Widespread diversity deficits of coral reef sharks and rays
Photo credit: Pelagios Kakunjá
Widespread diversity deficits of coral reef sharks and rays
Colin A. Simpfendorfer | Michael R. Heithaus | Michelle R. Heupel | M. Aaron Macneil | Mark Meekan | Euan Harvey | C. Samantha Sherman | Leanne M. Currey-Randall | Jordan S. Goetze | Jeremy J. Kiszka | Matthew J. Rees | Conrad W. Speed | Vinay Udyawer | Mark E. Bond | Kathryn I. Flowers | Gina M. Clementi | Jasmine Valentin-Albanese | M. Shiham Adam | Khadeeja Ali | Jacob Asher | Eva Aylagas | Océane Beaufort | Cecilie Benjamin | Anthony T. F. Bernard | Michael L. Berumen | Stacy Bierwagen | Chico Birrell | Erika Bonnema | Rosalind M. K. Bown | Edward J. Brooks | J. Jed Brown | Dayne Buddo | Patrick J. Burke | Camila Cáceres | Marta Cambra | Diego Cardeñosa | Jeffrey C. Carrier | Sara Casareto | Jennifer E. Caselle | Venkatesh Charloo | Joshua E. Cinner | Thomas Claverie | Eric E. G. Clua | Jesse E. M. Cochran | Neil Cook | Jessica E. Cramp | Brooke M. D’alberto | Martin De Graaf | Mareike C. Dornhege | Mario Espinoza | Andy Estep | Lanya Fanovich | Naomi F. Farabaugh | Daniel Fernando | Carlos E. L. Ferreira | Candace Y. A. Fields | Anna L. Flam | Camilla Floros | Virginia Fourqurean | Laura Gajdzik | Laura García Barcia | Ricardo Garla | Kirk Gastrich | Lachlan George | Tommaso Giarrizzo | Rory Graham | Tristan L. Guttridge | Valerie Hagan | Royale S. Hardenstine | Stephen M. Heck | Aaron C. Henderson | Patricia Heithaus | Heidi Hertler | Mauricio Hoyos Padilla | Robert E. Hueter | Rima W. Jabado | Jean-Christophe Joyeux | Vanessa Jaiteh | Mohini Johnson | Stacy D. Jupiter | Muslimin Kaimuddin | Devanshi Kasana | Megan Kelley | Steven T. Kessel | Benedict Kiilu | Taratau Kirata | Baraka Kuguru | Fabian Kyne | Tim Langlois | Frida Lara | Jaedon Lawe | Elodie J. I. Lédée | Steve Lindfield | Andrea Luna-Acosta | Jade Q. Maggs | B. Mabel Manjaji-Matsumoto | Andrea Marshall | Lucy Martin | Daniel Mateos-Molina | Philip Matich | Erin Mccombs | Ashlie Mcivor | Dianne Mclean | Llewelyn Meggs | Stephen Moore | Sushmita Mukherji | Ryan Murray | Stephen J. Newman | Josep Nogués | Clay Obota | Domingo Ochavillo | Owen O'shea | Kennedy E. Osuka | Yannis P. Papastamatiou | Nishan Perera | Bradley Peterson | Caio R. Pimentel | Fabián Pina-Amargós | Hudson T. Pinheiro | Alessandro Ponzo | Andhika Prasetyo | L. M. Sjamsul Quamar | Jessica R. Quinlan | José Amorim Reis-Filho | Hector Ruiz | Alexei Ruiz-Abierno | Enric Sala | Pelayo Salinas-De-León | Melita A. Samoilys | William R. Sample | Michelle Schärer-Umpierre | Audrey M. Schlaff | Kurt Schmid | Sara N. Schoen | Nikola Simpson | Adam N. H. Smith | Julia L. Y. Spaet | Lauren Sparks | Twan Stoffers | Akshay Tanna | Rubén Torres | Michael J. Travers | Maurits Van Zinnicq Bergmann | Laurent Vigliola | Juney Ward | Joseph D. Warren | Alexandra M. Watts | Colin K. Wen | Elizabeth R. Whitman | Aaron J. Wirsing | Aljoscha Wothke | Esteban Zarza-González | Demian D. Chapman
Science, 380, 1155 (2023)
DOI: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ade4884
Abstract
A global survey of coral reefs reveals that overfishing is driving resident shark species toward extinction, causing diversity deficits in reef elasmobranch (shark and ray) assemblages. Our species-level analysis revealed global declines of 60 to 73% for five common resident reef shark species and that individual shark species were not detected at 34 to 47% of surveyed reefs. As reefs become more shark-depleted, rays begin to dominate assemblages. Shark-dominated assemblages persist in wealthy nations with strong governance and in highly protected areas, whereas poverty, weak governance, and a lack of shark management are associated with depauperate assemblages mainly composed of rays. Without action to address these diversity deficits, loss of ecological function and ecosystem services will increasingly affect human communities.
Keywords: Sharks, Rays, Elasmobranch, Coral Reefs, Diversity Deficits
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