1. Trophic resources and mercury exposure of two silvertip shark populations in the Northeast Pacific Ocean.
- Author
-
Le Croizier G, Lorrain A, Schaal G, Ketchum J, Hoyos-Padilla M, Besnard L, Munaron JM, Le Loc'h F, and Point D
- Subjects
- Animals, Conservation of Natural Resources, Fisheries, Food Chain, Isotopes, Mercury metabolism, Nitrogen Isotopes analysis, Pacific Ocean, Seafood, Water Pollutants, Chemical metabolism, Mercury toxicity, Sharks physiology, Water Pollutants, Chemical toxicity
- Abstract
Worldwide shark populations have experienced rapid declines over the last decades, mainly due to overfishing. Marine protected areas (MPAs) have thus become an indispensable tool for the protection of these marine predators. Two recently-created MPAs in the Northeast Pacific Ocean, the Revillagigedo National Park and Clipperton Atoll, are characterized by different trophic structures potentially influencing the trophic niche and contaminant exposure of resident sharks in these two sites. In this context, we used carbon (δ
13 C) and nitrogen (δ15 N) stable isotope analyzes as well as total mercury concentrations ([THg]) to assess the effect of foraging site on the trophic niche and Hg levels of juvenile silvertip (ST) sharks Carcharhinus albimarginatus. Analyzing fin clip samples from Revillagigedo and Clipperton, we found that shark δ15 N varied spatially in relation to δ15 N baselines, suggesting similar trophic position in both MPAs. Moreover, δ13 C values indicated that ST sharks from Revillagigedo would feed on different food webs (i.e. both benthic and pelagic) while individuals from Clipperton would only rely on benthic food webs. These differences between MPAs led to a weak overlap of isotopic niches between the two populations, highlighting the site residency of juvenile ST sharks. Within each population, [THg] was not correlated with trophic tracers (δ15 N and δ13 C) and was also similar between populations. This study revealed no influence of site or food web in [THg] and raises the question of the origin of Hg exposure for reef shark populations in the Northeast Pacific Ocean., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interests The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)- Published
- 2020
- Full Text
- View/download PDF