Blue whales increase feeding rates at fine-scale ocean features.
Marine predators face the challenge of reliably finding prey that is patchily distributed in space and time. Predators make movement decisions at multiple spatial and temporal scales, yet we have a limited understanding of how habitat selection at multiple scales translates into foraging performance...
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ftcdlib:oai:escholarship.org:ark:/13030/qt3r24s2f7 2024-02-11T10:02:22+01:00 Blue whales increase feeding rates at fine-scale ocean features. Fahlbusch, James Czapanskiy, Max Calambokidis, John Cade, David Abrahms, Briana Hazen, Elliott Goldbogen, Jeremy 2022-08-31 application/pdf https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3r24s2f7 unknown eScholarship, University of California qt3r24s2f7 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3r24s2f7 public Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, vol 289, iss 1981 Lagrangian coherent structures baleen whale biologging finite-time Lyapunov exponent habitat resource selection movement ecology Animals Balaenoptera Ecosystem Feeding Behavior Humans Movement Oceans and Seas Seasons article 2022 ftcdlib 2024-01-22T19:06:12Z Marine predators face the challenge of reliably finding prey that is patchily distributed in space and time. Predators make movement decisions at multiple spatial and temporal scales, yet we have a limited understanding of how habitat selection at multiple scales translates into foraging performance. In the ocean, there is mounting evidence that submesoscale (i.e. less than 100 km) processes drive the formation of dense prey patches that should hypothetically provide feeding hot spots and increase predator foraging success. Here, we integrated environmental remote-sensing with high-resolution animal-borne biologging data to evaluate submesoscale surface current features in relation to the habitat selection and foraging performance of blue whales in the California Current System. Our study revealed a consistent functional relationship in which blue whales disproportionately foraged within dynamic aggregative submesoscale features at both the regional and feeding site scales across seasons, regions and years. Moreover, we found that blue whale feeding rates increased in areas with stronger aggregative features, suggesting that these features indicate areas of higher prey density. The use of fine-scale, dynamic features by foraging blue whales underscores the need to take these features into account when designating critical habitat and may help inform strategies to mitigate the impacts of human activities for the species. Article in Journal/Newspaper baleen whale Blue whale University of California: eScholarship |
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Open Polar |
collection |
University of California: eScholarship |
op_collection_id |
ftcdlib |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Lagrangian coherent structures baleen whale biologging finite-time Lyapunov exponent habitat resource selection movement ecology Animals Balaenoptera Ecosystem Feeding Behavior Humans Movement Oceans and Seas Seasons |
spellingShingle |
Lagrangian coherent structures baleen whale biologging finite-time Lyapunov exponent habitat resource selection movement ecology Animals Balaenoptera Ecosystem Feeding Behavior Humans Movement Oceans and Seas Seasons Fahlbusch, James Czapanskiy, Max Calambokidis, John Cade, David Abrahms, Briana Hazen, Elliott Goldbogen, Jeremy Blue whales increase feeding rates at fine-scale ocean features. |
topic_facet |
Lagrangian coherent structures baleen whale biologging finite-time Lyapunov exponent habitat resource selection movement ecology Animals Balaenoptera Ecosystem Feeding Behavior Humans Movement Oceans and Seas Seasons |
description |
Marine predators face the challenge of reliably finding prey that is patchily distributed in space and time. Predators make movement decisions at multiple spatial and temporal scales, yet we have a limited understanding of how habitat selection at multiple scales translates into foraging performance. In the ocean, there is mounting evidence that submesoscale (i.e. less than 100 km) processes drive the formation of dense prey patches that should hypothetically provide feeding hot spots and increase predator foraging success. Here, we integrated environmental remote-sensing with high-resolution animal-borne biologging data to evaluate submesoscale surface current features in relation to the habitat selection and foraging performance of blue whales in the California Current System. Our study revealed a consistent functional relationship in which blue whales disproportionately foraged within dynamic aggregative submesoscale features at both the regional and feeding site scales across seasons, regions and years. Moreover, we found that blue whale feeding rates increased in areas with stronger aggregative features, suggesting that these features indicate areas of higher prey density. The use of fine-scale, dynamic features by foraging blue whales underscores the need to take these features into account when designating critical habitat and may help inform strategies to mitigate the impacts of human activities for the species. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Fahlbusch, James Czapanskiy, Max Calambokidis, John Cade, David Abrahms, Briana Hazen, Elliott Goldbogen, Jeremy |
author_facet |
Fahlbusch, James Czapanskiy, Max Calambokidis, John Cade, David Abrahms, Briana Hazen, Elliott Goldbogen, Jeremy |
author_sort |
Fahlbusch, James |
title |
Blue whales increase feeding rates at fine-scale ocean features. |
title_short |
Blue whales increase feeding rates at fine-scale ocean features. |
title_full |
Blue whales increase feeding rates at fine-scale ocean features. |
title_fullStr |
Blue whales increase feeding rates at fine-scale ocean features. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Blue whales increase feeding rates at fine-scale ocean features. |
title_sort |
blue whales increase feeding rates at fine-scale ocean features. |
publisher |
eScholarship, University of California |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3r24s2f7 |
genre |
baleen whale Blue whale |
genre_facet |
baleen whale Blue whale |
op_source |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, vol 289, iss 1981 |
op_relation |
qt3r24s2f7 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3r24s2f7 |
op_rights |
public |
_version_ |
1790598302900682752 |