caa a22 4500 445819545 CHVBK 20180317145239.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170323e20110901xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s00338-011-0769-8 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s00338-011-0769-8 Variation in depth of whitetip reef sharks: does provisioning ecotourism change their behaviour? [Elektronische Daten] [Richard Fitzpatrick, Kátya Abrantes, Jamie Seymour, Adam Barnett] In the dive tourism industry, shark provisioning has become increasingly popular in many places around the world. It is therefore important to determine the impacts that provisioning may have on shark behaviour. In this study, eight adult whitetip reef sharks Triaenodon obesus were tagged with time-depth recorders at Osprey Reef in the Coral Sea, Australia. Tags collected time and depth data every 30s. The absolute change in depth over 5-min blocks was considered as a proxy for vertical activity level. Daily variations in vertical activity levels were analysed to determine the effects of time of day on whitetip reef shark behaviour. This was done for days when dive boats were absent from the area, and for days when dive boats were present, conducting shark provisioning. Vertical activity levels varied between day and night, and with the presence of boats. In natural conditions (no boats present), sharks remained at more constant depths during the day, while at night animals continuously moved up and down the water column, showing that whitetip reef sharks are nocturnally active. When boats were present, however, there were also long periods of vertical activity during the day. If resting periods during the day are important for energy budgets, then shark provisioning may affect their health. So, if this behaviour alteration occurs frequently, e.g., daily, this has the potential to have significant negative effects on the animals' metabolic rates, net energy gain and overall health, reproduction and fitness. Springer-Verlag, 2011 Triaenodon obesus nationallicence Ecotourism nationallicence Shark feeds nationallicence Depth use nationallicence Disturbance nationallicence Behavioural response nationallicence Provisioning nationallicence Sharks nationallicence Fitzpatrick Richard School of Marine and Tropical Biology, James Cook University, 4878, Cairns, QLD, Australia aut Abrantes Kátya Coastal and Estuary Ecosystems, School of Marine and Tropical Biology, James Cook University, 4811, Townsville, QLD, Australia aut Seymour Jamie School of Marine and Tropical Biology, James Cook University, 4878, Cairns, QLD, Australia aut Barnett Adam Reef Channel, 4811, Townsville, QLD, Australia aut Coral Reefs Springer-Verlag 30/3(2011-09-01), 569-577 0722-4028 30:3<569 2011 30 338 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-011-0769-8 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-011-0769-8 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Fitzpatrick Richard School of Marine and Tropical Biology, James Cook University, 4878, Cairns, QLD, Australia aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Abrantes Kátya Coastal and Estuary Ecosystems, School of Marine and Tropical Biology, James Cook University, 4811, Townsville, QLD, Australia aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Seymour Jamie School of Marine and Tropical Biology, James Cook University, 4878, Cairns, QLD, Australia aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Barnett Adam Reef Channel, 4811, Townsville, QLD, Australia aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Coral Reefs Springer-Verlag 30/3(2011-09-01), 569-577 0722-4028 30:3<569 2011 30 338 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer