David Shiffman

Want to name a shark and track it with Google Earth? Donate to my SciFund project!

February 18, 2014 David Shiffman

Blogging

Thanks to the 73 people who have donated to my SciFund Challenge shark feeding ecology project so far, helping me to meet and surpass my minimum funding goal! I can still accept additional funds beyond my minimum funding goal, and all funds raised will still be used exclusively for lab processing fees. As before, donations … Read More “Want to name a shark and track it with Google Earth? Donate to my SciFund project!” »

Help support marine biology SciFund projects!

February 18, 2014 David Shiffman

Blogging

Thanks for everyone who has donated to my SciFund Challenge shark feeding ecology project so far! Though I have surpassed my minimum funding goal of $3,000, I am still able to receive additional funds and all will be used for sample analysis fees. The offer to join us for a day of shark research still stands.

There are also other marine biology projects involved in the SciFund Challenge that need your support! A brief description of some (provided by the lead scientist on each project) is below, along with a link to learn more and donate.

Gills Club launches to inspire girls to pursue a career in marine biology

February 17, 2014 David Shiffman 2 Comments

Uncategorized

A new organization called the Gills Club is connecting girls with female marine biologist role models. Cynthia Wigren, President of the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, told me that, “Through Atlantic White Shark Conservancy (AWSC), I’ve met a lot of young girls who love sharks. The goal in founding the Gills Club was to connect girls … Read More “Gills Club launches to inspire girls to pursue a career in marine biology” »

Want to participate in a day of shark field research? Donate to my SciFund project!

February 12, 2014 David Shiffman

Blogging, Science

After one week, my SciFund project is more than 70% funded! Thanks to the 50 people who have donated so far! I’m making lots of progress, but I still need your help to make sure the project gets completely funded. Any donation helps, but larger donations have rewards, including getting to join me for a … Read More “Want to participate in a day of shark field research? Donate to my SciFund project!” »

Social media as a scientific research tool: Background info for my #scio14 session

February 6, 2014February 6, 2014 David Shiffman 1 Comment

Blogging, Science

At the 2014 ScienceOnlineTogether conference, I will be moderating a session focusing on how to use social media as a scientific research tool (2:30 P.M. on Friday, February 28th in room 3). The hashtag is #ScioResearch , so be sure to follow along, and I’ll make a Storify afterwards. This post is primarily intended to be a source of background information for participants in my session, though feel free to read, share and ask questions in the comments if you are not planning on participating in my session.

ScienceOnline community members understand the value of social media for collaborating with colleagues and communicating science to the public, but few think of the incredible resource that these tools are for scientific research. Hundreds of millions of people all over the world are constantly sharing their experiences and opinions in a format that is public, archived, searchable, and accessible, giving researchers access to this enormous dataset without the expense or logisitical difficulties involved in organizing a large-scale survey or series of focus groups. To use a technical term, for many types of scientific research, social media and “big data” is what is called “a freakin’ gold mine.”

Below are a few examples of how social media can be used for scientific research.

SciFund Challenge: Help support my shark feeding ecology research

February 3, 2014February 10, 2014 David Shiffman

Blogging, Science

I am participating in the 4th SciFund Challenge, a crowdfunding event for scientific research! My project, part of my Ph.D. dissertation research, is looking at the feeding ecology of local species of sharks with the goal of generating data that can help managers to conserve and protect these species. I’d appreciate any assistance you can … Read More “SciFund Challenge: Help support my shark feeding ecology research” »

7 ways to make beaches safer without killing sharks

January 26, 2014January 27, 2014 David Shiffman 12 Comments

Uncategorized

This past weekend, the shark cull officially began in Western Australia as the first shark was killed. The scientific evidence is clear that culls do not lessen people’s risk of shark attacks, and more than 100 scientific experts from around the world have signed an open letter opposing this cull. While the only sure way to reduce the risk of a shark bite by 100% is to stay out of the water, there are many strategies that actually can reduce someone’s risk significantly without harming populations of threatened animals.

1) Aerial patrols. Planes or helicopters flying above the beach can help identify when potentially dangerous sharks are present. The Australian Aerial Patrol has done this for decades. Though the spotting rate is relatively low and the patrols are expensive, new technologies like drones can help reduce the cost of these patrols.

