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Gillies N, Martín López LM, den Ouden OFC, Assink JD, Basille M, Clay TA, Clusella-Trullas S, Joo R, Weimerskirch H, Zampolli M, Zeyl JN, Patrick SC. Albatross movement suggests sensitivity to infrasound cues at sea. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2218679120. [PMID: 37812719 PMCID: PMC10589618 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2218679120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2022] [Accepted: 07/27/2023] [Indexed: 10/11/2023] Open
Abstract
The ways in which seabirds navigate over very large spatial scales remain poorly understood. While olfactory and visual information can provide guidance over short distances, their range is often limited to 100s km, far below the navigational capacity of wide-ranging animals such as albatrosses. Infrasound is a form of low-frequency sound that propagates for 1,000s km in the atmosphere. In marine habitats, its association with storms and ocean surface waves could in effect make it a useful cue for anticipating environmental conditions that favor or hinder flight or be associated with profitable foraging patches. However, behavioral responses of wild birds to infrasound remain untested. Here, we explored whether wandering albatrosses, Diomedea exulans, respond to microbarom infrasound at sea. We used Global Positioning System tracks of 89 free-ranging albatrosses in combination with acoustic modeling to investigate whether albatrosses preferentially orientate toward areas of 'loud' microbarom infrasound on their foraging trips. We found that in addition to responding to winds encountered in situ, albatrosses moved toward source regions associated with higher sound pressure levels. These findings suggest that albatrosses may be responding to long-range infrasonic cues. As albatrosses depend on winds and waves for soaring flight, infrasonic cues may help albatrosses to identify environmental conditions that allow them to energetically optimize flight over long distances. Our results shed light on one of the great unresolved mysteries in nature, navigation in seemingly featureless ocean environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natasha Gillies
- School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, LiverpoolL3 5DA, United Kingdom
| | - Lucía Martina Martín López
- School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, LiverpoolL3 5DA, United Kingdom
- Ipar Perspective Asociación Karabiondo Kalea, Bilbao48600, Spain
| | - Olivier F. C. den Ouden
- Research and Development Seismology and Acoustics, Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, Utrecht3731GA, Netherlands
- Department of Geoscience and Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft2628CD, Netherlands
| | - Jelle D. Assink
- Research and Development Seismology and Acoustics, Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, Utrecht3731GA, Netherlands
| | - Mathieu Basille
- Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center, University of Florida, Davie, FL33314
| | - Thomas A. Clay
- School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, LiverpoolL3 5DA, United Kingdom
- Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA95064
| | | | - Rocío Joo
- Global Fishing Watch, Washington, DC20036
| | - Henri Weimerskirch
- Ecology of Marine Birds and Mammals, Centre d’Étude Biologique de Chizé, Villiers-en-Bois79360, France
| | - Mario Zampolli
- International Monitoring System Division, Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization, Vienna1400, Austria
| | - Jeffrey N. Zeyl
- Department of Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town7602, South Africa
| | - Samantha C. Patrick
- School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, LiverpoolL3 5DA, United Kingdom
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Uesaka L, Goto Y, Naruoka M, Weimerskirch H, Sato K, Sakamoto KQ. Wandering albatrosses exert high take-off effort only when both wind and waves are gentle. eLife 2023; 12:RP87016. [PMID: 37814539 PMCID: PMC10564450 DOI: 10.7554/elife.87016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/11/2023] Open
Abstract
The relationship between the environment and marine animal small-scale behavior is not fully understood. This is largely due to the difficulty in obtaining environmental datasets with a high spatiotemporal precision. The problem is particularly pertinent in assessing the influence of environmental factors in rapid, high energy-consuming behavior such as seabird take-off. To fill the gaps in the existing environmental datasets, we employed novel techniques using animal-borne sensors with motion records to estimate wind and ocean wave parameters and evaluated their influence on wandering albatross take-off patterns. Measurements revealed that wind speed and wave heights experienced by wandering albatrosses during take-off ranged from 0.7 to 15.4 m/s and 1.6 to 6.4 m, respectively. The four indices measured (flapping number, frequency, sea surface running speed, and duration) also varied with the environmental conditions (e.g., flapping number varied from 0 to over 20). Importantly, take-off was easier under higher wave conditions than under lower wave conditions at a constant wind speed, and take-off effort increased only when both wind and waves were gentle. Our data suggest that both ocean waves and winds play important roles for albatross take-off and advances our current understanding of albatross flight mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leo Uesaka
- Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, The University of TokyoKashiwaJapan
- Information and Technology Center, The University of TokyoKashiwaJapan
| | - Yusuke Goto
- Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, The University of TokyoKashiwaJapan
- Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya UniversityFuroJapan
- Centre d’Etudes Biologiques de Chize (CEBC), UMR 7372 CNRS, Université de La RochelleVilliers-en-BoisFrance
| | - Masaru Naruoka
- Aeronautical Technology Directorate, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)ChofuJapan
| | - Henri Weimerskirch
- Centre d’Etudes Biologiques de Chize (CEBC), UMR 7372 CNRS, Université de La RochelleVilliers-en-BoisFrance
| | - Katsufumi Sato
- Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, The University of TokyoKashiwaJapan
