Ghost of Coral Reefs Past: Reconstructing Reef Shark Communities over millennia

The Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs program on Science, Technology, Environment and Global Affairs presents “Ghost of Coral Reefs Past: Reconstructing Reef Shark Communities over Millennia” with Erin Dillon.

Coastal shark populations have declined steeply over the last half-century due to overfishing and habitat degradation, yet what shark abundance and diversity looked like before human impact is less clear. Without historical baselines, it is challenging to quantify the true magnitude of our ongoing ecological disruptions, set appropriate conservation targets, and understand the consequences of predator loss. To address this gap, we use fossil shark scales (dermal denticles) to reconstruct shark abundance and community structure over millennia. In this seminar, I will present our approach for isolating, identifying, and interpreting fossil shark scale assemblages preserved in coral reef sediments. I will then demonstrate how we have applied this proxy to characterize natural variability in reef shark baselines and assess how sharks have been affected by human and environmental disturbances over long ecological timescales. Our paleoecological reconstructions offer important historical context for managing modern reef ecosystems and predicting how they will respond to future global change.

In person event organized by Alexis Mychajliw assistant professor of biology/environmental studies. 

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