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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Fabrice StephensonORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2024 The Author(s). Journal of Biogeography published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.Aim: Mobulid rays are a group of threatened batoid fishes susceptible to population decline from targeted fisheries and accidental capture. Spatial distributions of mobulid rays remain poorly known. Prior studies found commonalities between favourable environments and prey among various mobulid species, yet most were conducted in tropical waters. To explore the habitat use and distribution of mobulid rays in a temperate environment we model the habitat suitability of two mobulid rays (Mobula mobular and Mobula birostris) in Aotearoa New Zealand using fisheries and citizen science occurrence data spanning almost two decades. Location: Northeastern coast of Aotearoa, New Zealand. Methods: Boosted Regression Tree models were used to predict the annual habitat suitability and favourable environmental conditions of the two species based on available sightings records in conjunction with high resolution (1 km2) environmental data. Results: The sympatric study species had contrasting habitat requirements. We found a separation in their spatial distribution defined by the 200 m isobath – the onshore extent for M. birostris and the offshore extent for M. mobular. While there were only subtle variations in relative habitat suitability for M. mobular over the study period, M. birostris exhibited greater interannual variability. Despite differing interannual patterns, spatial separation, as a function of environmental properties, persisted regardless of the year. Main Conclusions: Our results suggest that associations between mobulid species may differ from tropical regions due to regional adaptations to prey availability or local environmental conditions unique to colder and more productive temperate waters. Our findings highlight the importance of multi-species surveys and the inclusion of temporal variability in support of separate species-specific management plans to account for differing stressors impacting each species.
Author(s): Ozaki R, Stephenson F, Pinkerton M, Finucci B, Green L, Penna AD, Sila-Nowicka K
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Journal of Biogeography
Year: 2024
Pages: epub ahead of print
Online publication date: 04/07/2024
Acceptance date: 18/06/2024
Date deposited: 16/07/2024
ISSN (print): 0305-0270
ISSN (electronic): 1365-2699
Publisher: John Wiley and Sons Inc
URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.14976
DOI: 10.1111/jbi.14976
Data Access Statement: Mobula birostris and M. mobular data were kindly provided by Manta Watch New Zealand and the Ministry of Primary Industries, respectively. Environmental data (SST, SST gradient, Chl-a, Chl-a gradient, slope, distance to 200 m isobath, distance to coast) used in this publication and the occurrence datasets are all openly available in Figshare at 10.6084/m9.figshare.24884592.v2. Bathymetry dataset can be downloaded from NIWA at https://data-niwa.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/nz-bathymetry-250m-imagery-raster-layer/explore. SOI used in this publication can be accessed from https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/data/indices/soi.
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