Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Springer
Résumé : International audience
With the development of genetics methods, it becomes possible to study the population structure and some aspects of the reproductive behaviour of endangered sharks. Here we describe the isolation of 20 polymorphic microsatellite markers in the bull shark Carcharhinus leucas (Carcharhinidae) and their characteristics. Two to 10 alleles per locus were detected. Observed and expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.00 to 0.78 and from 0.05 to0.80, respectively. Four markers showed deviations from Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium; among them, three showed presence of null alleles. No linkage disequilibrium was detected among any of the loci. Moreover, four, 11 and 19 of these 20 markers successfully cross-amplified in the tiger shark Galeocerdo cuvier, the sandbar shark Carcharhinus plumbeus and the dusky shark Carcharhinus obscurus, respectively.
ISSN: 1877-7252

hal-01253773
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01253773
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01253773/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01253773/file/Pirog%20et%20al.%20-%202015%20-%20Isolation%20and%20characterization%20of%2020%20microsatellit_hal.pdf
DOI : 10.1007/s12686-014-0308-3

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD PeerJ
Résumé : International audience
The tiger shark Galeocerdo cuvier (Carcharhinidae) is a large elasmobranch suspected to have, as other apex predators, a keystone function in marine ecosystems and is currently considered Near Threatened (Red list IUCN). Knowledge on its ecology, which is crucial to design proper conservation and management plans, is very scarce. Here we describe the isolation of eight polymorphic microsatellite loci using 454 GS-FLX Titanium pyrosequencing of enriched DNA libraries. Their characteristics were tested on a population of tiger shark (n = 101) from Reunion Island (SouthWestern Indian Ocean). All loci were polymorphic with a number of alleles ranging from two to eight. No null alleles were detected and no linkage disequilibrium was detected after Bonferroni correction. Observed and expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.03 to 0.76 and from 0.03 to 0.77, respectively. No locus deviated from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and the global F IS of the population was of 0.04 NS. Some of the eight loci developed here successfully cross-amplified in the bull shark Carcharhinus leucas (one locus), the spinner shark Carcharhinus brevipinna (four loci), the sandbar shark Carcharhinus plumbeus (five loci) and the scalloped hammerhead shark Sphyrna lewini (two loci). We also designed primers to amplify and sequence a mitochondrial marker, the control region. We sequenced 862 bp and found a low genetic diversity, with four polymorphic sites, a haplotype diversity of 0.15 and a nucleotide diversity of 2 × 10 −4 .
ISSN: 2167-8359

hal-01317961
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01317961
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01317961/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01317961/file/Pirog_2016PeerJ_microsat_tiger_shark.pdf
DOI : 10.7717/peerj.2041

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Paris : Muséum national d'histoire naturelle
Résumé : International audience
The decline of meso-predators such as reef sharks is a concern as such species can have importantecological roles in maintaining reef ecosystem resilience. Two field trips conducted in August 2010 and November2011 to the Chesterfield archipelago (Coral Sea) allowed us to assess the abundances and average sizes ofmedium-bodied Carcharhinidae with a specific focus on grey reef shark (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos), throughfishing (46 hours of accumulated effort) and underwater visual censuses (25 hours of accumulated effort). Wefound low abundance and small average total length (TL) for all reef shark species, and in the case of the greyreef shark, an average abundance of 2.1 individuals/dive with the majority of animals less than 110 cm TL. Wecompared our findings with historical data and, given our low sampling effort, we so far hypothesise that a generalstrong decline in the reef shark populations may have occurred in this area, probably due to recent overfishing.The enforcement of conservation measures is strongly recommended among these remote reefs as well ascomplementary studies for confirming this hypothesis.
Le déclin de méso-prédateurs tels que les requins de récif pose problème dans la mesure où ces espèces peuventavoir un rôle important dans le maintien de la résilience des écosystèmes coralliens. Deux missions conduitesen août 2010 et novembre 2011 dans l’archipel des Chesterfield (mer de Corail) nous ont permis d’évaluer lesabondances et longueurs totales (LT) moyennes de Carcharhinidae côtiers, en particulier du requin gris (Carcharhinusamblyrhynchos), à partir de sessions de pêche (46 heures au total) et de comptages sous-marins (25 heuresau total). Nous avons globalement trouvé de très faibles abondances et tailles moyennes avec, spécifiquementpour le requin gris, une abondance moyenne de 2,1 individus/plongée et une majorité d’animaux avec des LTinférieures à 110 cm. Nous avons comparé ces résultats à des données historiques et, étant donné certaines limitesde notre échantillonnage, nous nous cantonnons à poser l’hypothèse d’un déclin généralisé des populationsde requins de récifs dans cette zone, probablement dû à la surpêche. La mise en oeuvre effective de mesures deconservation est fortement recommandée au sein de ces récifs éloignés, de même que des études complémentairespour confirmer cette hypothèse.
ISSN: 0399-0974

hal-01281158
https://hal-univ-perp.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01281158

