Stingray Habitat Use Is Dynamically Influenced by Temperature and Tides

Abstract

Abiotic factors often have a large influence on the habitat use of animals in shallow marine environments. Specifically, tides may alter the physical and biological characteristics of an ecosystem while changes in temperature can cause ectothermic species to behaviorally thermoregulate. Understanding the contextual and relative influences of these abiotic factors is important in prioritizing management plans, particularly for vulnerable faunal groups like stingrays. Passive acoustic telemetry was used to track the movements of 60 stingrays at a remote and environmentally heterogeneous atoll in Seychelles. This was to determine if habitat use varied over daily, diel and tidal cycles and to investigate the environmental drivers behind these potential temporal patterns. Individuals were detected in the atoll year-round, but the extent of their movement and use of multiple habitats increased in the warmer NW-monsoon season. Habitat use varied over the diel cycle, but was inconsistent between individuals. Temperature was also found to influence stingray movements, with individuals preferring the deeper and more thermally stable lagoon habitat when extreme (hot or cold) temperature events were observed on the flats. Habitat use also varied over the tidal cycle with stingrays spending a higher proportion of time in the lagoon during the lowest tides, when movement on the flats were constrained due to shallow waters. The interplay of tides and temperature, and how these varied across diel and daily scales, dynamically influenced stingray habitat use consistently between three species in an offshore atoll.

Life history (length-weight relationship, conditional factors, reproductive aspects), stomach contents and nursery ground of stingray in the Arafura Sea

“…Areas East Aru and West Papua are mostly used as nursery ground by some species of stingrays, it is suspected that apart from their life cycle, stingrays generally prefer shallow coastal areas as nursery ground [20], in this area there are also available various types of prey in sufficient quantities. In accordance with the research results of [40] and [43] in this study found that the water conditions of the stingray nursery ground in the Arafura Sea varied between species which affected by the spatial distribution of stingrays is microhabitat [8] and [23] and each species has a different home range [25] and [44]. The assessment of the condition of the waters of the nursery ground, in this discussion refers to the quality standards of the State Indonesia Minister for the Environment in Kep.…”

“…An area is used as a nursery ground for stingrays because it has food availability and can protect from predators [7]. Stingrays live in various types of habitats and their movement to the habitat is influenced by tides and temperature [25]. Others research found that Dasyatis lata has a nursery ground in coastal areas [17].…”

“…The lack of data regarding reproduction was noted by [11] and [21], and on feeding habits was stated by [20], [21] and [22]. Furthermore, insufficient data and information on habitat and nursery ground was presented by [8], [9], [10], [24] and [25].…”

Seasonal changes characterise the shark and ray assemblages in a subtropical shallow sandy habitat in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, South Africa

“…A change in temperature in the ocean is one of the most obvious and predictable seasonal variations ( Jo et al, 2022 ). Since most sharks and rays are ectotherms (rely on the environment to determine their body temperature), environmental temperature variations can be a key driver for their physiology ( Bernal et al, 2018 ; Silva-Garay & Lowe, 2021 ) and spatial/temporal distribution ( Carlisle & Starr, 2009 ; Elston et al, 2022 ; Schlaff, Heupel & Simpfendorfer, 2014 ). For example, De Vos et al.…”