scholarly journals Disentangling controls on animal abundance: Prey availability, thermal habitat, and microhabitat structure

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma A. Higgins ◽  
Doreen S. Boyd ◽  
Tom W. Brown ◽  
Sarah C. Owen ◽  
Adam C. Algar
Keyword(s):  
Prey Availability ◽  
Thermal Habitat ◽  
Animal Abundance ◽  
Microhabitat Structure

scholarly journals Flexible use of a dynamic energy landscape buffers a marine predator against extreme climate variability

2021 ◽  
Vol 288 (1956) ◽  
pp. 20210671
Author(s):  
Gemma Carroll ◽  
Stephanie Brodie ◽  
Rebecca Whitlock ◽  
James Ganong ◽  
Steven J. Bograd ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Variability ◽  
Energy Intake ◽  
Prey Availability ◽  
Energy Landscape ◽  
California Current ◽  
Seasonal Migration ◽  
Thunnus Orientalis ◽  
Thermal Habitat ◽  
Marine Predator ◽  
Optimal Temperature Range

Animal migrations track predictable seasonal patterns of resource availability and suitable thermal habitat. As climate change alters this ‘energy landscape’, some migratory species may struggle to adapt. We examined how climate variability influences movements, thermal habitat selection and energy intake by juvenile Pacific bluefin tuna ( Thunnus orientalis ) during seasonal foraging migrations in the California Current. We tracked 242 tuna across 15 years (2002–2016) with high-resolution archival tags, estimating their daily energy intake via abdominal warming associated with digestion (the ‘heat increment of feeding’). The poleward extent of foraging migrations was flexible in response to climate variability, allowing tuna to track poleward displacements of thermal habitat where their standard metabolic rates were minimized. During a marine heatwave that saw temperature anomalies of up to +2.5°C in the California Current, spatially explicit energy intake by tuna was approximately 15% lower than average. However, by shifting their mean seasonal migration approximately 900 km poleward, tuna remained in waters within their optimal temperature range and increased their energy intake. Our findings illustrate how tradeoffs between physiology and prey availability structure migration in a highly mobile vertebrate, and suggest that flexible migration strategies can buffer animals against energetic costs associated with climate variability and change.

Interannual variation in larval abundance and growth in snapper Chrysophrys auratus (Sparidae) is related to prey availability and temperature

2013 ◽  
Vol 487 ◽  
pp. 151-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
HM Murphy ◽  
GP Jenkins ◽  
PA Hamer ◽  
SE Swearer
Keyword(s):  
Interannual Variation ◽  
Prey Availability ◽  
Larval Abundance

Climate-associated changes in prey availability drive reproductive dynamics of the North Atlantic right whale population

2015 ◽  
Vol 535 ◽  
pp. 243-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
EL Meyer-Gutbrod ◽  
CH Greene ◽  
PJ Sullivan ◽  
AJ Pershing
Keyword(s):  
North Atlantic ◽  
Prey Availability ◽  
North Atlantic Right Whale ◽  
Right Whale ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Atlantic

Pregnancy Cravings: Visitation at a Food-Provisioning Site is Driven by the Reproductive Status of Bottlenose Dolphins

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 237-248
Author(s):  
Valeria Senigaglia ◽  
Lars Bejder
Keyword(s):  
Prey Availability ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Bottlenose Dolphins ◽  
Reproductive Status ◽  
Food Provisioning ◽  
Human Interactions ◽  
Increase Risk ◽  
Lactating Females ◽  
Tourism Attractions ◽  
Marine Wildlife

Marine wildlife tourism attractions often use food rewards to ensure close-up encounters with freeranging animals. In Bunbury, Western Australia, the Dolphin Discovery Centre (DDC) conducts a foodprovision program where bottlenose dolphins (N = 22; between 2000 and 2018) are offered food rewards to encourage their visitation at a beach in front of the DDC. We used historical records on individual beach visits by adult female dolphins collected by the DDC from 2000 to 2018 to develop generalized mixed effects models (GLMM) to test whether the frequency of beach visitation was influenced by their reproductive status (pregnant, lactating, nonreproductive) or climatic events (El Niño-Southern Oscillation phases) that could affect prey availability. We also quantified the behavioral budget of dolphins during food-provisioning sessions and documented intra- and interspecific aggressive behaviors using individual focal follows collected in 2017–2018. Provisioned females spend most of the time resting within the interaction area (66.3%) and aggressive interactions arise as a consequence of dominance behavior over food access. Visitation rates were most influenced by reproductive status with pregnant and lactating females visiting the provisioning area more frequently (z = 2.085, p = 0.037 and z = 2.437, p = 0.014, respectively). Females that frequently visit the provisioning area expose their dependent calves to regular human interactions at an early age when they are more susceptible to behavioral conditioning. Such experiences could cause the loss of awareness towards humans and promote maladaptive behaviors such as begging that increase risk of entanglement in fishing gear, boat strikes, and propeller injuries.