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Oldendorf/Luhe
Résumé : International audience
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are being increasingly used in studies of marinefauna. Here, we tested the use of a UAV (DJI Phantom II®) to assess fine-scale variation in densitiesof 2 elasmobranchs (blacktip reef sharks Carcharhinus melanopterus and pink whiprays Himanturafai) on reef systems off Moorea (French Polynesia). We flew parallel transects designed to samplereef habitats (fringing, channel and sandflat habitats) across 2 survey blocks. Block 1 included ashark and ray provisioning site with potentially higher elasmobranch densities, whereas Block 2most likely had lower densities with no provisioning activities. Across 10 survey days in July 2014,we flew 3 transects (400 m) within each survey block (n = 60 total transect passes). As expected,densities (animals ha−1) were significantly higher in Block 1 than in Block 2, particularly where provisioningactivities occur. Differences between habitats surveyed were also found. Our study providesthe first direct estimates of shark and ray densities in coral-reef ecosystems and demonstratesthat UAVs can produce important fishery-independent data for elasmobranchs, particularly inshallow-water habitats.
ISSN: 0171-8630

hal-01416757
https://hal-univ-perp.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01416757
DOI : 10.3354/meps11945

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD CSIRO Publishing
Résumé : International audience
The present study assessed the occurrence of multiple paternity in four litters of bull shark Carcharhinus leucas (n¼5, 8, 9 and 11 embryos) sampled at Reunion Island in the Western Indian Ocean. Using 21 microsatellite loci, we revealed that two litters were generated from two sires each, demonstrating for the first time multiple paternity for this species. We also reported a high paternal skew (10 : 1 in Litter 1 and 7 : 1 in Litter 3), which may be because of postcopulatory or post-zygotic selection processes. These results contribute to a better understanding of the reproductive behaviour of the bull shark, which remains poorly documented. The present study must be expanded to assess the frequency of multiple paternity in this species, and to test for genetic or cryptic benefits (convenience polyandry), which is important for long-term conservation and management plans.
ISSN: 1323-1650

hal-01253775
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01253775
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01253775/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01253775/file/Pirog%20et%20al.%20-%202015%20-%20First%20evidence%20of%20multiple%20paternity%20in%20the%20bull%20s_hal.pdf
DOI : 10.1071/mf15255

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
Wound healing is important for sharks from the earliest life stages, for example, as the 'umbilical scar' in viviparous species heals, and throughout adulthood, when sharks can incur a range of external injuries from natural and anthropogenic sources. Despite anecdotal accounts of rapid healing in elasmobranchs, data regarding recovery and survival of individuals from different wound or injury types has not been systematically collected. The present study documented: (i) 'umbilical scar' healing in wild-caught, neonatal blacktip reef sharks while being reared for 30 days in flow-through laboratory aquaria in French Polynesia; (ii) survival and recovery of free-swimming blacktip reef sharks in Australia and French Polynesia following a range of injuries; and (iii) long-term survival following suspected shark-finning activities. Laboratory monitoring, tag-recapture records, telemetry data and photo-identification records suggest that blacktip reef sharks have a high capacity to survive and recover from small or even large and severe wounds. Healing rates, recovery and survival are important factors to consider when assessing impacts of habitat degradation and fishing stress on shark populations. The present study suggests that individual survival may depend more on handling practices and physiological stress rather than the extent of physical injury. These observations also contribute to discussions regarding the ethics of tagging practices used in elasmobranch research and provide baseline healing rates that may increase the accuracy in estimating reproductive timing inferred from mating scars and birth dates for neonatal sharks based on umbilical scar healing status. Cite as: Chin A, Mourier J, Rummer JL (2015) Blacktip reef sharks (Carcharhinus melanopterus) show high capacity for wound healing and recovery following injury. Conserv Physiol 3: doi:10.1093/conphys/cov062.
Conservation physiology

Droits : http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
hal-01250745
https://hal-univ-perp.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01250745
https://hal-univ-perp.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01250745/document
https://hal-univ-perp.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01250745/file/Conserv%20Physiol-2015-Chin-.pdf
DOI : 10.1093/conphys/cov062