Ben D’Antonio

Allow us to reintroduce ourselves! We're Scripps Oceanography and we'd love to connect with people who are interested in:

🔬 Marine Science
🌍 Earth Science
📈 Climate Change
⚠️ Hazards
💊 Biotechnology and Biomedicine
🌊 Oceanography
🪸 Coral Reef Ecology
🌧️ Atmospheric Science
➗ Geophysics
⚛️ Bioscience

🌊 As #oceans warm, reef #fishes are shifting their ranges. Relying on a single method can miss species at their range edges, while combining #eDNA and visual surveys supports more accurate assessments of #speciesdistribution 🐠

🔗 doi.org/10.1111/ddi....

The Most Efficient Traveler Isn’t a Bird or a Fish—It’s You on a Bike A famous graphic, now updated, compares locomotion in the animal kingdom

For Scientific American’s 180th birthday, we’ve updated a classic graphic comparing different forms of animal locomotion, first published in this magazine in 1973.

Marine predator movements create seascape connectivity in remote coral reef ecosystems - Movement Ecology Background Movement of marine predators can connect different habitats and create links that are key for maintaining metapopulation dynamics, genetic diversity, energy flow and trophic links within and between systems. This key ecological process is known as ecological connectivity. Methods We used a combination of acoustic telemetry data, network analysis (graph theory), habitat modelling and machine learning methods to quantify movement patterns and habitat use of three coral reef predators (grey reef shark Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos, silvertip shark Carcharhinus albimarginatus and red bass Lutjanus bohar). We also assessed how movements and habitat preference influence connectivity in two remote reef systems (Rowley Shoals and Scott Reef) off Northwest Australia. Results Grey reef shark movements created more substantial connections within reef systems, greater than silvertip sharks and red bass, with occasional long-ranging movement linking distant atolls. Core use areas (nodes with high degree centrality) were represented by low complexity habitats in shallow areas near passages in the reef crest, but varied among species, time of the day and sex. Overall, female sharks had larger networks with greater movement extent than males indicating potential sex-specific patterns in movement and connectivity of sharks at both local (within an atoll) and regional (within reef system) spatial scales. Red bass movements resulted in local-scale connectivity between the lagoon and nearby forereef areas, whereas reef shark connectivity operated at broader scales with movement along the forereef creating stronger connections across distant areas within the reef systems. Conclusions The combination of animal tracking data, network analyses and machine learning allowed us to describe complex patterns of movement and habitat use within and between remote coral reef ecosystems and how they influence ecological connectivity over local and regional scales. Importantly, we suggest that the existing spatial protection across these remote coral reefs is effective in protecting the local-scale connectivity of mesopredators, yet broad-scale protection is required to effectively encompass the seascape connectivity of large predators which is crucial for the long-term health and stability of coral reef ecosystems.

Our new paper looking at movement and connectivity of predators in remote coral reefs using acoustic telemetry and network analysis link.springer.com/article/10.1... @robharcourt.bsky.social @imos-aus.bsky.social

Fishermen in Trinidad and Tobago fear for their lives and jobs after US strikes in the Caribbean Fishermen worry their boat could be mistaken for a drug-smuggling vessel.

Fishermen fear for their lives after US strikes in the Caribbean 🐠🦑

Deep-sea mining risks for sharks, rays, and chimeras Judah et al. identify 30 species of chondrichthyans that overlap with proposed deep-sea mining activities, nearly two-thirds of which are already threatened with extinction. Precautionary management o...

New #sharkscience out in @currentbiology.bsky.social by @seaprinceaaron.bsky.social and colleagues.
Deep-sea mining risks for sharks, rays, and chimeras. A must read for this looming threat to many already threatened species.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
@iucnshark.bsky.social

Pope Leo hits out at critics of global warming In his first major statement on climate change, the pontiff criticises those who minimise climate change.

"God will ask us if we have cultivated and cared for the world that he created for the benefit of all and for future generations, and if we have taken care of our brothers and sisters - what will be our answer, my dear friends?"

🌍📢 Postdoc alert | 3-yr starting 1/1/26

Understand how ecosystem stability is changing across space and through time using niche modelling, pinpoint at-risk species/regions, and build tools that drive conservation action🌿🧭📈

👉 tinyurl.com/2w2we5z8

#Ecology #Jobs #Biodiversity #RStats

Sharp rise in US whale entanglements after NOAA cut-backs - Oceanographic The NOAA has reported a steep increase in large whale deaths by entanglement in fishing gear, news that follows federal budget cut backs

Sharp rise in US whale entanglements after NOAA cut-backs oceanographicmagazine.com/news/sharp-r...

PNAS paper about this year's missing #ocean #upwelling along the coast of #Panama

share.google/pWxTjMwVl5Lh...

Large-scale differences, mesoscale similarities: Neighbouring marine predator populations provide insights into Southern Ocean productivity Understanding how marine predators explore dynamic ocean environments is key for assessing the ecological significance of different habitats and for i…

southern right #whales in #NZ & #Australia are a conservation success story

& our new paper shows their offshore feeding grounds

if the #highseastreaty #bbnj is ratified we can protect that, plus sharks, seabirds and other marine predators:

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

How Great Hammerheads Survive on a Diet of Other Sharks Great hammerhead sharks eat other large sharks. They can survive on a single blacktip shark every few weeks. Here's what you need to know!

