2021 A Year in Review
Table of Contents
Letter from the Director.............................. 2 SRC’s Mission................................................ 3 2021 Media Highlights................................ 4 DEI Committee............................................. 5 Outreach....................................................... 6 By the Numbers............................................ 7 Satellite Tags................................................ 10 Scientific Publications................................. 11 Graduates of SRC........................................ 14 Future Projects.............................................. 15 Sponsors and SRC Team............................ 16
Letter From the Director Dear Friends, Colleagues, and Supporters, 2021 was an exciting and productive year for the Shark Research and Conservation Program (SRC). This year saw our field research return to action following the COVID-19 hiatus. We were able to conduct 45 different field trips, during which we were able to tag and sample 263 sharks from 14 different species. During these field trips, we provided practical hands-on research experiences to 151 citizen scientists, mostly school children. Throughout this time, we still maintained a vibrant online educational presence, providing virtual workshops and seminars to school groups across the globe as well as creating new online curriculum in marine science. Our team proudly invested in Diversity Equity and Inclusion, which included launching our new EmpowerU program to specifically provide experiential research experiences to young students from historically marginalized communities, minorities in science, and people excluded because of their ethnicity or race. Our goal is to empower them and generate a positive pipeline towards greater representation in the sciences. Our team was also featured in numerous broadcast media, including Discovery Channel’s Shark Week and National Geographic’s Shark Fest. Amazingly, our team authored a record 22 scientific papers published in peer-reviewed journals, with topics ranging from understanding the benefits of marine protected areas for shark conservation to determining the impacts of urbanization on the health and nutrition of coastal sharks. We are truly thankful to our talented team of dedicated students and staff, generous group of funders, and our encouraging loyal supporters for contributing to our success. Sincerely,
Group Photos................................................ 17 Neil Hammerschlag, Ph.D. Director, Shark Research and Conservation Program, University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science
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SRC’s Mission
2021 Media Highlights
World’s Biggest Bull Shark? - National Geographic SharkFest and Disney+
Based at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, the Shark Research and Conservation Program (SRC) conducts cuttingedge research, advancing marine conservation through peer-reviewed publications and public outreach. Every year, SRC introduces hundreds of students from various communities across South Florida to unique handson field experiences in shark research to increase scientific literacy and foster proenvironmental attitudes. We believe STEM is for everyone, so our program puts a special emphasis on making these experiences accessible to students from historically marginalized communities and people more frequently excluded from careers in science because of their ethnicity or race.
Shark Attack Files - National Geographic SharkFest and Disney+ Scientific experts and investigators set out to solve the mystery of actual attacks by looking into bizarre and unexplained shark behaviors.
MotherSharker - Discovery Channel Shark Week A team of scientists and shark experts use new technology to discover where tiger sharks give birth. Nobody knows! In order to do so, they encounter some of the biggest tiger shark mothers in the Bahamas.
FIN - Discovery+ Eli Roth, an award-winning film director and actor, uncovers the global shark fin trade to expose the horrific impact and oenvironmental devestation of killing millions of sharks.
SRC could not achieve any of this without the hardworking team and constant support from individuals who are dedicated to the research and conservation of sharks, their ecosystems, and the communities that depend on them. 3
In 2012, off the Florida coast, Dr. Neil Hammerschlag caught the mother of all bull sharks, “Big Bull”. She measured more than 10-feet long and weighed over 1,000 pounds! Scientists search to discover whether she is the matriarch of a unique population of giants.
Keep up with SRC on social media: @sharktagging
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DEI Committee
Outreach
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion
We are committed to promoting diversity, equity and inclusion in the sciences and beyond.
SRC provides high school students and citizen scientists with hands-on scientific field experience and offers amazing, educational programs all year long. The data collected supports various projects to better understand shark populations, movement and habitat use, shark reproduction, immunology, and the impacts of climate change and urbanization on shark behavior and health.
