IN THIS PAPER, WE USED PREDICTIVE MODELS TO GENERATE DYNAMIC HABITAT SUITABILITY MAPS WITHIN THE INVERSE ESTUARINE OF SHARK BAY, A SHALLOW COASTAL EMBAYMENT WITH SALINITIES CONSISTENTLY ABOVE THAT OF THE ADJACENT OCEAN.

Understanding how dynamic environmental processes influence the distributions of top-order predators is important to determine where and when these animals can exert their influence on ecosystems.

The results from this paper showed that suitable habitat for tiger sharks in Shark Bay is that  associated with shallow depths and dense seagrass beds. Importantly, we found that  the ebb and flow of hypersaline water has a strong influence in their suitable habitat.

Tiger sharks seem to avoid hypersaline water, which is probably associated with their physiological threshold, given tiger sharks are stenohaline gill-breathers. This result has implications for the overall productivity of Shark Bay because the distribution and presence of tiger sharks can alter the behaviour of their prey species, which include marine megaherbivores, such as green turtles and dugongs.

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