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Laforge A, Gaspar P, Barat A, Boyer JT, Candela T, Bourjea J, Ciccione S, Dalleau M, Ballorain K, Monsinjon JR, Bousquet O. Uncovering loggerhead ( Caretta caretta) navigation strategy in the open ocean through the consideration of their diving behaviour. J R Soc Interface 2023; 20:20230383. [PMID: 38086403 PMCID: PMC10715913 DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2023.0383] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/07/2023] [Accepted: 11/22/2023] [Indexed: 12/18/2023] Open
Abstract
While scientists have been monitoring the movements and diving behaviour of sea turtles using Argos platform terminal transmitters for decades, the precise navigational mechanisms used by these animals remain an open question. Until now, active swimming motion has been derived from total motion by subtracting surface or subsurface modelled ocean currents, following the approximation of a quasi-two-dimensional surface layer migration. This study, based on tracking and diving data collected from 25 late-juvenile loggerhead turtles released from Reunion Island during their pre-reproductive migration, demonstrates the importance of considering the subsurface presence of the animals. Using a piecewise constant heading model, we investigate navigation strategy using daily time-at-depth distributions and three-dimensional currents to calculate swimming velocity. Our results are consistent with a map and compass strategy in which swimming movements follow straight courses at a stable swimming speed (approx. 0.5 m s-1), intermittently segmented by course corrections. This strategy, previously hypothesized for post-nesting green and hawksbill turtles, had never been observed in juvenile loggerheads. These results confirm a common open-ocean navigation mechanism across ages and species and highlight the importance of considering diving behaviour in most studies of sea turtle spatial ecology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antoine Laforge
- Laboratoire de l'Atmosphère et des Cyclones (UMR 8105 LACY), 15 avenue René Cassin, 97715 Saint-Denis, La Réunion, France
- Mercator Ocean International, 2 Av. de l'Aérodrome de Montaudran, 31400 Toulouse, France
| | - Philippe Gaspar
- Mercator Ocean International, 2 Av. de l'Aérodrome de Montaudran, 31400 Toulouse, France
| | - Anne Barat
- Laboratoire de l'Atmosphère et des Cyclones (UMR 8105 LACY), 15 avenue René Cassin, 97715 Saint-Denis, La Réunion, France
| | - Julien Temple Boyer
- Mercator Ocean International, 2 Av. de l'Aérodrome de Montaudran, 31400 Toulouse, France
| | - Tony Candela
- Mercator Ocean International, 2 Av. de l'Aérodrome de Montaudran, 31400 Toulouse, France
- Upwell, Monterey, CA, USA
| | - Jérôme Bourjea
- MARBEC, Univ. Montpellier, CNRS, Ifremer, IRD, Avenue Jean Monnet, Sète 34200, France
| | - Stéphane Ciccione
- Kelonia, l'observatoire des tortues marines, 46 rue du Général de Gaulle, Saint Leu, La Réunion 97436, France
| | - Mayeul Dalleau
- Centre d’Étude et de Découverte des Tortues Marines (CEDTM), 6 Chemin Dubuisson 97436 Saint Leu, La Réunion, France
| | - Katia Ballorain
- Centre d’Étude et de Découverte des Tortues Marines (CEDTM), 6 Chemin Dubuisson 97436 Saint Leu, La Réunion, France
| | - Jonathan R. Monsinjon
- French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea (IFREMER) - Indian Ocean Delegation (DOI), Le Port, La Réunion, France
| | - Olivier Bousquet
- Laboratoire de l'Atmosphère et des Cyclones (UMR 8105 LACY), 15 avenue René Cassin, 97715 Saint-Denis, La Réunion, France
- Institute for Coastal and Marine Research, Nelson Mandela University, Port-Elizabeth, South Africa
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Nichols S, Havens L, Taylor B. Sensation to navigation: a computational neuroscience approach to magnetic field navigation. J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol 2022; 208:167-176. [PMID: 35098368 DOI: 10.1007/s00359-021-01535-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2021] [Revised: 12/11/2021] [Accepted: 12/14/2021] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Diverse taxa use Earth's magnetic field (i.e., magnetoreception) as a guide during long-distance navigation. However, despite decades of research, specific sensory mechanisms of magnetoreception remain unconfirmed. Necessarily, this has led to theoretical and computational work developing hypotheses of how animals may navigate using magnetoreception. One hypothesized strategy relies on an animal using combinations of magnetic intensity and inclination as a kind of signature to identify a specific region or location. Using these signatures, animals could use a waypoint-based navigation strategy. We show that this navigation strategy is biologically plausible using a close approximation of neural processing to successfully guide an agent in a simulated magnetic field. Moreover, we accomplish this strategy using a processing approach previously utilized for mechanoreception, suggesting processing of Earth's magnetic field may share features with the processing of other, more well-understood sensory systems. Taken together, our results suggest that both for the engineering of novel navigation systems and the study of animal magnetoreception, we should take lessons from other sensory systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian Nichols
- Department of Biology, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 120 South Rd., CB 3280, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA
| | - Luke Havens
- Department of Biology, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 120 South Rd., CB 3280, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA
| | - Brian Taylor
- Department of Biology, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 120 South Rd., CB 3280, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA.
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Abstract
Collective migration occurs throughout the animal kingdom, and demands both the interpretation of navigational cues and the perception of other individuals within the group. Navigational cues orient individuals towards a destination, while it has been demonstrated that communication between individuals enhances navigation through a reduction in orientation error. We develop a mathematical model of collective navigation that synthesizes navigational cues and perception of other individuals. Crucially, this approach incorporates uncertainty inherent to cue interpretation and perception in the decision making process, which can arise due to noisy environments. We demonstrate that collective navigation is more efficient than individual navigation, provided a threshold number of other individuals are perceptible. This benefit is even more pronounced in low navigation information environments. In navigation ‘blindspots’, where no information is available, navigation is enhanced through a relay that connects individuals in information-poor regions to individuals in information-rich regions. As an expository case study, we apply our framework to minke whale migration in the northeast Atlantic Ocean, and quantify the decrease in navigation ability due to anthropogenic noise pollution.
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Affiliation(s)
- S T Johnston
- Systems Biology Laboratory, School of Mathematics and Statistics, and Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia
| | - K J Painter
- Dipartimento Interateneo di Scienze, Progetto e Politiche del Territorio (DIST) Politecnico di Torino, Viale Pier Andrea Mattioli, Torino 39 10125, Italy
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Baldaccini NE. Moving towards a far-away goal: a foreword. ETHOL ECOL EVOL 2021. [DOI: 10.1080/03949370.2021.1908493] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
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