HIGHLIGHTS • SRC was a recipient of a UM Racial Justice Grant which led to the launch of our EmpowerU program to empower students from historically marginalized communities, minorities in science, and people excluded because of their ethnicity or race. • We ran two shark tagging trips with Breakthrough Miami. • We will host more trips this semester/summer as well as land-based sessions centered around workshops designed to explore current graduate research projects. • We expanded our EmpowerU program with Black Girls Dive Foundation. • STEM Spotlights on Social Media •Featured other marine scientists so they can share and amplify their work.
Taking measurements
Fin clipping
• STEM is for Everyone recruitment • Used new promotional materials to welcome students who may not have had opportunities to do shark research • Featured SRC team members on social media platforms to showcase the variety of backgrounds, skills, interests, and career paths that led us to SRC to show there’s no one or ‘right’ way to start and engage with shark research. • UM’s Multicultural Student Affairs hosted an implicit bias and microaggression team training, which will become an SRC team annual requirement.
Showering the shark Tagging ional t a c “Out u ed rea have e ty and i n o u t m par tn ch in 2021 had a definite f d m o v re ocus on reaching new c e e hono ck Girls Di r a e launc rs to promote divers W d l a ity of scientists entering the fie h with Bl s p i h s and G ed our EmpowerU pro r e n t gram and we expanded par eorgia A r quarium” - Om ar Ramzy, Outreach Coordinato
By the Numbers numbers 1,373 drumlines and tagged a total of 263 sharks, from 14 different species on 45 trips... In 2021 our team deployed
Biggest Shark 335 cm Tiger Shark Nurse Shark: 68
Blue Shark: 18
Bull Shark: 15
Black Nose: 8
Sandbar Shark: 7
Atlantic Sharpnose: 4
Spinner Shark: 1
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Lemon Shark: 63
Bonnethead: 3
Black Tip: 68
Great Hammerhead: 13
RECAPTURED 11 SHARKS 2 LEMON 7 NURSE 2 TIGER
Smallest Shark 42 cm Bonnethead
151 participants from ages 10 to 77, from 19 countries and 22 US states and territories...
With
Tiger Shark: 6
Shortfin Mako: 1
Unknown: 1
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Satellite Tags 34 satellite tags deployed Blacktip: 3
Track these and other sharks on Google Earth!
Blue: 18
Great Hammerhead: 5 Sandbar: 5
Shortfin Mako: 1 Tiger: 2
Right: This 276 cm long female Great Hammerhead was tagged in Sandbar Palace off Miami Beach on November 10, 2021. It travelled to the tropical waters of Cuba before coming back to US waters.
Left: This 307cm male Blue shark was tagged in Regal Sword, Cape Cod on October 7, 2021 and to date it has travelled a distance equivalent to a flight from Los Angeles to Madrid.
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Scientific Publications
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NEW scientific publications!!
Black C, Merly L, Hammerschlag N. (2021) Bacterial communities in multiple tissues across the body surface of three coastal shark species. Zoological Studies 60:69. “Wounds may allow for opportunistic bacteria to invade or overgrow where they would not normally be found, while a “normal” microbiome consists of good bacteria that protects the shark from outside pathogens. This paper contributes to this severely understudied field of shark research and highlights how we can use bacteria as an indicator of health status in sharks and their surrounding environments” - Chelsea Black. Williams LH, Anstett A, Bach Muñoz V, Chisholm J, Fallows C, Green JR, Higuera Rivas JE, Skomal G., Winton M, Hammerschlag N. (2021) Sharks as exfoliators: widespread chafing between marine organisms suggests an unexplored ecological role. Ecology, e03570. “Our paper collated 47 observations of thirteen species of fish seeking out and rubbing up against eight different shark species in thirteen locations around the world. We hypothesized several Depiction of bacteria families found across tissue sites of each species: blacktip ecological explanations, including the utility of shark sharks (A), bull sharks (B), and tiger sharks (C). (Blacktip shark animation from skin in removing ectoparasites and the possibility Wikimedia commons, bull and tiger animations by Kelly Quinn). of ectoparasite transfer. With no known terrestrial analogue for interspecies chafing behavior, let alone prey seeking out and rubbing up against a predator, we suggest this behavioral interaction holds unexplored ecological significance that merits further research.” - Lacey Williams Bates AE, Primack RB, Duarte CM, and PAN-Environment Working Group (including Hammerschlag N, Rider MJ, Albano PS) (2021). Global COVID-19 lockdown highlights humans as both threats and custodians of the environment. Biological Conservation, (263). 109175. Rider MJ, Kirsebom OS, Gallagher AJ, Staaterman E, Ault JS, Sasso CR, Jackson T, Browder JA, Hammerschlag N. (2021) Space use patterns of sharks in relation to boat activity in an urbanized coastal waterway. Marine Environmental Research. 172, 105489.
Silky sharks chafing against a whale shark
Jacoby DM, Fairbairn BS, Frazier BS, Gallagher AJ, Heithaus MR, Cooke SJ, Hammerschlag N. (2021) Social network analysis reveals the subtle impacts of tourist provisioning on the social behaviour of a generalist marine apex predator. Frontiers in Marine Science, 1202. Albano PS, Fallows C, Fallows M, Sedgwick O, Schuitema O, Bernard ATF, Hammerschlag N. (2021) Successful parks for for sharks: no-take marine reserve provides conservation benefits to endemic and threatened sharks off South Africa. Biological Conservation. “This study used Baited Remote Underwater Video Surveys (BRUVS) as a method to answer questions about the habitat utilization and abundance patterns of sharks in and around a no-take marine reserve in a conservation priority region. Results suggest increased abundance inside the marine reserve and significant habitat preferences that vary by species -- which have implications for improved conservation management of this threatened taxa.” - Patricia Albano Lowerre-Barbieri SK, Friess C, Griffin LP, Morley D, Skomal GB, Bickford JW, Hammerschlag N, Rider MJ, Smukall MJ, van Zinnicq Bergmann MP, Guttridge TL, et al. (2021) Movescapes and eco-evolutionary movement strategies in marine fish: Assessing a connectivity hotspot. Fish and Fisheries.
Typical images representing the four different habitat types analyzed in this study. A) “sand” with a juvenile smooth hammerhead (S. zygaena) B) “reef” with pyjama catsharks (P. africanuum) C) “rubble” D) “rock”
Rangel BS, Hammerschlag N, Sulikowski JA, Moreira RG. (2021) Physiological markers suggest energetic and nutritional adjustments in male sharks linked to reproduction. Oecologia. Queiroz N, et al. (2021) Reply to: Caution over use of ecological big-data for conservation. Nature 595, E20-E28. Queiroz N, et al. (2021) Reply to: Shark mortality cannot be assessed by fishery overlap alone. Nature 595, E8-E16. Tinari AM, Hammerschlag N. (2021) An ecological assessment of large coastal shark communities in South Florida. Ocean & Coastal Management, 211(1):105772. “This study is the first to publish shark community abundance patterns around the city of Miami and the 3rd in the Everglades National Park/Keys area, so this provides an important baseline for future comparison studies! We wanted to see what sharks we catch and if there are any factors that may influence what species’ are caught. We found that shark abundance was greater in areas with more restrictive fishing regulations. It was exciting to find Lemon and Blacknose sharks are influenced by season but not Blacktips, which are known to have a seasonal migration up and down the Florida coast.” - Abigail Tinari
Calich HJ, Rodríguez JP, Eguíluz VM, Hammerschlag N, Pattiaratchi C, Duarte CM, Sequeira AM. (2021) Comprehensive analytical approaches reveal species-specific search strategies in sympatric apex predatory sharks. Ecography.
