1
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Fraleigh DC, Pallin LJ, Friedlaender AS, Barlow J, Henry AE, Waples DM, Oglesby T, Fleming AH. The influence of biopsy site and pregnancy on stable isotope ratios in humpback whale skin. Rapid Commun Mass Spectrom 2024; 38:e9746. [PMID: 38576213 DOI: 10.1002/rcm.9746] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2023] [Revised: 02/20/2024] [Accepted: 03/13/2024] [Indexed: 04/06/2024]
Abstract
RATIONALE Stable isotope analysis (SIA) of free-swimming mysticetes using biopsies is often limited in sample size and uses only one sample per individual, failing to capture both intra-individual variability and the influence of demographic and physiological factors on isotope ratios. METHODS We applied SIA of δ13C and δ15N to humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) biopsies taken during the foraging season along the western Antarctic Peninsula to quantify intra-individual variation from repeatedly sampled individuals, as well as to determine the effect of biopsy collection site, sex, and pregnancy on isotope ratios. RESULTS There was substantial variability in δ13C from multiple biopsies taken from the same individuals, though δ15N was much more consistent. Side of the body (left versus right) and biopsy location (dorsal, anterior, ventral, and posterior) did marginally affect the isotopic composition of δ15N but not δ13C. Pregnancy had a significant effect on both δ13C and δ15N, where pregnant females were depleted in both when compared to non-pregnant females and males. CONCLUSIONS These results indicate that isotopic signatures are influenced by multiple endogenous and exogenous factors and emphasize value in accounting for intra-individual variability and pregnancy status within a sampled population. Placed within an ecological context, the endogenous variability in δ13C observed here may be informative for future isotopic analyses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Devin C Fraleigh
- Center for Marine Science, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, North Carolina, USA
- Department of Oceanography, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
| | - Logan J Pallin
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California, USA
| | - Ari S Friedlaender
- Institute for Marine Science, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California, USA
- Department of Ocean Sciences, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California, USA
| | - Jay Barlow
- NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center, San Diego, California, USA
| | - Annette E Henry
- NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center, San Diego, California, USA
| | | | - Teris Oglesby
- Duke University Marine Laboratory, Beaufort, North Carolina, USA
| | - Alyson H Fleming
- Center for Marine Science, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, North Carolina, USA
- Department of Forest & Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
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2
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Zeh JM, Perez-Marrufo V, Adcock DL, Jensen FH, Knapp KJ, Robbins J, Tackaberry JE, Weinrich M, Friedlaender AS, Wiley DN, Parks SE. Caller identification and characterization of individual humpback whale acoustic behaviour. R Soc Open Sci 2024; 11:231608. [PMID: 38481982 PMCID: PMC10933536 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.231608] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2023] [Revised: 01/26/2024] [Accepted: 01/29/2024] [Indexed: 04/26/2024]
Abstract
Acoustic recording tags provide fine-scale data linking acoustic signalling with individual behaviour; however, when an animal is in a group, it is challenging to tease apart calls of conspecifics and identify which individuals produce each call. This, in turn, prohibits a robust assessment of individual acoustic behaviour including call rates and silent periods, call bout production within and between individuals, and caller location. To overcome this challenge, we simultaneously instrumented small groups of humpback whales on a western North Atlantic feeding ground with sound and movement recording tags. This approach enabled a comparison of the relative amplitude of each call across individuals to infer caller identity for 97% of calls. We recorded variable call rates across individuals (mean = 23 calls/h) and groups (mean = 55 calls/h). Calls were produced throughout dives, and most calls were produced in bouts with short inter-call intervals of 2.2 s. Most calls received a likely response from a conspecific within 100 s. This caller identification (ID) method facilitates studying both individual- and group-level acoustic behaviour, yielding novel results about the nature of sequence production and vocal exchanges in humpback whale social calls. Future studies can expand on these caller ID methods for understanding intra-group communication across taxa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia M Zeh
- Department of Biology, Syracuse University,107 College Place, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA
| | - Valeria Perez-Marrufo
- Department of Biology, Syracuse University,107 College Place, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA
| | - Dana L Adcock
- Department of Biology, Syracuse University,107 College Place, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA
| | - Frants H Jensen
- Department of Biology, Syracuse University,107 College Place, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA
- Department of Ecoscience, Aarhus University, Frederiksborgvej 399, Roskilde, Denmark
- Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA
| | - Kaitlyn J Knapp
- Department of Biology, Syracuse University,107 College Place, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA
| | | | | | - Mason Weinrich
- Center for Coastal Studies, Provincetown, MA, USA
- Whale Center of New England, Gloucester, MA, USA
| | - Ari S Friedlaender
- Ocean Sciences & Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
| | - David N Wiley
- Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, Scituate, MA, USA
| | - Susan E Parks
- Department of Biology, Syracuse University,107 College Place, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA
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3
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Wiley DN, Zadra CJ, Friedlaender AS, Parks SE, Pensarosa A, Rogan A, Alex Shorter K, Urbán J, Kerr I. Deployment of biologging tags on free swimming large whales using uncrewed aerial systems. R Soc Open Sci 2023; 10:221376. [PMID: 37090967 PMCID: PMC10113809 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.221376] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2022] [Accepted: 03/24/2023] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
Suction-cup-attached biologging tags have led to major advances in our understanding of large whale behaviour. Getting close enough to a whale at sea to safely attach a tag is a major limiting factor when deploying these systems. Here we present an uncrewed aerial system (UAS)-based tagging technique for free-swimming large whales and provide data on efficacy from field testing on blue (Balaenoptera musculus) and fin (B. physalus) whales. Rapid transit speed and the bird's-eye view of the animal during UAS tagging contributed to the technique's success. During 8 days of field testing, we had 29 occasions when a focal animal was identified for attempted tagging and tags were successfully attached 21 times. The technique was efficient, with mean flight time of 2 min 45 s from launch to deployment and a mean distance of 490 m from the launch vessel to tagged animal, reducing potential adverse effects resulting from close approaches for tagging. These data indicate that UAS are capable of attaching biologging tags to free-swimming large whales quickly and from large distances, potentially increasing success rates, decreasing attempt times, and reducing animal disruption during tagging.
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Affiliation(s)
- David N. Wiley
- Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Ocean Services, 175 Edward Foster Road, Scituate, MA 02066, USA
| | | | - Ari S. Friedlaender
- Institute for Marine Sciences, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz 95064, CA, USA
| | - Susan E. Parks
- Department of Biology, Syracuse University, 114 Life Science Complex, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA
| | - Alicia Pensarosa
- Ocean Alliance, Inc., 32 Horton Street, Gloucester, MA 01930, USA
| | - Andy Rogan
- Ocean Alliance, Inc., 32 Horton Street, Gloucester, MA 01930, USA
| | - K. Alex Shorter
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, 2350 Hayward, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Jorge Urbán
- Department of the Coastal and Marine Sciences, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur, La Paz 23084, Mexico
| | - Iain Kerr
- Ocean Alliance, Inc., 32 Horton Street, Gloucester, MA 01930, USA
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4
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Cade DE, Kahane-Rapport SR, Gough WT, Bierlich KC, Linsky JMJ, Calambokidis J, Johnston DW, Goldbogen JA, Friedlaender AS. Minke whale feeding rate limitations suggest constraints on the minimum body size for engulfment filtration feeding. Nat Ecol Evol 2023; 7:535-546. [PMID: 36914772 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-023-01993-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2022] [Accepted: 01/05/2023] [Indexed: 03/16/2023]
Abstract
Bulk filter feeding has enabled gigantism throughout evolutionary history. The largest animals, extant rorqual whales, utilize intermittent engulfment filtration feeding (lunge feeding), which increases in efficiency with body size, enabling their gigantism. The smallest extant rorquals (7-10 m minke whales), however, still exhibit short-term foraging efficiencies several times greater than smaller non-filter-feeding cetaceans, raising the question of why smaller animals do not utilize this foraging modality. We collected 437 h of bio-logging data from 23 Antarctic minke whales (Balaenoptera bonaerensis) to test the relationship of feeding rates (λf) to body size. Here, we show that while ultra-high nighttime λf (mean ± s.d.: 165 ± 40 lunges h-1; max: 236 lunges h-1; mean depth: 28 ± 46 m) were indistinguishable from predictions from observations of larger species, daytime λf (mean depth: 72 ± 72 m) were only 25-40% of predicted rates. Both λf were near the maxima allowed by calculated biomechanical, physiological and environmental constraints, but these temporal constraints meant that maximum λf was below the expected λf for animals smaller than ~5 m-the length of weaned minke whales. Our findings suggest that minimum size for specific filter-feeding body plans may relate broadly to temporal restrictions on filtration rate and have implications for the evolution of filter feeding.
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Affiliation(s)
- David E Cade
- Institute of Marine Science, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, USA.
- Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, USA.
| | | | - William T Gough
- Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, USA
| | - K C Bierlich
- Division of Marine Science and Conservation, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Beaufort, NC, USA
- Marine Mammal Institute, Hatfield Marine Science Center, Oregon State University, Newport, OR, USA
| | - Jacob M J Linsky
- Institute of Marine Science, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | | | - David W Johnston
- Division of Marine Science and Conservation, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Beaufort, NC, USA
| | | | - Ari S Friedlaender
- Institute of Marine Science, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
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5
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Pallin LJ, Kellar NM, Steel D, Botero-Acosta N, Baker CS, Conroy JA, Costa DP, Johnson CM, Johnston DW, Nichols RC, Nowacek DP, Read AJ, Savenko O, Schofield OM, Stammerjohn SE, Steinberg DK, Friedlaender AS. A surplus no more? Variation in krill availability impacts reproductive rates of Antarctic baleen whales. Glob Chang Biol 2023; 29:2108-2121. [PMID: 36644792 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16559] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2022] [Accepted: 12/01/2022] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
The krill surplus hypothesis of unlimited prey resources available for Antarctic predators due to commercial whaling in the 20th century has remained largely untested since the 1970s. Rapid warming of the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) over the past 50 years has resulted in decreased seasonal ice cover and a reduction of krill. The latter is being exacerbated by a commercial krill fishery in the region. Despite this, humpback whale populations have increased but may be at a threshold for growth based on these human-induced changes. Understanding how climate-mediated variation in prey availability influences humpback whale population dynamics is critical for focused management and conservation actions. Using an 8-year dataset (2013-2020), we show that inter-annual humpback whale pregnancy rates, as determined from skin-blubber biopsy samples (n = 616), are positively correlated with krill availability and fluctuations in ice cover in the previous year. Pregnancy rates showed significant inter-annual variability, between 29% and 86%. Our results indicate that krill availability is in fact limiting and affecting reproductive rates, in contrast to the krill surplus hypothesis. This suggests that this population of humpback whales may be at a threshold for population growth due to prey limitations. As a result, continued warming and increased fishing along the WAP, which continue to reduce krill stocks, will likely impact this humpback whale population and other krill predators in the region. Humpback whales are sentinel species of ecosystem health, and changes in pregnancy rates can provide quantifiable signals of the impact of environmental change at the population level. Our findings must be considered paramount in developing new and more restrictive conservation and management plans for the Antarctic marine ecosystem and minimizing the negative impacts of human activities in the region.
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Affiliation(s)
- Logan J Pallin
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California, USA
| | - Nick M Kellar
- Marine Mammal and Turtle Division, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, La Jolla, California, USA
| | - Debbie Steel
- Department of Fisheries, Wildlife & Conservation Sciences, Marine Mammal Institute, Oregon State University, Hatfield Marine Science Center, Newport, Oregon, USA
| | - Natalia Botero-Acosta
- Fundación Macuáticos Colombia, Medellín, Colombia
- Programa Antártico Colombiano, Edificio World Business Center - WBC, Bogotá, Colombia
| | - C Scott Baker
- Department of Fisheries, Wildlife & Conservation Sciences, Marine Mammal Institute, Oregon State University, Hatfield Marine Science Center, Newport, Oregon, USA
| | - Jack A Conroy
- Virginia Institute of Marine Science, William & Mary, Gloucester Point, Virginia, USA
| | - Daniel P Costa
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California, USA
| | - Chris M Johnson
- World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Melbourne, Australia
- Centre for Marine Science & Technology, Curtin University, Perth, Australia
| | - David W Johnston
- Division of Marine Science and Conservation, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University Marine Laboratory, Beaufort, North Carolina, USA
| | - Ross C Nichols
- Institute for Marine Science, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California, USA
| | - Doug P Nowacek
- Division of Marine Science and Conservation, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University Marine Laboratory, Beaufort, North Carolina, USA
| | - Andrew J Read
- Division of Marine Science and Conservation, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University Marine Laboratory, Beaufort, North Carolina, USA
| | - Oksana Savenko
- National Antarctic Scientific Center of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
- Ukrainian Scientific Center of Ecology of the Sea, Odesa, Ukraine
| | - Oscar M Schofield
- Center of Ocean Observing Leadership, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA
| | - Sharon E Stammerjohn
- Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
| | - Deborah K Steinberg
- Virginia Institute of Marine Science, William & Mary, Gloucester Point, Virginia, USA
| | - Ari S Friedlaender
- Institute for Marine Science, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California, USA
- Department of Ocean Sciences, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California, USA
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6
