Modeling the functional link between movement, feeding activity, and condition in a marine predator
The ability to quantify animals’ feeding activity and the resulting changes in their body condition as they move in the environment is fundamental to our understanding of a population’s ecology. We use satellite tracking data from northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris), paired with simult...
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10468/7855 https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/ary183 |
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ftunivcollcork:oai:cora.ucc.ie:10468/7855 2023-08-27T04:09:15+02:00 Modeling the functional link between movement, feeding activity, and condition in a marine predator Pirotta, Enrico Schwarz, Lisa K. Costa, Daniel P. Robinson, Patrick W. New, Leslie 2018-12-27 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/10468/7855 https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/ary183 en eng Oxford University Press https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/ary183 Pirotta, E., Schwarz, L. K., Costa, D. P., Robinson, P. W. and New, L. (2018) 'Modeling the functional link between movement, feeding activity, and condition in a marine predator', Behavioral Ecology, 30(2), pp. 434-445. doi:10.1093/beheco/ary183 doi:10.1093/beheco/ary183 1465-7279 445 1045-2249 2 Behavioral Ecology 434 http://hdl.handle.net/10468/7855 30 © 2019, Oxford University Press. This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in Behavioral Ecology following peer review. The version of record [Pirotta, E., Schwarz, L. K., Costa, D. P., Robinson, P. W. and New, L. (2018) 'Modeling the functional link between movement, feeding activity, and condition in a marine predator', Behavioral Ecology, 30(2), pp. 434-445. doi:10.1093/beheco/ary183] is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/ary183 Body condition Disturbance Drift dives Elephant seals Feeding ecology Satellite tracking Bayesian state-space modelling Article (peer-reviewed) 2018 ftunivcollcork https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/ary183 2023-08-06T14:30:09Z The ability to quantify animals’ feeding activity and the resulting changes in their body condition as they move in the environment is fundamental to our understanding of a population’s ecology. We use satellite tracking data from northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris), paired with simultaneous diving information, to develop a Bayesian state-space model that concurrently estimates an individual’s location, feeding activity, and changes in condition. The model identifies important foraging areas and times, the relative amount of feeding occurring therein, and thus the different behavioral strategies in which the seals engage. The fitness implications of these strategies can be assessed by looking at the resulting variation in individuals’ condition, which in turn affects the condition and survival of their offspring. Therefore, our results shed light on the processes affecting an individual’s decision-making as it moves and feeds in the environment. In addition, we demonstrate how the model can be used to simulate realistic patterns of disturbance at different stages of the trip, and how the predicted accumulation of lipid reserves varies as a consequence. Particularly, disturbing an animal in periods of high feeding activity or shortly after leaving the colony was predicted to have the potential to lead to starvation. In contrast, an individual could compensate even for very severe disturbance if such disturbance occurred outside the main foraging grounds. Our modeling approach is applicable to marine mammal species that perform drift dives and can be extended to other species where an individual’s buoyancy can be inferred from its diving behavior. Article in Journal/Newspaper Elephant Seals University College Cork, Ireland: Cork Open Research Archive (CORA) Behavioral Ecology 30 2 434 445 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
University College Cork, Ireland: Cork Open Research Archive (CORA) |
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ftunivcollcork |
language |
English |
topic |
Body condition Disturbance Drift dives Elephant seals Feeding ecology Satellite tracking Bayesian state-space modelling |
spellingShingle |
Body condition Disturbance Drift dives Elephant seals Feeding ecology Satellite tracking Bayesian state-space modelling Pirotta, Enrico Schwarz, Lisa K. Costa, Daniel P. Robinson, Patrick W. New, Leslie Modeling the functional link between movement, feeding activity, and condition in a marine predator |
topic_facet |
Body condition Disturbance Drift dives Elephant seals Feeding ecology Satellite tracking Bayesian state-space modelling |
description |
The ability to quantify animals’ feeding activity and the resulting changes in their body condition as they move in the environment is fundamental to our understanding of a population’s ecology. We use satellite tracking data from northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris), paired with simultaneous diving information, to develop a Bayesian state-space model that concurrently estimates an individual’s location, feeding activity, and changes in condition. The model identifies important foraging areas and times, the relative amount of feeding occurring therein, and thus the different behavioral strategies in which the seals engage. The fitness implications of these strategies can be assessed by looking at the resulting variation in individuals’ condition, which in turn affects the condition and survival of their offspring. Therefore, our results shed light on the processes affecting an individual’s decision-making as it moves and feeds in the environment. In addition, we demonstrate how the model can be used to simulate realistic patterns of disturbance at different stages of the trip, and how the predicted accumulation of lipid reserves varies as a consequence. Particularly, disturbing an animal in periods of high feeding activity or shortly after leaving the colony was predicted to have the potential to lead to starvation. In contrast, an individual could compensate even for very severe disturbance if such disturbance occurred outside the main foraging grounds. Our modeling approach is applicable to marine mammal species that perform drift dives and can be extended to other species where an individual’s buoyancy can be inferred from its diving behavior. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Pirotta, Enrico Schwarz, Lisa K. Costa, Daniel P. Robinson, Patrick W. New, Leslie |
author_facet |
Pirotta, Enrico Schwarz, Lisa K. Costa, Daniel P. Robinson, Patrick W. New, Leslie |
author_sort |
Pirotta, Enrico |
title |
Modeling the functional link between movement, feeding activity, and condition in a marine predator |
title_short |
Modeling the functional link between movement, feeding activity, and condition in a marine predator |
title_full |
Modeling the functional link between movement, feeding activity, and condition in a marine predator |
title_fullStr |
Modeling the functional link between movement, feeding activity, and condition in a marine predator |
title_full_unstemmed |
Modeling the functional link between movement, feeding activity, and condition in a marine predator |
title_sort |
modeling the functional link between movement, feeding activity, and condition in a marine predator |
publisher |
Oxford University Press |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10468/7855 https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/ary183 |
genre |
Elephant Seals |
genre_facet |
Elephant Seals |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/ary183 Pirotta, E., Schwarz, L. K., Costa, D. P., Robinson, P. W. and New, L. (2018) 'Modeling the functional link between movement, feeding activity, and condition in a marine predator', Behavioral Ecology, 30(2), pp. 434-445. doi:10.1093/beheco/ary183 doi:10.1093/beheco/ary183 1465-7279 445 1045-2249 2 Behavioral Ecology 434 http://hdl.handle.net/10468/7855 30 |
op_rights |
© 2019, Oxford University Press. This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in Behavioral Ecology following peer review. The version of record [Pirotta, E., Schwarz, L. K., Costa, D. P., Robinson, P. W. and New, L. (2018) 'Modeling the functional link between movement, feeding activity, and condition in a marine predator', Behavioral Ecology, 30(2), pp. 434-445. doi:10.1093/beheco/ary183] is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/ary183 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/ary183 |
container_title |
Behavioral Ecology |
container_volume |
30 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
434 |
op_container_end_page |
445 |
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1775350425584664576 |