Your help needed: Oppose a weakened shark finning ban in Maryland

January 26, 2014January 26, 2014 David Shiffman 56 Comments

Science

The state of Maryland is proposing new regulations that would, among other things, weaken the state ban on shark finning by allowing fishermen to remove the fins of smoothhound sharks at sea, as long as the ratio of the weight of the fins does not exceed 12% of the ratio of the carcasses. These “fin ratios” are already troubling and ineffective ways to enforce finning bans. Landing sharks with fins naturally attached is considered the best practice for shark fisheries management. A 12% ratio is exceptionally high (3.5-5% are common ratios worldwide) and risks enabling unscrupulous fishermen to remove the fins of not only smoothhound sharks, but other species whose fins could be passed off as such. This makes it harder for managers to track how many sharks of which species are being killed.

In New York, smoothhounds are landed with fins naturally attached. They should be in Maryland, too! Photo credit: Sonja Fordham. — Some fishermen claim that smoothhound sharks can’t be landed with fins naturally attached, but this photo from New York challenges that notion. Photo provided anonymously for this post.

Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources is taking public comments on this policy, which means that you can help!

Please send an e-mail to fisheriespubliccomment@dnr.state.md.us by the end of the day on Monday, January 27th containing the following information:

First systematic threat analysis reveals that 1/4 of sharks, rays, and chimaeras are threatened with extinction

January 21, 2014 David Shiffman

Conservation, Science

It took a team of over 300 scientists nearly two decades, but the first systematic analysis of the conservation status of chondrichthyans (sharks, rays and chimaeras) has been completed. The results, published today (open access) in a paper titled “Extinction risk and conservation of the world’s sharks and rays,” are chilling.

“Our unprecedented analysis shows that sharks and their relatives – which make up one of the earth’s oldest and most ecologically diverse groups of animals — are facing an alarmingly elevated risk of extinction,” said Dr. Nick Dulvy, IUCN SSG Co-Chair and Professor at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia.

As of the writing of this paper, the IUCN Shark Specialist Group recognized 1,041 species of chondrichthyans. However, a new species is described, on average, every two or three weeks! Out of these 1,041 species of chondrichthyans, approximately one in four are considered “Threatened” by IUCN Red List criteria; 113 species are Vulnerable, 43 are Endangered, and 25 species are Critically Endangered. 487 species are considered Data Deficient, but the IUCN Shark Specialist Group estimates that 68 of them are likely to be Threatened as well! Most alarmingly, only 23% of known chondrichthyan species are considered Least Concern, the lowest percentage out of any group of vertebrates on land or sea!

A hierarchy of IUCN Red List categories. Note that "Threatened" includes Vulnerable, Endangered, and Critically Endangered — A hierarchy of IUCN Red List categories. Note that “Threatened” includes Vulnerable, Endangered, and Critically Endangered

One of the two main factors influencing Threatened status is the size of the animal. Larger bodied species are sensitive to overfishing because they typically have a life history with slow growth, late age at maturity, and relatively few offspring. Additionally, living in coastal habitats (in other words, close to humans) makes a species more likely to be Threatened.

SciFund challenge background: 6 questions you can answer about shark feeding ecology with stable isotope analysis

January 14, 2014August 24, 2017 David Shiffman

Science

As many of you have heard, I have a project in the 4th SciFund Challenge, a scientific research crowdfunding organization. My project, entitled “You are what you eat: non-lethal feeding ecology to help conserve threatened sharks,” is part of my Ph.D. dissertation research. You’ll be hearing a lot more about it over the new few weeks here, on twitter, and on my Facebook page once the challenge officially starts on February 1st. I’d really appreciate your support of my research!

I’ll be using a research technique called stable isotope analysis to study the diet and food web interactions of shark species in Florida. My project (and the research technique) will be briefly explained on my SciFund site, but I wanted to go into more detail about the type of research questions that stable isotope analysis can answer, as well as why this kind of data is significant.

Feeding ecology is important to the conservation and management of sharks.

An emerging trend in marine conservation is “ecosystem based fisheries management”, which means that managers would consider the diet and food web interactions of species of interest. An effective ecosystem-based fisheries management plan would require, among other things, detailed diet and food web interaction data. We can better conserve and protect threatened marine life such as sharks if we better understand their biology and ecology, including what they eat. Over 100 priority research questions for shark conservation were identified in a 2011 research paper (available open access here), and several of these are related to feeding ecology and ecosystem role.

The traditional method for studying the diet of sharks is called stomach content analysis, which typically involves cutting open the stomach of a shark to examine what is inside. Southern Fried Science writer Chuck used a non-lethal alternative that involved pumping the sharks’ stomachs, but that is far less commonly performed. While direct and effective, this kind of lethal sampling research may not be appropriate for certain threatened species of sharks. Stable isotope analysis, which requires only a small tissue sample, can be performed non-lethally.

Stable isotope analysis background information