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, 2013 1 2 3 Slide 2
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 Slide 3
Introduction: OTIS (Oceanographic Telemetry Identification Sensor)
Science Pay-load o Vemco acoustic integration o Temperature,
salinity, dissolved oxygen, optics (CHL, CDOM, scattering) Slide 4
Introduction: Slide 5 Introduction: Application in the Mid-Atlantic
o 1000s 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 Slide 6 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 Slide 7 Data: Sand Tiger
Sharks (23) Atlantic Sturgeon (6) Slide 8 Data: Slide 9 Data: Slide
10 Data: Slide 11 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 Slide
12 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 Slide 13 Data: Evidence
of selectivity for higher CDOM KS test o D = 0.40 o p < 0.01
Wilcoxon test o p < 0.01 Slide 14 Data: Evidence of selectivity
for narrow range of distance to land KS test o D = 0.42 o p <
0.001 Wilcoxon test o p < 0.01 Slide 15 Data: Slide 16 Data:
Salinity correlated with Time o No just a change with latitude
Slide 17 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 Slide 18 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 Slide 19
Acknowledgments: Generous private supporters of the ORB lab and
Thanks to: Slide 20 Questions? OTIS is in the water now looking for
sharks and sturgeon! Follow mission progress at facebook.com/orblab
Slide 21 Introduction: OTIS (Oceanographic Telemetry Identification
Sensor) o Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) Teledyne/Webb
Research G2 Slocum Electric Glider Acoustic Integration! Slide 22
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) Slide 23 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 Slide 24 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) Slide 25 Data: Slide 26 Data: Slide 27 Data:
Slide 28 Data: Evidence of selectivity for lower salinity KS test o
D = 0.42 o p < 0.001 Wilcoxon test o p < 0.001 Slide 29 Data:
Slide 30 Data: Slide 31 Data: Temperature and Salinity may be more
correlated with the timing of the movements (north-south component)
Slide 32 Data: Distance to Land (km) Salinity (psu) Slide 33 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 Slide 34 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) Slide 35 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 Slide 36 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