Modelling fish physico-thermal habitat selection using functional regression

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Jérémie Boudreault ◽  
André St-Hilaire ◽  
Fateh Chebana ◽  
Normand E. Bergeron
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Selection ◽  
Functional Regression ◽  
Thermal Habitat

scholarly journals Survival of the fattest: linking body condition to prey availability and survivorship of killer whales

Ecosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua D. Stewart ◽  
John W. Durban ◽  
Holly Fearnbach ◽  
Lance G. Barrett‐Lennard ◽  
Paige K. Casler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Condition ◽  
Prey Availability ◽  
Killer Whales

scholarly journals Prey Size Decline as a Unifying Ecological Selecting Agent in Pleistocene Human Evolution

Quaternary ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Miki Ben-Dor ◽  
Ran Barkai
Keyword(s):  
Prey Size ◽  
Prey Availability ◽  
Stone Tool ◽  
Foraging Efficiency ◽  
Energetic Cost ◽  
Large Prey ◽  
Biomass Density ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Progressive Decline ◽  
Brain Expansion

We hypothesize that megafauna extinctions throughout the Pleistocene, that led to a progressive decline in large prey availability, were a primary selecting agent in key evolutionary and cultural changes in human prehistory. The Pleistocene human past is characterized by a series of transformations that include the evolution of new physiological traits and the adoption, assimilation, and replacement of cultural and behavioral patterns. Some changes, such as brain expansion, use of fire, developments in stone-tool technologies, or the scale of resource intensification, were uncharacteristically progressive. We previously hypothesized that humans specialized in acquiring large prey because of their higher foraging efficiency, high biomass density, higher fat content, and the use of less complex tools for their acquisition. Here, we argue that the need to mitigate the additional energetic cost of acquiring progressively smaller prey may have been an ecological selecting agent in fundamental adaptive modes demonstrated in the Paleolithic archaeological record. We describe several potential associations between prey size decline and specific evolutionary and cultural changes that might have been driven by the need to adapt to increased energetic demands while hunting and processing smaller and smaller game.

scholarly journals Assessing population collapse of Drupella spp. (Mollusca: Gastropoda) 2 years after a coral bleaching event in the Republic of Maldives

Hydrobiologia ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Saponari ◽  
I. Dehnert ◽  
P. Galli ◽  
S. Montano
Keyword(s):  
Coral Bleaching ◽  
Prey Availability ◽  
Coral Cover ◽  
Environmental Data ◽  
High Plasticity ◽  
Bleaching Event ◽  
Coral Recovery ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Line Intercept

AbstractCorallivory causes considerable damage to coral reefs and can exacerbate other disturbances. Among coral predators, Drupella spp. are considered as delayer of coral recovery in the Republic of Maldives, although little information is available on their ecology. Thus, we aimed to assess their population structure, feeding behaviour and spatial distribution around 2 years after a coral bleaching event in 2016. Biological and environmental data were collected using belt and line intercept transects in six shallow reefs in Maldives. The snails occurred in aggregations with a maximum of 62 individuals and exhibited a preference for branching corals. Yet, the gastropods showed a high plasticity in adapting feeding preferences to prey availability. Drupella spp. were homogenously distributed in the study area with an average of 9.04 ± 19.72 ind/200 m2. However, their occurrence was significantly different at the reef scale with the highest densities found in locations with higher coral cover. The impact of Drupella spp. appeared to be minimal with the population suffering from the loss of coral cover. We suggest that monitoring programs collect temporal- and spatial-scale data on non-outbreaking populations or non-aggregating populations to understand the dynamics of predation related to the co-occurrence of anthropogenic and natural impacts.

scholarly journals Impact of natural salt lick on the home range of Panthera tigris at the Royal Belum Rainforest, Malaysia

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bryan Andrew Lazarus ◽  
Azlan Che-Amat ◽  
Muhammad Muzammil Abdul Halim Shah ◽  
Azwan Hamdan ◽  
Hasliza Abu Hassim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Home Range ◽  
Prey Availability ◽  
Nutritional Ecology ◽  
Camera Traps ◽  
Home Ranges ◽  
Panthera Tigris ◽  
Health Maintenance ◽  
Salt Lick ◽  
Save Energy ◽  
Salt Licks

AbstractNatural salt lick (sira) is a strategic localisation for ecological wildlife assemblage to exhibit geophagy which may act as a population dynamic buffer of prey and predators. Undoubtedly, many agree that geophagy at natural licks is linked to nutritional ecology, health and assembly places facilitating social interaction of its users. Overall, natural salt licks not only save energy of obtaining nutrient leading to health maintenance but also forms the basis of population persistence. The Royal Belum Rainforest, Malaysia (Royal Belum) is a typical tropical rainforest in Malaysia rich in wildlife which are mainly concentrated around the natural salt lick. Since this is one of the most stable fauna ecology forest in Malaysia, it is timely to assess its impact on the Malayan tiger (Panthera tigris) home range dynamics. The three-potential home ranges of the Malayan tiger in this rainforest were selected based on animal trails or foot prints surrounding the salt lick viz (e.g. Sira Kuak and Sira Batu; Sira Rambai and Sira Buluh and Sira Papan) as well as previous sightings of a Malayan tiger in the area, whose movement is dependent on the density and distribution of prey. Camera traps were placed at potential animal trails surrounding the salt lick to capture any encountered wildlife species within the area of the camera placements. Results showed that all home ranges of Malayan tiger were of no significance for large bodied prey availability such as sambar deer (Rusa unicolor), and smaller prey such as muntjacs (Muntiacus muntjac) and wild boar (Sus scrofa). Interestingly, all home range harbour the Malayan tiger as the only sole predator. The non-significance of prey availability at each home range is attributed to the decline of the Malayan tiger in the rainforest since tigers are dependant on the movement of its preferred prey surrounding natural salt licks. Thus, the information from this study offers fundamental knowledge on the importance of prey-predator interaction at salt lick which will help in designing strategy in rewilding or rehabilitation programs of the Malayan tiger at the Royal Belum Rainforest.

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