Prey patch patterns predict habitat use by top marine predators with diverse foraging strategies.
Spatial coherence between predators and prey has rarely been observed in pelagic marine ecosystems. We used measures of the environment, prey abundance, prey quality, and prey distribution to explain the observed distributions of three co-occurring predator species breeding on islands in the southea...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:966f6c43d95141839150d2e9c3827795 2023-05-15T15:43:56+02:00 Prey patch patterns predict habitat use by top marine predators with diverse foraging strategies. Kelly J Benoit-Bird Brian C Battaile Scott A Heppell Brian Hoover David Irons Nathan Jones Kathy J Kuletz Chad A Nordstrom Rosana Paredes Robert M Suryan Chad M Waluk Andrew W Trites 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0053348 https://doaj.org/article/966f6c43d95141839150d2e9c3827795 EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3536749?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0053348 https://doaj.org/article/966f6c43d95141839150d2e9c3827795 PLoS ONE, Vol 8, Iss 1, p e53348 (2013) Medicine R Science Q article 2013 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0053348 2022-12-31T09:01:03Z Spatial coherence between predators and prey has rarely been observed in pelagic marine ecosystems. We used measures of the environment, prey abundance, prey quality, and prey distribution to explain the observed distributions of three co-occurring predator species breeding on islands in the southeastern Bering Sea: black-legged kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla), thick-billed murres (Uria lomvia), and northern fur seals (Callorhinus ursinus). Predictions of statistical models were tested using movement patterns obtained from satellite-tracked individual animals. With the most commonly used measures to quantify prey distributions--areal biomass, density, and numerical abundance--we were unable to find a spatial relationship between predators and their prey. We instead found that habitat use by all three predators was predicted most strongly by prey patch characteristics such as depth and local density within spatial aggregations. Additional prey patch characteristics and physical habitat also contributed significantly to characterizing predator patterns. Our results indicate that the small-scale prey patch characteristics are critical to how predators perceive the quality of their food supply and the mechanisms they use to exploit it, regardless of time of day, sampling year, or source colony. The three focal predator species had different constraints and employed different foraging strategies--a shallow diver that makes trips of moderate distance (kittiwakes), a deep diver that makes trip of short distances (murres), and a deep diver that makes extensive trips (fur seals). However, all three were similarly linked by patchiness of prey rather than by the distribution of overall biomass. This supports the hypothesis that patchiness may be critical for understanding predator-prey relationships in pelagic marine systems more generally. Article in Journal/Newspaper Bering Sea rissa tridactyla Uria lomvia Callorhinus ursinus uria Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Bering Sea PLoS ONE 8 1 e53348 |
institution |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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language |
English |
topic |
Medicine R Science Q |
spellingShingle |
Medicine R Science Q Kelly J Benoit-Bird Brian C Battaile Scott A Heppell Brian Hoover David Irons Nathan Jones Kathy J Kuletz Chad A Nordstrom Rosana Paredes Robert M Suryan Chad M Waluk Andrew W Trites Prey patch patterns predict habitat use by top marine predators with diverse foraging strategies. |
topic_facet |
Medicine R Science Q |
description |
Spatial coherence between predators and prey has rarely been observed in pelagic marine ecosystems. We used measures of the environment, prey abundance, prey quality, and prey distribution to explain the observed distributions of three co-occurring predator species breeding on islands in the southeastern Bering Sea: black-legged kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla), thick-billed murres (Uria lomvia), and northern fur seals (Callorhinus ursinus). Predictions of statistical models were tested using movement patterns obtained from satellite-tracked individual animals. With the most commonly used measures to quantify prey distributions--areal biomass, density, and numerical abundance--we were unable to find a spatial relationship between predators and their prey. We instead found that habitat use by all three predators was predicted most strongly by prey patch characteristics such as depth and local density within spatial aggregations. Additional prey patch characteristics and physical habitat also contributed significantly to characterizing predator patterns. Our results indicate that the small-scale prey patch characteristics are critical to how predators perceive the quality of their food supply and the mechanisms they use to exploit it, regardless of time of day, sampling year, or source colony. The three focal predator species had different constraints and employed different foraging strategies--a shallow diver that makes trips of moderate distance (kittiwakes), a deep diver that makes trip of short distances (murres), and a deep diver that makes extensive trips (fur seals). However, all three were similarly linked by patchiness of prey rather than by the distribution of overall biomass. This supports the hypothesis that patchiness may be critical for understanding predator-prey relationships in pelagic marine systems more generally. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Kelly J Benoit-Bird Brian C Battaile Scott A Heppell Brian Hoover David Irons Nathan Jones Kathy J Kuletz Chad A Nordstrom Rosana Paredes Robert M Suryan Chad M Waluk Andrew W Trites |
author_facet |
Kelly J Benoit-Bird Brian C Battaile Scott A Heppell Brian Hoover David Irons Nathan Jones Kathy J Kuletz Chad A Nordstrom Rosana Paredes Robert M Suryan Chad M Waluk Andrew W Trites |
author_sort |
Kelly J Benoit-Bird |
title |
Prey patch patterns predict habitat use by top marine predators with diverse foraging strategies. |
title_short |
Prey patch patterns predict habitat use by top marine predators with diverse foraging strategies. |
title_full |
Prey patch patterns predict habitat use by top marine predators with diverse foraging strategies. |
title_fullStr |
Prey patch patterns predict habitat use by top marine predators with diverse foraging strategies. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Prey patch patterns predict habitat use by top marine predators with diverse foraging strategies. |
title_sort |
prey patch patterns predict habitat use by top marine predators with diverse foraging strategies. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0053348 https://doaj.org/article/966f6c43d95141839150d2e9c3827795 |
geographic |
Bering Sea |
geographic_facet |
Bering Sea |
genre |
Bering Sea rissa tridactyla Uria lomvia Callorhinus ursinus uria |
genre_facet |
Bering Sea rissa tridactyla Uria lomvia Callorhinus ursinus uria |
op_source |
PLoS ONE, Vol 8, Iss 1, p e53348 (2013) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3536749?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0053348 https://doaj.org/article/966f6c43d95141839150d2e9c3827795 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0053348 |
container_title |
PLoS ONE |
container_volume |
8 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
e53348 |
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1766378157418479616 |