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Thesis
Investigating the Efficacy of Marine Protected Areas for Carcharhinus perezi and Ginglymostoma cirratum through Telomere Lengths and Diet Construction in the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos
University of West Florida Libraries
Master of Science (MS), University of West Florida
2024
Abstract
Anthropogenic activity has negatively impacted a diverse range of ecosystems globally through overfishing and habitat degradation. As a result, there has been a major decline in elasmobranch populations, and they face an alarming rate of extinction due to their slow maturation and low fecundity. This drives the need for well-established Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) to help mitigate human activity by rebuilding fish stocks. The Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands are geographically contiguous and share similarities between marine ecosystems, topography, and shark populations. However, the key is difference is the protection of sharks, as The Bahamas is a protected shark sanctuary and Turks and Caicos Islands is lacking in well-established MPAs. This study focused on two novel approaches to understand the efficacy of MPAs by investigating aging through telomere lengths and diet using cloacal swabs and DNA metabarcoding for Carcharhinus perezi (Caribbean reef shark) and Ginglymostoma cirratum (nurse shark) in differing protected zones. Samples were collected between February 2022 and June 2023, fin clips were extracted, standardized, and run through quantitative PCR to generate Cycle threshold values (Ct). Carcharhinus perezi showed telomere shortening throughout the individual's lifetime and mean Ct values were significantly different between both locations. Ginglymostoma cirratum showed telomere elongation throughout the individual's lifetime from both locations but mean Ct values were not significantly different between locations. For the diet construction, cloacal swabs were extracted and then the MiFish universal primers were used to amplify a target region of the 12s rRNA gene. However, the only detections were C. perezi and no teleost DNA was detected. Here we report the genetic analysis of telomere lengths as a proxy for age in C. perezi in contrasting protected zones and the benefits of MPAs. We also highlight the telomere elongation observed in the slow-growing and long-lived G. cirratum.
Details
- Title
- Investigating the Efficacy of Marine Protected Areas for Carcharhinus perezi and Ginglymostoma cirratum through Telomere Lengths and Diet Construction in the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos
- Resource Type
- Thesis
- Contributors
- Alexis M Janosik (Committee Chair)Oliver N Shipley (Committee Member)Viktoria E Bogantes (Committee Member)
- Publisher
- University of West Florida Libraries
- Format
- pdf
- Number of pages
- 48
- Copyright
- © 2024 Caroline J. Hornfeck
- Identifiers
- 99380599442206600
- Academic Unit
- Biology
- Language
- English
- Awarding Institution
- University of West Florida; Master of Science (MS)
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Science (MS), University of West Florida