Predator-scale spatial analysis of intra-patch prey distribution reveals the energetic drivers of rorqual whale super-group formation

• Published in: Functional Ecology
• Main Authors: Cade, David E., Seakamela, S. Mduduzi, Findlay, Kenneth Pierce, Fukunaga, Julie, Kahane-Rapport, Shirel R., Warren, Joseph D., Calambokidis, John, Fahlbusch, James A., Friedlaender, Ari S., Hazen, Elliott L., Kotze, Deon, McCue, Steven, Meyer, Michael, Oestreich, William K., Oudejans, Machiel G., Wilke, Christopher, Goldbogen, Jeremy A.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2021
• Subjects: Blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus); Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae); Fisheries acoustics; Foraging ecology; Gulp-sized cell; Lognormal prey distribution; Patchiness; Raptorial filter-feeding; Whale scale; Rorqual; Balaenoptera musculus; Blue whale; Megaptera novaeangliae
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2263/80253; https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.13763

Animals are distributed relative to the resources they rely upon, often scaling in abundance relative to available resources. Yet, in heterogeneously distributed environments, describing resource availability at relevant spatial scales remains a challenge in ecology, inhibiting understanding of pred...