| | - Kentaro Q Sakamoto
- Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, The University of TokyoKashiwaJapan
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Norevik G, Åkesson S, Hedenström A. Extremely low daylight sea-crossing flights of a nocturnal migrant. PNAS NEXUS 2023; 2:pgad225. [PMID: 37476562 PMCID: PMC10355279 DOI: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgad225] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2023] [Accepted: 06/27/2023] [Indexed: 07/22/2023]
Abstract
Understanding the trade-off between energy expenditure of carrying large fuel loads and the risk of fuel depletion is imperative to understand the evolution of flight strategies during long-distance animal migration. Global flyways regularly involve sea crossings that may impose flight prolongations on migrating land-birds and thereby reduce their energy reserves and survival prospects. We studied route choice, flight behavior, and fuel store dynamics of nocturnally migrating European nightjars (Caprimulgus europaeus) crossing water barriers. We show that barrier size and groundspeed of the birds influence the prospects of extended daylight flights, but also that waters possible to cross within a night regularly result in diurnal flight events. The nightjars systematically responded to daylight flights by descending to about a wingspan's altitude above the sea surface while switching to an energy-efficient flap-glide flight style. By operating within the surface-air boundary layer, the nightjars could fly in ground effect, exploit local updraft and pressure variations, and thereby substantially reduce flight costs as indicated by their increased proportion of cheap glides. We propose that surface-skimming flights, as illustrated in the nightjar, provide an energy-efficient transport mode and that this novel finding asks for a reconsideration of our understanding of flight strategies when land-birds migrate across seas.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Susanne Åkesson
- Centre for Animal Movement Research, Department of Biology, Lund University, 223 62 Lund, Sweden
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Mohamed A, Taylor GK, Watkins S, Windsor SP. Opportunistic soaring by birds suggests new opportunities for atmospheric energy harvesting by flying robots. J R Soc Interface 2022; 19:20220671. [PMID: 36415974 PMCID: PMC9682310 DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2022.0671] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
The use of flying robots (drones) is increasing rapidly, but their utility is limited by high power demand, low specific energy storage and poor gust tolerance. By contrast, birds demonstrate long endurance, harvesting atmospheric energy in environments ranging from cluttered cityscapes to open landscapes, coasts and oceans. Here, we identify new opportunities for flying robots, drawing upon the soaring flight of birds. We evaluate mechanical energy transfer in soaring from first principles and review soaring strategies encompassing the use of updrafts (thermal or orographic) and wind gradients (spatial or temporal). We examine the extent to which state-of-the-art flying robots currently use each strategy and identify several untapped opportunities including slope soaring over built environments, thermal soaring over oceans and opportunistic gust soaring. In principle, the energetic benefits of soaring are accessible to flying robots of all kinds, given atmospherically aware sensor systems, guidance strategies and gust tolerance. Hence, while there is clear scope for specialist robots that soar like albatrosses, or which use persistent thermals like vultures, the greatest untapped potential may lie in non-specialist vehicles that make flexible use of atmospheric energy through path planning and flight control, as demonstrated by generalist flyers such as gulls, kites and crows.
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Affiliation(s)
- A. Mohamed
- RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia
| | - G. K. Taylor
- Department of Biology, Oxford University, Oxford OX1 3SZ, UK
| | - S. Watkins
- RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia
| | - S. P. Windsor
- Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TH, UK
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Thomas FL, Forys EA. The Role of Fishing Piers in Brown Pelican ( Pelecanus occidentalis) Entanglement. Animals (Basel) 2022; 12:ani12182352. [PMID: 36139212 PMCID: PMC9495162 DOI: 10.3390/ani12182352] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2022] [Revised: 09/04/2022] [Accepted: 09/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Throughout their range, Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) are one of the most common species to become entangled in fishing gear. We surveyed four piers every other week for one year (6/2019−5/2020) in the Tampa Bay region, FL, USA, to determine frequency of pelican entanglement associated with fishing piers, and explored factors that might influence the rate of entanglement. We conducted a generalized linear model (GLM) to determine the influence that pier, pier closure due to COVID-19, time of day and season, number of anglers, and presence of human behaviors that might attract pelicans to the pier had on the number of entangled pelicans. We conducted 144 surveys and counted 3766 pelicans of which 254 (7%) were entangled. The variables significantly associated (p < 0.05) with entanglement were the pier, time of day, and pier closure status, while the number and behavior of anglers were not significant. The two piers that most significantly influenced the number of entanglements both had extensive perches within 10 m of the fishing pier. The management action most likely to reduce the number of entangled pelicans appears to be deterring pelicans from perching near piers or decreasing fishing near perching structures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fairl L. Thomas
- Environmental Studies Discipline, Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, FL 33711, USA
| | - Elizabeth A. Forys
- Environmental Studies and Biology Disciplines, Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, FL 33711, USA
- Correspondence:
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