Encounter success of free-ranging marine predator movements across a dynamic prey landscape
Movements of wide-ranging top predators can now be studied effectively using satellite and archival telemetry. However, the motivations underlying movements remain difficult to determine because trajectories are seldom related to key biological gradients, such as changing prey distributions. Here, w...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:1560279 2023-05-15T15:53:51+02:00 Encounter success of free-ranging marine predator movements across a dynamic prey landscape Sims, David W Witt, Matthew J Richardson, Anthony J Southall, Emily J Metcalfe, Julian D 2006-02-08 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1560279 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16720391 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2005.3444 en eng The Royal Society http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1560279 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16720391 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2005.3444 © 2006 The Royal Society Research Article Text 2006 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2005.3444 2013-08-31T06:19:50Z Movements of wide-ranging top predators can now be studied effectively using satellite and archival telemetry. However, the motivations underlying movements remain difficult to determine because trajectories are seldom related to key biological gradients, such as changing prey distributions. Here, we use a dynamic prey landscape of zooplankton biomass in the north-east Atlantic Ocean to examine active habitat selection in the plankton-feeding basking shark Cetorhinus maximus. The relative success of shark searches across this landscape was examined by comparing prey biomass encountered by sharks with encounters by random-walk simulations of ‘model’ sharks. Movements of transmitter-tagged sharks monitored for 964 days (16 754 km estimated minimum distance) were concentrated on the European continental shelf in areas characterized by high seasonal productivity and complex prey distributions. We show movements by adult and sub-adult sharks yielded consistently higher prey encounter rates than 90% of random-walk simulations. Behavioural patterns were consistent with basking sharks using search tactics structured across multiple scales to exploit the richest prey areas available in preferred habitats. Simple behavioural rules based on learned responses to previously encountered prey distributions may explain the high performances. This study highlights how dynamic prey landscapes enable active habitat selection in large predators to be investigated from a trophic perspective, an approach that may inform conservation by identifying critical habitat of vulnerable species. Text Cetorhinus maximus North East Atlantic PubMed Central (PMC) Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 273 1591 1195 1201 |
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Research Article Sims, David W Witt, Matthew J Richardson, Anthony J Southall, Emily J Metcalfe, Julian D Encounter success of free-ranging marine predator movements across a dynamic prey landscape |
topic_facet |
Research Article |
description |
Movements of wide-ranging top predators can now be studied effectively using satellite and archival telemetry. However, the motivations underlying movements remain difficult to determine because trajectories are seldom related to key biological gradients, such as changing prey distributions. Here, we use a dynamic prey landscape of zooplankton biomass in the north-east Atlantic Ocean to examine active habitat selection in the plankton-feeding basking shark Cetorhinus maximus. The relative success of shark searches across this landscape was examined by comparing prey biomass encountered by sharks with encounters by random-walk simulations of ‘model’ sharks. Movements of transmitter-tagged sharks monitored for 964 days (16 754 km estimated minimum distance) were concentrated on the European continental shelf in areas characterized by high seasonal productivity and complex prey distributions. We show movements by adult and sub-adult sharks yielded consistently higher prey encounter rates than 90% of random-walk simulations. Behavioural patterns were consistent with basking sharks using search tactics structured across multiple scales to exploit the richest prey areas available in preferred habitats. Simple behavioural rules based on learned responses to previously encountered prey distributions may explain the high performances. This study highlights how dynamic prey landscapes enable active habitat selection in large predators to be investigated from a trophic perspective, an approach that may inform conservation by identifying critical habitat of vulnerable species. |
format |
Text |
author |
Sims, David W Witt, Matthew J Richardson, Anthony J Southall, Emily J Metcalfe, Julian D |
author_facet |
Sims, David W Witt, Matthew J Richardson, Anthony J Southall, Emily J Metcalfe, Julian D |
author_sort |
Sims, David W |
title |
Encounter success of free-ranging marine predator movements across a dynamic prey landscape |
title_short |
Encounter success of free-ranging marine predator movements across a dynamic prey landscape |
title_full |
Encounter success of free-ranging marine predator movements across a dynamic prey landscape |
title_fullStr |
Encounter success of free-ranging marine predator movements across a dynamic prey landscape |
title_full_unstemmed |
Encounter success of free-ranging marine predator movements across a dynamic prey landscape |
title_sort |
encounter success of free-ranging marine predator movements across a dynamic prey landscape |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2006 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1560279 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16720391 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2005.3444 |
genre |
Cetorhinus maximus North East Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Cetorhinus maximus North East Atlantic |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1560279 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16720391 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2005.3444 |
op_rights |
© 2006 The Royal Society |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2005.3444 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
container_volume |
273 |
container_issue |
1591 |
container_start_page |
1195 |
op_container_end_page |
1201 |
_version_ |
1766389031398014976 |