Thanks SyFy for sharing our recent great hammerhead energetics paper! And for pairing it with a Sharknado promo, which feels like the bigget win of all. 🌊🐟🧪🦑

www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/ho...

Coral bleaching and mass mortality at Lizard Island revealed by drone imagery - Coral Reefs Quantitatively assessing mortality post coral bleaching at scale is inherently difficult, yet can be achieved with georeferenced imagery from aerial drones. Here, we assess the coral bleaching mortali...

2024 saw a global bleaching event, but bleaching doesn't always mean corals die. Using drones, we found the 2024 bleaching event killed over 90% of shallow corals at Lizard Island. 🧪🦑🧵

We have to act now.

@griffith.edu.au JCU MQ @geonadir.bsky.social CSIRO

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

🐠🦈 Just out: In this paper we ask "How has reef trophic structure changed since humans started removing predatory fishes from Caribbean coral reefs?".

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Illustrations @cookedillustrations.com

Bumping to the Fishes! and Science feeds.🐟🧪

Global tracking of marine megafauna space use reveals how to achieve conservation targets The recent Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) sets ambitious goals but no clear pathway for how zero loss of important biodiversity areas and halting human-induced extinction of thre...

NEW in @science.org Global tracking #MarineMegafauna shows <8% of areas used overlap w/ existing MPAs, while >75% of important areas overlapped by threats like #fishing #shipping & ocean warming - 30x30 goal will be insufficient for their conservation www.megamove.org @thembauk.bsky.social

Oil and gas industry thinks Australia has done enough on climate change A survey of oil and gas industry CEOs ahead of a national conference concedes climate and environmental requirements are “increasingly challenging to meet.”

Hey Siri, what does “conflict of interest” mean?

reneweconomy.com.au/oil-and-gas-...

Academics & NSW government employees last year published analysis showing shark-bite mitigation (including nets & drumlines) has ZERO EFFECT on bite probability since 2000s

doi.org/10.1016/j.ma...

Decision not driven by evidence, but (wrong) public perception

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Link here to email PM & environment minister www.acf.org.au/our-work/cli...

Marine megavertebrate migrations connect the global ocean - Nature Communications Animal migrations are extensive and crucial for ecosystem health but are in decline. This study identifies 1,787 sites and links among them for 109 marine species, highlighting the need for international cooperation and providing policymakers with essential knowledge for effective conservation.

Animal migrations are extensive and crucial for ecosystem health but are in decline. A study in Nature Communications identifies 1,787 sites and links among them for 109 marine species, providing policymakers with essential knowledge for effective conservation. 🌊 🧪

Last call ⏳🚨

If you have any elasmobranch and killer whale interaction records we want to hear about it!

Please reach our team with the email below, would love to include them in our global review!

🚨NEW PAPER🚨
We used acoustic telemetry to track 355 white sharks over a 15 year period in California, describing differences in seasonal trends among demographic groups. DM if you need a copy, and huge thanks to all collaborators - it took a village!

www.publish.csiro.au/WR/WR24136

These sea turtles dance for joy when they magnetically sense it’s snack time.

Learn more on #InternationalDanceDay: scim.ag/42VqsSz

📣Call for Proposals📣

🔋Our cross-journal special feature with
@animalecology.bsky.social "Energy trade-offs under changing environments" is open to proposals!

💡This feature aims to understand essential energy processes in the context of environmental change

👉Find out more: buff.ly/gvMdp1C

🧪🌍

Aboriginal entrepreneurs harness ancient knowledge for new businesses In far west New South Wales, two Aboriginal men are drawing on the traditional knowledge of their ancestors to generate a source of income.

Aboriginal entrepreneurs harness ancient knowledge for new businesses: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-14/aboriginal-entrepreneurs-businesses-based-on-cultural-knowledge/105149946

New #sharkscience from Carlo Cattano et al.
Predatory teleosts shadow sandbar sharks to enhance predation opportunities.
#yawnshark
@ecologicalsociety.bsky.social
@iucnshark.bsky.social

esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Ever thought about using shark jaws for stable isotopes from teeth? This is a must read: doi.org/10.1016/j.ma...

#StableIsotopes @meyer-sci.bsky.social @sawsharkman.bsky.social

The awesome thing about this study is it shows we can use old, preserved shark jaws to do ecological studies!

Salinity drives the distribution of a top-order predator, the tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier), in an inverse estuary - Scientific Reports Scientific Reports - Salinity drives the distribution of a top-order predator, the tiger shark&nbsp;(Galeocerdo cuvier), in an inverse estuary

Salinity drives the distribution of a top-order predator, the tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier), in an inverse estuary 🦑🌎🐟🦈 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Also, cheers to the best bunch of supervisors/co-authors ! This was a really fun paper to work on together @drlucianaferreira.bsky.social , @drsharkmeekan.bsky.social , @AnaMMSequeira,Charitha Pattiaratchi and Mike Taylor.
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