The effect of prey abundance and fisheries on the survival, reproduction, and social structure of killer whales (Orcinus orca) at subantarctic Marion Island
Most marine apex predators are keystone species that fundamentally influence their ecosystems through cascading top‐down processes. Reductions in worldwide predator abundances, attributed to environmental‐ and anthropogenic‐induced changes to prey availability and negative interactions with fisherie...
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Online Access: | http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10239896/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37284666 https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10144 |
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:10239896 2023-07-02T03:32:50+02:00 The effect of prey abundance and fisheries on the survival, reproduction, and social structure of killer whales (Orcinus orca) at subantarctic Marion Island Jordaan, Rowan K. Oosthuizen, W. Chris Reisinger, Ryan R. de Bruyn, P. J. Nico 2023-06-04 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10239896/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37284666 https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10144 en eng John Wiley and Sons Inc. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10239896/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37284666 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10144 © 2023 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Ecol Evol Research Articles Text 2023 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10144 2023-06-11T00:47:34Z Most marine apex predators are keystone species that fundamentally influence their ecosystems through cascading top‐down processes. Reductions in worldwide predator abundances, attributed to environmental‐ and anthropogenic‐induced changes to prey availability and negative interactions with fisheries, can have far‐reaching ecosystem impacts. We tested whether the survival of killer whales (Orcinus orca) observed at Marion Island in the Southern Indian Ocean correlated with social structure and prey variables (direct measures of prey abundance, Patagonian toothfish fishery effort, and environmental proxies) using multistate models of capture–recapture data spanning 12 years (2006–2018). We also tested the effect of these same variables on killer whale social structure and reproduction measured over the same period. Indices of social structure had the strongest correlation with survival, with higher sociality associated with increased survival probability. Survival was also positively correlated with Patagonian toothfish fishing effort during the previous year, suggesting that fishery‐linked resource availability is an important determinant of survival. No correlation between survival and environmental proxies of prey abundance was found. At‐island prey availability influenced the social structure of Marion Island killer whales, but none of the variables explained variability in reproduction. Future increases in legal fishing activity may benefit this population of killer whales through the artificial provisioning of resources they provide. Text Killer Whale Marion Island Orca Orcinus orca Patagonian Toothfish Killer whale PubMed Central (PMC) Indian Ecology and Evolution 13 6 |
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Research Articles Jordaan, Rowan K. Oosthuizen, W. Chris Reisinger, Ryan R. de Bruyn, P. J. Nico The effect of prey abundance and fisheries on the survival, reproduction, and social structure of killer whales (Orcinus orca) at subantarctic Marion Island |
topic_facet |
Research Articles |
description |
Most marine apex predators are keystone species that fundamentally influence their ecosystems through cascading top‐down processes. Reductions in worldwide predator abundances, attributed to environmental‐ and anthropogenic‐induced changes to prey availability and negative interactions with fisheries, can have far‐reaching ecosystem impacts. We tested whether the survival of killer whales (Orcinus orca) observed at Marion Island in the Southern Indian Ocean correlated with social structure and prey variables (direct measures of prey abundance, Patagonian toothfish fishery effort, and environmental proxies) using multistate models of capture–recapture data spanning 12 years (2006–2018). We also tested the effect of these same variables on killer whale social structure and reproduction measured over the same period. Indices of social structure had the strongest correlation with survival, with higher sociality associated with increased survival probability. Survival was also positively correlated with Patagonian toothfish fishing effort during the previous year, suggesting that fishery‐linked resource availability is an important determinant of survival. No correlation between survival and environmental proxies of prey abundance was found. At‐island prey availability influenced the social structure of Marion Island killer whales, but none of the variables explained variability in reproduction. Future increases in legal fishing activity may benefit this population of killer whales through the artificial provisioning of resources they provide. |
format |
Text |
author |
Jordaan, Rowan K. Oosthuizen, W. Chris Reisinger, Ryan R. de Bruyn, P. J. Nico |
author_facet |
Jordaan, Rowan K. Oosthuizen, W. Chris Reisinger, Ryan R. de Bruyn, P. J. Nico |
author_sort |
Jordaan, Rowan K. |
title |
The effect of prey abundance and fisheries on the survival, reproduction, and social structure of killer whales (Orcinus orca) at subantarctic Marion Island |
title_short |
The effect of prey abundance and fisheries on the survival, reproduction, and social structure of killer whales (Orcinus orca) at subantarctic Marion Island |
title_full |
The effect of prey abundance and fisheries on the survival, reproduction, and social structure of killer whales (Orcinus orca) at subantarctic Marion Island |
title_fullStr |
The effect of prey abundance and fisheries on the survival, reproduction, and social structure of killer whales (Orcinus orca) at subantarctic Marion Island |
title_full_unstemmed |
The effect of prey abundance and fisheries on the survival, reproduction, and social structure of killer whales (Orcinus orca) at subantarctic Marion Island |
title_sort |
effect of prey abundance and fisheries on the survival, reproduction, and social structure of killer whales (orcinus orca) at subantarctic marion island |
publisher |
John Wiley and Sons Inc. |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10239896/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37284666 https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10144 |
geographic |
Indian |
geographic_facet |
Indian |
genre |
Killer Whale Marion Island Orca Orcinus orca Patagonian Toothfish Killer whale |
genre_facet |
Killer Whale Marion Island Orca Orcinus orca Patagonian Toothfish Killer whale |
op_source |
Ecol Evol |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10239896/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37284666 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10144 |
op_rights |
© 2023 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10144 |
container_title |
Ecology and Evolution |
container_volume |
13 |
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6 |
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1770272525618511872 |