the Qatari eastern coastline and into Saudi Arabia. Offshore islands with fringing reef habitat and deep-water habitats near the 30-50 m isobaths were intensely used. Hawksbills made seasonal migrations to deep-water habitat during summer months, typically once SST reached ∼33 • C and bottom temperature reached ∼32 • C. These data provide valuable information to managers seeking to conserve hawksbills in the region. Our data also provide a context to understand the underlying physiological, energetic and behavioral drivers of hawksbill movement in the Arabian Gulf. Future studies should include the use of biologging devices, benthic surveys, and dietary biomarkers to better understand the seasonal migrations of Arabian Gulf hawksbills to this deep-water region.
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