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Gough WT, Cade DE, Czapanskiy MF, Potvin J, Fish FE, Kahane-Rapport SR, Savoca MS, Bierlich KC, Johnston DW, Friedlaender AS, Szabo A, Bejder L, Goldbogen JA. Fast and Furious: Energetic Tradeoffs and Scaling of High-Speed Foraging in Rorqual Whales. Integr Org Biol 2022; 4:obac038. [PMID: 36127894 PMCID: PMC9475666 DOI: 10.1093/iob/obac038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2022] [Revised: 07/30/2022] [Accepted: 08/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Although gigantic body size and obligate filter feeding mechanisms have evolved in multiple vertebrate lineages (mammals and fishes), intermittent ram (lunge) filter feeding is unique to a specific family of baleen whales: rorquals. Lunge feeding is a high cost, high benefit feeding mechanism that requires the integration of unsteady locomotion (i.e., accelerations and maneuvers); the impact of scale on the biomechanics and energetics of this foraging mode continues to be the subject of intense study. The goal of our investigation was to use a combination of multi-sensor tags paired with UAS footage to determine the impact of morphometrics such as body size on kinematic lunging parameters such as fluking timing, maximum lunging speed, and deceleration during the engulfment period for a range of species from minke to blue whales. Our results show that, in the case of krill-feeding lunges and regardless of size, animals exhibit a skewed gradient between powered and fully unpowered engulfment, with fluking generally ending at the point of both the maximum lunging speed and mouth opening. In all cases, the small amounts of propulsive thrust generated by the tail were unable to overcome the high drag forces experienced during engulfment. Assuming this thrust to be minimal, we predicted the minimum speed of lunging across scale. To minimize the energetic cost of lunge feeding, hydrodynamic theory predicts slower lunge feeding speeds regardless of body size, with a lower boundary set by the ability of the prey to avoid capture. We used empirical data to test this theory and instead found that maximum foraging speeds remain constant and high (∼4 m s–1) across body size, even as higher speeds result in lower foraging efficiency. Regardless, we found an increasing relationship between body size and this foraging efficiency, estimated as the ratio of energetic gain from prey to energetic cost. This trend held across timescales ranging from a single lunge to a single day and suggests that larger whales are capturing more prey—and more energy—at a lower cost.
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Affiliation(s)
- William T Gough
- Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University , Pacific Grove, CA 94305, USA
| | - David E Cade
- Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University , Pacific Grove, CA 94305, USA
| | - Max F Czapanskiy
- Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University , Pacific Grove, CA 94305, USA
| | - Jean Potvin
- Saint Louis University , Saint Louis, MO 63103, USA
| | - Frank E Fish
- West Chester University , West Chester, PA 19383, USA
| | | | - Matthew S Savoca
- Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University , Pacific Grove, CA 94305, USA
| | - K C Bierlich
- Oregon State University , Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
| | | | | | - Andy Szabo
- Alaska Whale Foundation , Sitka, AK, 99835, USA
| | - Lars Bejder
- Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, University of Hawaii at Manoa , Kaheohe, HI 96822, USA
- Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University , Aarhus 8000, Denmark
| | - Jeremy A Goldbogen
- Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University , Pacific Grove, CA 94305, USA
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7
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Nazario EC, Cade DE, Bierlich K, Czapanskiy MF, Goldbogen JA, Kahane-Rapport SR, van der Hoop JM, San Luis MT, Friedlaender AS. Baleen whale inhalation variability revealed using animal-borne video tags. PeerJ 2022; 10:e13724. [PMID: 35880219 PMCID: PMC9308462 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.13724] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2022] [Accepted: 06/22/2022] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Empirical metabolic rate and oxygen consumption estimates for free-ranging whales have been limited to counting respiratory events at the surface. Because these observations were limited and generally viewed from afar, variability in respiratory properties was unknown and oxygen consumption estimates assumed constant breath-to-breath tidal volume and oxygen uptake. However, evidence suggests that cetaceans in human care vary tidal volume and breathing frequency to meet aerobic demand, which would significantly impact energetic estimates if the findings held in free-ranging species. In this study, we used suction cup-attached video tags positioned posterior to the nares of two humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) and four Antarctic minke whales (Balaenoptera bonaerensis) to measure inhalation duration, relative nares expansion, and maximum nares expansion. Inhalation duration and nares expansion varied between and within initial, middle, and terminal breaths of surface sequences between dives. The initial and middle breaths exhibited the least variability and had the shortest durations and smallest nares expansions. In contrast, terminal breaths were highly variable, with the longest inhalation durations and the largest nares expansions. Our results demonstrate breath-to-breath variability in duration and nares expansion, suggesting differential oxygen exchange in each breath during the surface interval. With future validation, inhalation duration or nares area could be used alongside respiratory frequency to improve oxygen consumption estimates by accounting for breath-to-breath variation in wild whales.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily C. Nazario
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, United States of America
| | - David E. Cade
- Department of Biology, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, United States of America
| | - K.C. Bierlich
- Marine Mammal Institute, Hatfield Marine Science Center, