University of Delaware April 12, 2013 Habitat associations of the sand tiger shark during a fall migration: Linking acoustic tags, satellites and underwater robots D. E. Haulsee 1, B. M. Wetherbee 2, D. C. Miller 1, M.A. Cimino 1, M.W. Breece 1, D. A. Fox 3, M. J. Oliver 1 7th ANNUAL DELAWARE SPACE GRANT RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM University of Delaware April 12,

Introduction: Traditional Acoustic Telemetry Design o Moored receivers Typically in areas convenient to get to o Shallow coastal areas o Limits coverage area Need for filling in the gaps o Hard to measure environmental conditions at every location

Introduction: OTIS (Oceanographic Telemetry Identification Sensor) Science Pay-load o Vemco acoustic integration o Temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, optics (CHL, CDOM, scattering)

Introduction:

Introduction: Application in the Mid-Atlantic o 1000’s of telemetered fish in the coastal waters and embayments Many are migratory species o Extensive acoustic receiver array within the DE Bay and coastal ocean, including gates, but there are still gaps o Lacking in situ environmental data to pair with detections

First Mission: Mission o October 5 th – 23 rd 2012 o 337km traveled o On-the-fly mission changes when fish are detected Indian River Inlet Chincoteague

Data: Sand Tiger Sharks (23) Atlantic Sturgeon (6)

Data:

Data:

Data:

Data: Habitat Preference o Random walkers will use each habitat approximately in proportion to its availability (Aarts et al. 2008) o Deviations from proportionality are a sign of habitat preference (Aarts et al. 2008) Compare distributions: whole mission vs. sharks detected o Temperature, salinity, bathymetry, CDOM, CHL, distance to land Photo credit: Chris Sommerfield

Data: No evidence of temperature selectivity Kolmogorov- Smirnov test o Compares shapes of distributions o D = 0.16 o p = 0.59 Wilcoxon test o Compares medians o p = 0.71

Data: Evidence of selectivity for higher CDOM KS test o D = 0.40 o p < 0.01 Wilcoxon test o p < 0.01

Data: Evidence of selectivity for narrow range of distance to land KS test o D = 0.42 o p < Wilcoxon test o p < 0.01

Data:

Data: Salinity correlated with Time o No just a change with latitude

Data: CDOM may be more coupled with Distance to shore (east-west component) Physical environment may be more important for a fish during times of migration

Conclusions: AUVs are an effective tool for detecting telemetered fish in more remote locations Science data collected by glider allows us to begin to make associations between the environmental conditions and fish species. o Distance to land: May be useful for navigation o Wave noise and direction thought to help with orientation during migration (Lohman et al. 2008, Beverton and Holt 2008) o CDOM: Pheromones, fish oil slicks… May be an olfactory cue for navigation Appears related to wave action in this study

Acknowledgments: Generous private supporters of the ORB lab and… Thanks to:

Questions? OTIS is in the water now looking for sharks and sturgeon! Follow mission progress at facebook.com/orblab

Introduction: OTIS (Oceanographic Telemetry Identification Sensor) o Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) Teledyne/Webb Research G2 Slocum Electric Glider Acoustic Integration!

Introduction: Recent push to pair mobile assets with acoustic telemetry o Use of a Multi-Sensored AUV to Telemeter Tagged Atlantic Sturgeon and Map Their Spawning Habitat in the Hudson River, USA (Grothues et al. 2008) o Stanford's new surfing robot opens ocean to exploration (Block et al.) o Shrinking the Haystack: Using an AUV in an Integrated Ocean Observatory to Map Atlantic sturgeon in the Coastal Ocean (Oliver et al. in press) (Block et al.) (Oliver et al.) (Grothues et al. 2008)

First Mission: Mission Plan o Zig-zag the coastal ocean o Measure in situ oceanographic conditions o Monitor in near-real time for acoustic transmitters associated with telemetered fish o Focus efforts on areas with high concentrations of telemetered fish

Data: Habitat Preference o Random walkers will use each habitat approximately in proportion to its availability (Aarts et al. 2008) o Deviations from proportionality are a sign of habitat preference (Aarts et al. 2008)

Data:

Data:

Data:

Data: Evidence of selectivity for lower salinity KS test o D = 0.42 o p < Wilcoxon test o p < 0.001

Data:

Data:

Data: Temperature and Salinity may be more correlated with the timing of the movements (north-south component)

Data: Distance to Land (km) Salinity (psu)

Future Plans: Compare locations to surface ocean data layers o Most likely appropriate due to well-mixed conditions Redeploy in the spring to capture northward spring migrations

Results: Water mass defined by RRS 443, RRS 555, SST (Oliver et al. 2008) Appears to be association for sharks and sturgeon with water mass during fall migration (Oliver et al. in press)

Conclusions: Distance to land: o May be useful for navigation Wave noise and direction thought to help with orientation during migration (Lohman et al. 2008, Beverton and Holt 2008) CDOM: o Pheromones, fish oil slicks… o May be an olfactory cue for navigation o Appears related to wave action in this study

Conclusions: AUVs are an effective tool for detecting telemetered fish in more remote locations Science data collected by glider allows us to begin to make associations between the environmental conditions and fish species. o Distance to land: May be useful for navigation o Wave noise and direction thought to help with orientation during migration (Lohman et al. 2008, Beverton and Holt 2008) o CDOM: Pheromones, fish oil slicks… May be an olfactory cue for navigation Appears related to wave action in this study Satellites allow even greater spatial context of environmental conditions and identification of unique water masses o Unique Water Mass