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Publications Continued Gutowsky LF, Rider M, Roemer RP, Gallagher AJ, Heithaus MR, Cooke SJ, Hammerschlag N. (2021) Large sharks exhibit varying behavioral responses to major hurricanes. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 256(9):107373. Sequeira AM, O’Toole M, Keates TR, McDonnell LH, Braun CD, Hoenner X, Jaine FR, Jonsen ID, Newman P, Pye J, Bograd SJ, et al. (2021) A standardisation framework for bio-logging data to advance ecological research and conservation. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 12(6):996-1007. Wosnick N, Niella Y, Hammerschlag N, Chaves AP, Hauser-Davis RA, da Rocha RC, Jorge MB, de Oliveira RW, Nunes JL. (2021) Negative metal bioaccumulation impacts on systemic shark health and homeostatic balance. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 168(3):112398.
Graduates of SRC We’d like to congratulate our 2021 graduates of SRC for continuing to work through a challenging year, and we hope the best for your future endeavors! Gaitlyn Malone - MS For her master’s thesis, Gaitlyn Malone’s research focused on investigating the influence of ecological context on fish foraging behavior throughout Biscayne Bay, Florida. Using baited remote underwater video systems (BRUVs), she evaluated fish foraging activity, including time of arrival to the bait, bait residency time, and bite rate, in relation to season, time of day, habitat type, predator type and abundance, and distance from the city of Miami.
Rangel BS, Hammerschlag N, Sulikowski JA, Moreira RG (2021) Dietary and reproductive biomarkers in a generalist apex predator reveal differences in nutritional ecology across life stages. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 664:149-163. Friess C, Lowerre-Barbieri SK, Poulakis GR, Hammerschlag N, et al. (2021) Regional-scale variability in the movement ecology of marine fishes revealed by an integrative acoustic tracking network. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 663:157-177. de Sousa Rangel B, Moreira RG, Niella YV, Sulikowski JA, Hammerschlag N. (2021) Metabolic and nutritional condition of juvenile tiger sharks exposed to regional differences in coastal urbanization. Science of The Total Environment, 780:146548. Rider MJ, McDonnell LH, Hammerschlag N. (2021) Multi-year movements of adult and subadult bull sharks (Carcharhinus leucas): philopatry, connectivity, and environmental influences. Aquatic Ecology, 55(3). “We discovered that mature female bull sharks tagged in Biscayne Bay, Florida made long distance migrations to other locations in the Gulf of Mexico and along the Atlantic Coast of the United States. More specifically, we observed these mature females returning to Biscayne Bay every fall. We believe that the Bay is an important part of their biology.” - Mitchell Rider de Sousa Rangel B, Hammerschlag N, Moreira RG (2021) Urban living influences the nutritional quality of a juvenile shark species. Science of The Total Environment, 776:146025. Gallagher AJ, Shipley ON, van Zinnicq Bergmann MPM, Brownscombe JW, Dahlgren CP, Frisk MG, Griffin LP, Hammerschlag N, Kattan S, Papastamatiou YP, Shea BD, Kessel ST, Duarte CM (2021) Spatial Connectivity and Drivers of Shark Habitat Use Within a Large Marine Protected Area in the Caribbean, The Bahamas Shark Sanctuary. Frontiers in Marine Science, 7:608848.
A bull shark being tagged in Biscayne Bay
Shipley ON, Lee CS, Fisher NS, Sternlicht JK, Kattan S, Staaterman ER, Hammerschlag N, Gallagher AJ (2021) Metal concentrations in coastal sharks from The Bahamas with a focus on the Caribbean Reef shark. Scientific Reports, 11(218).
