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Toby
S. Daly-Engel |
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Research
Interests: Many vertebrates, including sharks, have a reproductive strategy that includes multiple paternity. Though the benefits of this strategy are debated, it is certain that multiple paternity will maintain genetic diversity, especially in populations that are inherently small or have undergone population depletion due to human exploitation and other pressures. The current proposal will address the question of multiple paternity in three congeneric species of carcharhinid sharks in Hawaii (Carcharhinus plumbeus, Carcharhinus altimus, and Carcharhinus galapagensis), and expand on one of these species, C. plumbeus, by measuring the frequency at which multiple paternity occurs in the population. Hawaii provides a unique setting for this study because of the lack of commercial fishing for coastal sharks, the only place in the world where these species are not targeted. Because the Hawaiian populations of these sharks are unexploited, data can be gathered on multiple paternity here that is not confounded by effects of fishing pressure and other sources of unnatural mortality. These data will be important in helping to expand the body of knowledge on the reproductive strategy of sharks, an area of research that is becoming increasingly important in the face of escalating concern about the over exploitation of sharks throughout the world and a growing need for shark conservation. This work is being done with the help of Dr. Dean Grubbs and Dr. Rob Toonen and with the support of the Holland and Bowen labs at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, which is located on Coconut Island in Kaneohe Bay, Oahu. For more information on the project, you can contact me at tengel@hawaii.edu or see my CV. |
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