Shapes of krill swarms and fish schools emerge as aggregation members avoid predators and access oxygen
Many types of animals exhibit aggregative behavior: birds flock, bees swarm, fish shoal, and ungulates herd [1]. Terrestrial and aerial aggregations can be observed directly, and photographic techniques have provided insights into the behaviors of animals in these environments [2] and data against w...
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Online Access: | https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/en/researchoutput/shapes-of-krill-swarms-and-fish-schools-emerge-as-aggregation-members-avoid-predators-and-access-oxygen(bd4bb9dd-7474-404c-aeb8-30a869f75d8c).html https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2010.08.041 http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77957850794&partnerID=8YFLogxK |
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ftunstandrewcris:oai:research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk:publications/bd4bb9dd-7474-404c-aeb8-30a869f75d8c 2024-06-23T07:47:21+00:00 Shapes of krill swarms and fish schools emerge as aggregation members avoid predators and access oxygen Brierley, Andrew Stuart Cox, Martin James 2010-09-16 https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/en/researchoutput/shapes-of-krill-swarms-and-fish-schools-emerge-as-aggregation-members-avoid-predators-and-access-oxygen(bd4bb9dd-7474-404c-aeb8-30a869f75d8c).html https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2010.08.041 http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77957850794&partnerID=8YFLogxK eng eng https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/en/researchoutput/shapes-of-krill-swarms-and-fish-schools-emerge-as-aggregation-members-avoid-predators-and-access-oxygen(bd4bb9dd-7474-404c-aeb8-30a869f75d8c).html info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess Brierley , A S & Cox , M J 2010 , ' Shapes of krill swarms and fish schools emerge as aggregation members avoid predators and access oxygen ' , Current Biology , vol. 20 , no. 19 , pp. 1758-1762 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2010.08.041 article 2010 ftunstandrewcris https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2010.08.041 2024-06-13T00:28:13Z Many types of animals exhibit aggregative behavior: birds flock, bees swarm, fish shoal, and ungulates herd [1]. Terrestrial and aerial aggregations can be observed directly, and photographic techniques have provided insights into the behaviors of animals in these environments [2] and data against which behavioral theory can be tested [3]. Underwater, however, limited visibility can hamper direct observation, and understanding of shoaling remains incomplete. We used multibeam sonar to observe three-dimensional structure of Antarctic krill shoals acoustically [4]. Shoal size and packing density varied greatly, but surface area:volume ratios (roughnesses) were distributed narrowly about ∼3.3 m−1 [5]. Shoals of clupeid fish (e.g., sardine, anchovy) from geographically and oceanographically diverse locations have very similar roughnesses [6,7,8]. This common emergent shape property suggests common driving forces across diverse ecosystems. Group behavior can be complex [9], but a simple tradeoff—that we model—in which individual fish and krill juggle only their access to oxygen-replete water and exposure to predation can explain the observed shoal shape. Decreasing oxygen availability in a warming world ocean [10] may impact shoal structure: because structure affects catchability by predators and fishers [11,12,13], understanding the response will be necessary for ecological and commercial reasons. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Krill University of St Andrews: Research Portal Antarctic Current Biology 20 19 1758 1762 |
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Open Polar |
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University of St Andrews: Research Portal |
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ftunstandrewcris |
language |
English |
description |
Many types of animals exhibit aggregative behavior: birds flock, bees swarm, fish shoal, and ungulates herd [1]. Terrestrial and aerial aggregations can be observed directly, and photographic techniques have provided insights into the behaviors of animals in these environments [2] and data against which behavioral theory can be tested [3]. Underwater, however, limited visibility can hamper direct observation, and understanding of shoaling remains incomplete. We used multibeam sonar to observe three-dimensional structure of Antarctic krill shoals acoustically [4]. Shoal size and packing density varied greatly, but surface area:volume ratios (roughnesses) were distributed narrowly about ∼3.3 m−1 [5]. Shoals of clupeid fish (e.g., sardine, anchovy) from geographically and oceanographically diverse locations have very similar roughnesses [6,7,8]. This common emergent shape property suggests common driving forces across diverse ecosystems. Group behavior can be complex [9], but a simple tradeoff—that we model—in which individual fish and krill juggle only their access to oxygen-replete water and exposure to predation can explain the observed shoal shape. Decreasing oxygen availability in a warming world ocean [10] may impact shoal structure: because structure affects catchability by predators and fishers [11,12,13], understanding the response will be necessary for ecological and commercial reasons. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Brierley, Andrew Stuart Cox, Martin James |
spellingShingle |
Brierley, Andrew Stuart Cox, Martin James Shapes of krill swarms and fish schools emerge as aggregation members avoid predators and access oxygen |
author_facet |
Brierley, Andrew Stuart Cox, Martin James |
author_sort |
Brierley, Andrew Stuart |
title |
Shapes of krill swarms and fish schools emerge as aggregation members avoid predators and access oxygen |
title_short |
Shapes of krill swarms and fish schools emerge as aggregation members avoid predators and access oxygen |
title_full |
Shapes of krill swarms and fish schools emerge as aggregation members avoid predators and access oxygen |
title_fullStr |
Shapes of krill swarms and fish schools emerge as aggregation members avoid predators and access oxygen |
title_full_unstemmed |
Shapes of krill swarms and fish schools emerge as aggregation members avoid predators and access oxygen |
title_sort |
shapes of krill swarms and fish schools emerge as aggregation members avoid predators and access oxygen |
publishDate |
2010 |
url |
https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/en/researchoutput/shapes-of-krill-swarms-and-fish-schools-emerge-as-aggregation-members-avoid-predators-and-access-oxygen(bd4bb9dd-7474-404c-aeb8-30a869f75d8c).html https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2010.08.041 http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77957850794&partnerID=8YFLogxK |
geographic |
Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Krill |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Krill |
op_source |
Brierley , A S & Cox , M J 2010 , ' Shapes of krill swarms and fish schools emerge as aggregation members avoid predators and access oxygen ' , Current Biology , vol. 20 , no. 19 , pp. 1758-1762 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2010.08.041 |
op_relation |
https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/en/researchoutput/shapes-of-krill-swarms-and-fish-schools-emerge-as-aggregation-members-avoid-predators-and-access-oxygen(bd4bb9dd-7474-404c-aeb8-30a869f75d8c).html |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2010.08.041 |
container_title |
Current Biology |
container_volume |
20 |
container_issue |
19 |
container_start_page |
1758 |
op_container_end_page |
1762 |
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