multiscale analysis of factors that affect the distribution of.pdfVIP

370 Abstract—Identification of the spa- Multiscale analysis of factors that affect the tial scale at which marine com- munities are organized is critical distribution of sharks throughout the northern to proper management, yet this is Gulf of Mexico particularly difficult to determine for highly migratory species like sharks. We used shark catch data J. Marcus Drymon (contact author) 1, 2 collected during 2006–09 from fish- Laure Carassou3 ery-independent bottom-longline surveys, as well as biotic and abiotic Sean P. Powers1, 2 explanatory data to identify the fac- Mark Grace4 tors that affect the distribution of John Dindo2 coastal sharks at 2 spatial scales in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Cen- Brian Dzwonkowski2 tered principal component analyses (PCAs) were used to visualize the Email address for contact author: mdrymon@ patterns that characterize shark distributions at small (Alabama and 1 Department of Marine Sciences Mississippi coast) and large (north- University of South Alabama, LSCB-25 ern Gulf of Mexico) spatial scales. Mobile, Alabama 36688 Environmental data on tempera- 2 Dauphin Island Sea Lab ture, salinity, dissolved oxygen (DO), 101 Bienville Boulevard depth, fish and crustacean biomass, Dauphin Island, Alabama 36528 and chlorophyll-a (chl-a) concentra- tion were analyzed with normed 3 Department of Zoology and Entomology PCAs at both spatial scales. The re