Increasing numbers of killer whale individuals use fisheries as feeding opportunities within subantarctic populations
Fisheries can generate feeding opportunities for large marine predators in the form of discards or accessible catch. How the use of this anthropogenic food may spread as a new behaviour, across individuals within populations over time, is poorly understood. This study used a 16-year (2003-2018) moni...
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Online Access: | https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/increasing-numbers-of-killer-whale-individuals-use-fisheries-as-f https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2021.0328 |
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ftunivwagenin:oai:library.wur.nl:wurpubs/594554 2024-04-28T08:27:20+00:00 Increasing numbers of killer whale individuals use fisheries as feeding opportunities within subantarctic populations Amelot, Morgane Plard, Floriane Guinet, Christophe Arnould, John P.Y. Gasco, Nicolas Tixier, Paul 2022 application/pdf https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/increasing-numbers-of-killer-whale-individuals-use-fisheries-as-f https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2021.0328 en eng https://edepot.wur.nl/565294 https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/increasing-numbers-of-killer-whale-individuals-use-fisheries-as-f doi:10.1098/rsbl.2021.0328 Wageningen University & Research Biology Letters 18 (2022) 2 ISSN: 1744-9561 capture-mark-recapture depredation killer whales Article/Letter to editor 2022 ftunivwagenin https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2021.0328 2024-04-03T14:54:52Z Fisheries can generate feeding opportunities for large marine predators in the form of discards or accessible catch. How the use of this anthropogenic food may spread as a new behaviour, across individuals within populations over time, is poorly understood. This study used a 16-year (2003-2018) monitoring of two killer whale Orcinus orca subantarctic populations (regular and Type-D at Crozet), and Bayesian multistate capture-mark-recapture models, to assess temporal changes in the number of individuals feeding on fish caught on hooks ('depredation' behaviour) of a fishery started in 1996. For both populations, the number of depredating individuals increased during the study period (34 to 94 for regular; 17 to 43 for Type-D). Increasing abundance is unlikely to account for this and, rather, the results suggest depredation was acquired by increasing numbers of existing individuals. For regular killer whales, a plateau reached from 2014 suggests that it took 18 years for the behaviour to spread across the whole population. A more recent plateau was apparent for Type-Ds but additional years are needed to confirm this. These findings show how changes in prey availability caused by human activities lead to rapid, yet progressive, innovations in killer whales, likely altering the ecological role of this top-predator. Article in Journal/Newspaper Killer Whale Orca Orcinus orca Killer whale Wageningen UR (University & Research Centre): Digital Library Biology Letters 18 2 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Wageningen UR (University & Research Centre): Digital Library |
op_collection_id |
ftunivwagenin |
language |
English |
topic |
capture-mark-recapture depredation killer whales |
spellingShingle |
capture-mark-recapture depredation killer whales Amelot, Morgane Plard, Floriane Guinet, Christophe Arnould, John P.Y. Gasco, Nicolas Tixier, Paul Increasing numbers of killer whale individuals use fisheries as feeding opportunities within subantarctic populations |
topic_facet |
capture-mark-recapture depredation killer whales |
description |
Fisheries can generate feeding opportunities for large marine predators in the form of discards or accessible catch. How the use of this anthropogenic food may spread as a new behaviour, across individuals within populations over time, is poorly understood. This study used a 16-year (2003-2018) monitoring of two killer whale Orcinus orca subantarctic populations (regular and Type-D at Crozet), and Bayesian multistate capture-mark-recapture models, to assess temporal changes in the number of individuals feeding on fish caught on hooks ('depredation' behaviour) of a fishery started in 1996. For both populations, the number of depredating individuals increased during the study period (34 to 94 for regular; 17 to 43 for Type-D). Increasing abundance is unlikely to account for this and, rather, the results suggest depredation was acquired by increasing numbers of existing individuals. For regular killer whales, a plateau reached from 2014 suggests that it took 18 years for the behaviour to spread across the whole population. A more recent plateau was apparent for Type-Ds but additional years are needed to confirm this. These findings show how changes in prey availability caused by human activities lead to rapid, yet progressive, innovations in killer whales, likely altering the ecological role of this top-predator. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Amelot, Morgane Plard, Floriane Guinet, Christophe Arnould, John P.Y. Gasco, Nicolas Tixier, Paul |
author_facet |
Amelot, Morgane Plard, Floriane Guinet, Christophe Arnould, John P.Y. Gasco, Nicolas Tixier, Paul |
author_sort |
Amelot, Morgane |
title |
Increasing numbers of killer whale individuals use fisheries as feeding opportunities within subantarctic populations |
title_short |
Increasing numbers of killer whale individuals use fisheries as feeding opportunities within subantarctic populations |
title_full |
Increasing numbers of killer whale individuals use fisheries as feeding opportunities within subantarctic populations |
title_fullStr |
Increasing numbers of killer whale individuals use fisheries as feeding opportunities within subantarctic populations |
title_full_unstemmed |
Increasing numbers of killer whale individuals use fisheries as feeding opportunities within subantarctic populations |
title_sort |
increasing numbers of killer whale individuals use fisheries as feeding opportunities within subantarctic populations |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/increasing-numbers-of-killer-whale-individuals-use-fisheries-as-f https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2021.0328 |
genre |
Killer Whale Orca Orcinus orca Killer whale |
genre_facet |
Killer Whale Orca Orcinus orca Killer whale |
op_source |
Biology Letters 18 (2022) 2 ISSN: 1744-9561 |
op_relation |
https://edepot.wur.nl/565294 https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/increasing-numbers-of-killer-whale-individuals-use-fisheries-as-f doi:10.1098/rsbl.2021.0328 |
op_rights |
Wageningen University & Research |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2021.0328 |
container_title |
Biology Letters |
container_volume |
18 |
container_issue |
2 |
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1797586342802096128 |