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Valerie Zundel - MPS
Camilla Smith - MPS Camilla’s project used learning theory and instructional best practices to translate a written marine biology curriculum, into a video series titled “Where Sharks Roam: Tropical Marine Ecosystems of South Florida.” These videos were intended to increase SRC’s suite of online learning tools and provide equitable learning experiences for all students in Florida. Quartz Clark - MPS
Victor Bach Muñoz - MPS
Quartz’s project focused on building Seas by Degrees Graduate Student Seminar Series, a weekly seminar to teach STEM stubjects virtually. The seminars were taught by Rosenstiel School students and distributed through Instagram and Youtube to be easily accessed by other educators and young science students. Check out the seminars by clicking here! Undergraduates: Peter Aronson Meagan Ando Nina Colagiovanni Isabelle Geller
Valerie’s project focused on making science and research more interesting and accessible to the public. To meet this goal, she created a calendar that contained posts that highlight SRC’s mission and values: to promote the idea that S.T.E.M is for everyone, to make science engaging, and to share SRC’s research.
Victor’s project consisted in the creation of a documentary and website meant to illustrate the use and value of citizen science in elasmobranch research projects throughout the world. The website (amongfins.com) includes over 60 programs present in 35 different countries and remains active for participants looking to get involved in their nearest elasmobranch citizen science project.
Nick Martinez Konnor Payne Delaney Reynolds Rebecca Vanarnam
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Future Projects
Sponsors & SRC Team
With the start of a new year, our research has accelerated. Check out what projects we’ll be working on in 2022!
We’d like to thank our generous donors and sponsors that help SRC continue their mission
Thiago Couto - Post-Doctoral
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“In my future research, I will identify and characterize shared hotspots for marine biodiversity conservation based on spatial data collected for tracked animals. This effort will include several species, such as sharks, turtles and marine mammals, of the Atlantic Coast, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. The project is being implemented in partnership with the Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (MBON) and Animal Telemetry Network (ATN). The results of this project will help us to assess potential gaps in the existing protected areas network and management practices.”
The Batchelor Foundation, Inc. Ruta Maya Coffee Isermann Family Foundation H. W. Wilson Foundation, Inc. Canon Solutions America Theresa & Robin Lineberger Herbert W Hoover Foundation
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Heffner Fund Hook & Tackle Waterlust William J. Gallwey III, Esquire Give Back Brands Foundation NOAA All generous individuals and groups who have Adopted a Shark
Sophia Dal Porto - MS Student “I am looking at three different coastal species of sharks, blacktips, lemon, and bull sharks to determine the concentrations of heavy metals in the peripheral blood and muscle tissue and see if there are correlations between heavy metal concentration and health parameters. This study will determine whether non-invasive sampling methods, such as taking blood and muscle biopsies, are good indicators of the physiology of sharks and how they are being impacted by heavy metals pollution.” Sam Orndorff - SRC Staff “I am working with PhD student Laura McDonnell to investigate how the composition of shark catches differs between marine heatwave and non-marine heatwave events. Utilizing multi-year climatology data, we are detecting regional marine heatwave events that have occurred in South Florida over the last several years and joining such events with SRC’s long-term shark survey data. By understanding which shark species appear to be the most responsive to extreme heat, this research will help to inform conservation management strategies for sharks as they are subjected to a continuously warming ocean.”
We’d also like to give a huge thanks to the SRC team of graduates, undergradutes, and staff who help keep this lab running smoothly!
Annual Report made through a collaborative effort by: Alex Anstett Nicolás Febres-Cordero Nola Schoder
Photographers: Nola Schoder - MPS Student “I am exploring how the art and science of storytelling can be applied to scientific research to communicate with a broader audience. Working with the researchers at the SRC Lab, I am engaging directly with scientists and their work. By implementing the elements of storytelling, I aim to craft creative, non-fiction articles to convey scientific information from this work. The final aspect will be getting those published to make more widely distributed and accessible to a nonscientific audience.”
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Peter Aronson Victor Bach Muñoz Matt Bernanke Nicole Chen Angie Del Llano Maria Geoly Gammon Koval Paola Roldan Camilla Smith
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