Return customers : foraging site fidelity and the effect of environmental variability in wide-ranging Antarctic fur seals
Strategies employed by wide-ranging foraging animals involve consideration of habitat quality and predictability and should maximise net energy gain. Fidelity to foraging sites is common in areas of high resource availability or where predictable changes in resource availability occur. However, if r...
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/2263/46295 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0120888 |
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ftunivpretoria:oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/46295 2023-05-15T13:46:27+02:00 Return customers : foraging site fidelity and the effect of environmental variability in wide-ranging Antarctic fur seals Arthur, Benjamin Hindell, Mark A. Bester, Marthan Nieuwoudt Trathan, Phil Jonsen, Ian Staniland, Lain Oosthuizen, Wessel Christiaan Wege, Mia Lea, Mary-Anne 2015-03-25 http://hdl.handle.net/2263/46295 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0120888 en eng Public Library of Science http://hdl.handle.net/2263/46295 Arthur B, Hindell M, Bester M, Trathan P, Jonsen I, Staniland I, Oosthuizen, WC, Wege, M & Lea, MA (2015) Return Customers: Foraging Site Fidelity and the Effect of Environmental Variability in Wide-Ranging Antarctic Fur Seals. PLoS ONE 10(3): e0120888. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0120888 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0120888 © 2015 Arthur et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. CC-BY Animals Energy gain Fidelity Antarctic fur seal (Arctocephalus gazella) Article 2015 ftunivpretoria https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0120888 2022-05-31T13:02:02Z Strategies employed by wide-ranging foraging animals involve consideration of habitat quality and predictability and should maximise net energy gain. Fidelity to foraging sites is common in areas of high resource availability or where predictable changes in resource availability occur. However, if resource availability is heterogeneous or unpredictable, as it often is in marine environments, then habitat familiarity may also present ecological benefits to individuals. We examined the winter foraging distribution of female Antarctic fur seals, Arctocephalus gazelle, over four years to assess the degree of foraging site fidelity at two scales; within and between years. On average, between-year fidelity was strong, with most individuals utilising more than half of their annual foraging home range over multiple years. However, fidelity was a bimodal strategy among individuals, with five out of eight animals recording between-year overlap values of greater than 50%, while three animals recorded values of less than 5%. High long-term variance in sea surface temperature, a potential proxy for elevated long-term productivity and prey availability, typified areas of overlap. Withinyear foraging site fidelity was weak, indicating that successive trips over the winter target different geographic areas. We suggest that over a season, changes in prey availability are predictable enough for individuals to shift foraging area in response, with limited associated energetic costs. Conversely, over multiple years, the availability of prey resources is less spatially and temporally predictable, increasing the potential costs of shifting foraging area and favouring long-term site fidelity. In a dynamic and patchy environment, multi-year foraging site fidelity may confer a long-term energetic advantage to the individual. Such behaviours that operate at the individual level have evolutionary and ecological implications and are potential drivers of niche specialization and modifiers of intra-specific competition. The Australian ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Fur Seal Antarctic Fur Seals Arctocephalus gazella University of Pretoria: UPSpace Antarctic PLOS ONE 10 3 e0120888 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Pretoria: UPSpace |
op_collection_id |
ftunivpretoria |
language |
English |
topic |
Animals Energy gain Fidelity Antarctic fur seal (Arctocephalus gazella) |
spellingShingle |
Animals Energy gain Fidelity Antarctic fur seal (Arctocephalus gazella) Arthur, Benjamin Hindell, Mark A. Bester, Marthan Nieuwoudt Trathan, Phil Jonsen, Ian Staniland, Lain Oosthuizen, Wessel Christiaan Wege, Mia Lea, Mary-Anne Return customers : foraging site fidelity and the effect of environmental variability in wide-ranging Antarctic fur seals |
topic_facet |
Animals Energy gain Fidelity Antarctic fur seal (Arctocephalus gazella) |
description |
Strategies employed by wide-ranging foraging animals involve consideration of habitat quality and predictability and should maximise net energy gain. Fidelity to foraging sites is common in areas of high resource availability or where predictable changes in resource availability occur. However, if resource availability is heterogeneous or unpredictable, as it often is in marine environments, then habitat familiarity may also present ecological benefits to individuals. We examined the winter foraging distribution of female Antarctic fur seals, Arctocephalus gazelle, over four years to assess the degree of foraging site fidelity at two scales; within and between years. On average, between-year fidelity was strong, with most individuals utilising more than half of their annual foraging home range over multiple years. However, fidelity was a bimodal strategy among individuals, with five out of eight animals recording between-year overlap values of greater than 50%, while three animals recorded values of less than 5%. High long-term variance in sea surface temperature, a potential proxy for elevated long-term productivity and prey availability, typified areas of overlap. Withinyear foraging site fidelity was weak, indicating that successive trips over the winter target different geographic areas. We suggest that over a season, changes in prey availability are predictable enough for individuals to shift foraging area in response, with limited associated energetic costs. Conversely, over multiple years, the availability of prey resources is less spatially and temporally predictable, increasing the potential costs of shifting foraging area and favouring long-term site fidelity. In a dynamic and patchy environment, multi-year foraging site fidelity may confer a long-term energetic advantage to the individual. Such behaviours that operate at the individual level have evolutionary and ecological implications and are potential drivers of niche specialization and modifiers of intra-specific competition. The Australian ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Arthur, Benjamin Hindell, Mark A. Bester, Marthan Nieuwoudt Trathan, Phil Jonsen, Ian Staniland, Lain Oosthuizen, Wessel Christiaan Wege, Mia Lea, Mary-Anne |
author_facet |
Arthur, Benjamin Hindell, Mark A. Bester, Marthan Nieuwoudt Trathan, Phil Jonsen, Ian Staniland, Lain Oosthuizen, Wessel Christiaan Wege, Mia Lea, Mary-Anne |
author_sort |
Arthur, Benjamin |
title |
Return customers : foraging site fidelity and the effect of environmental variability in wide-ranging Antarctic fur seals |
title_short |
Return customers : foraging site fidelity and the effect of environmental variability in wide-ranging Antarctic fur seals |
title_full |
Return customers : foraging site fidelity and the effect of environmental variability in wide-ranging Antarctic fur seals |
title_fullStr |
Return customers : foraging site fidelity and the effect of environmental variability in wide-ranging Antarctic fur seals |
title_full_unstemmed |
Return customers : foraging site fidelity and the effect of environmental variability in wide-ranging Antarctic fur seals |
title_sort |
return customers : foraging site fidelity and the effect of environmental variability in wide-ranging antarctic fur seals |
publisher |
Public Library of Science |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/2263/46295 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0120888 |
geographic |
Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Fur Seal Antarctic Fur Seals Arctocephalus gazella |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Fur Seal Antarctic Fur Seals Arctocephalus gazella |
op_relation |
http://hdl.handle.net/2263/46295 Arthur B, Hindell M, Bester M, Trathan P, Jonsen I, Staniland I, Oosthuizen, WC, Wege, M & Lea, MA (2015) Return Customers: Foraging Site Fidelity and the Effect of Environmental Variability in Wide-Ranging Antarctic Fur Seals. PLoS ONE 10(3): e0120888. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0120888 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0120888 |
op_rights |
© 2015 Arthur et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0120888 |
container_title |
PLOS ONE |
container_volume |
10 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
e0120888 |
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1766242888176369664 |