satellite tracking of manta rays highlights challenges to their conservation卫星跟踪的蝠鲼强调挑战他们的保护.pdfVIP

Satellite Tracking of Manta Rays Highlights Challenges to Their Conservation 1,2 3 4 5 6,7 Rachel T. Graham *, Matthew J. Witt , Dan W. Castellanos , Francisco Remolina , Sara Maxwell , Brendan J. Godley2, Lucy A. Hawkes3,8 1 Wildlife Conservation Society, Gulf and Caribbean Sharks and Rays Program, Punta Gorda, Belize, 2 Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Tremough Campus, Penryn, Cornwall, United Kingdom, 3 Environmental and Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter, Tremough Campus, Penryn, Cornwall, United Kingdom, ´ 4 Wildlife Conservation Society, Punta Gorda, Belize, 5 Reserva de la Biosfera Tiburon Ballena y Parque Nacional Isla Contoy, Domino Project, National Commission of Protected Areas, Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico, 6 Marine Conservation Institute, Glen Ellen California, United States of America, 7 Long Marine Laboratory, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California, United States of America, 8 Brambell Laboratories, Bangor University, Bangor, Gwynedd, United Kingdom Abstract We describe the real-time movements of the last of the marine mega-vertebrate taxa to be satellite tracked – the giant manta ray (or devil fish, Manta birostris), the world’s largest ray at over 6 m disc width. Almost nothing is known about manta ray movements and their environmental preferences, making them one of the least understood of the marine mega- vertebrates. Red listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature as ‘Vulnerable’ to extinction, manta rays are known to be subject to direct and incidental capture and some populations are declining. Satellite-tracked manta