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 habitatquality and predictability and should maximise net energy gain. Fidelity to foraging sites iscommon in areas of high resource availability or where predictable changes in resourceavailability occur. However, if reso...
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ftunivtasecite:oai:ecite.utas.edu.au:99614 2023-05-15T14:03:25+02:00 Return customers: foraging site fidelity and the effect of environmental variability in wide-ranging Antarctic fur seals Arthur, B Hindell, M Bester, M Trathan, P Jonsen, I Staniland, I Oosthuizen, WC Wege, M Lea, M-A 2015 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0120888 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25807082 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/99614 en eng Public Library of Science http://ecite.utas.edu.au/99614/1/Arthur et al 2015.pdf http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0120888 Arthur, B and Hindell, M and Bester, M and Trathan, P and Jonsen, I and Staniland, I and Oosthuizen, WC and Wege, M and Lea, M-A, Return customers: foraging site fidelity and the effect of environmental variability in wide-ranging Antarctic fur seals, PLoS ONE, 10, (3) Article e0120888. ISSN 1932-6203 (2015) [Refereed Article] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25807082 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/99614 Biological Sciences Ecology Marine and Estuarine Ecology (incl. Marine Ichthyology) Refereed Article PeerReviewed 2015 ftunivtasecite https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0120888 2019-12-13T22:01:30Z Strategies employed by wide-ranging foraging animals involve consideration of habitatquality and predictability and should maximise net energy gain. Fidelity to foraging sites iscommon in areas of high resource availability or where predictable changes in resourceavailability occur. However, if resource availability is heterogeneous or unpredictable, as itoften is in marine environments, then habitat familiarity may also present ecological benefitsto 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 twoscales; within and between years. On average, between-year fidelity was strong, with mostindividuals 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 recordingbetween-year overlap values of greater than 50%, while three animals recorded valuesof less than 5%. High long-term variance in sea surface temperature, a potential proxyfor elevated long-term productivity and prey availability, typified areas of overlap. Withinyearforaging site fidelity was weak, indicating that successive trips over the winter targetdifferent geographic areas. We suggest that over a season, changes in prey availability arepredictable enough for individuals to shift foraging area in response, with limited associatedenergetic costs. Conversely, over multiple years, the availability of prey resources is lessspatially and temporally predictable, increasing the potential costs of shifting foraging areaand favouring long-term site fidelity. In a dynamic and patchy environment, multi-year foragingsite fidelity may confer a long-term energetic advantage to the individual. Such behavioursthat operate at the individual level have evolutionary and ecological implications andare potential drivers of niche specialization and modifiers of intra-specific competition. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Fur Seals eCite UTAS (University of Tasmania) Antarctic PLOS ONE 10 3 e0120888 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
eCite UTAS (University of Tasmania) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtasecite |
language |
English |
topic |
Biological Sciences Ecology Marine and Estuarine Ecology (incl. Marine Ichthyology) |
spellingShingle |
Biological Sciences Ecology Marine and Estuarine Ecology (incl. Marine Ichthyology) Arthur, B Hindell, M Bester, M Trathan, P Jonsen, I Staniland, I Oosthuizen, WC Wege, M Lea, M-A Return customers: foraging site fidelity and the effect of environmental variability in wide-ranging Antarctic fur seals |
topic_facet |
Biological Sciences Ecology Marine and Estuarine Ecology (incl. Marine Ichthyology) |
description |
Strategies employed by wide-ranging foraging animals involve consideration of habitatquality and predictability and should maximise net energy gain. Fidelity to foraging sites iscommon in areas of high resource availability or where predictable changes in resourceavailability occur. However, if resource availability is heterogeneous or unpredictable, as itoften is in marine environments, then habitat familiarity may also present ecological benefitsto 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 twoscales; within and between years. On average, between-year fidelity was strong, with mostindividuals 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 recordingbetween-year overlap values of greater than 50%, while three animals recorded valuesof less than 5%. High long-term variance in sea surface temperature, a potential proxyfor elevated long-term productivity and prey availability, typified areas of overlap. Withinyearforaging site fidelity was weak, indicating that successive trips over the winter targetdifferent geographic areas. We suggest that over a season, changes in prey availability arepredictable enough for individuals to shift foraging area in response, with limited associatedenergetic costs. Conversely, over multiple years, the availability of prey resources is lessspatially and temporally predictable, increasing the potential costs of shifting foraging areaand favouring long-term site fidelity. In a dynamic and patchy environment, multi-year foragingsite fidelity may confer a long-term energetic advantage to the individual. Such behavioursthat operate at the individual level have evolutionary and ecological implications andare potential drivers of niche specialization and modifiers of intra-specific competition. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Arthur, B Hindell, M Bester, M Trathan, P Jonsen, I Staniland, I Oosthuizen, WC Wege, M Lea, M-A |
author_facet |
Arthur, B Hindell, M Bester, M Trathan, P Jonsen, I Staniland, I Oosthuizen, WC Wege, M Lea, M-A |
author_sort |
Arthur, B |
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 |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0120888 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25807082 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/99614 |
geographic |
Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Fur Seals |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Fur Seals |
op_relation |
http://ecite.utas.edu.au/99614/1/Arthur et al 2015.pdf http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0120888 Arthur, B and Hindell, M and Bester, M and Trathan, P and Jonsen, I and Staniland, I and Oosthuizen, WC and Wege, M and Lea, M-A, Return customers: foraging site fidelity and the effect of environmental variability in wide-ranging Antarctic fur seals, PLoS ONE, 10, (3) Article e0120888. ISSN 1932-6203 (2015) [Refereed Article] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25807082 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/99614 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0120888 |
container_title |
PLOS ONE |
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10 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
e0120888 |
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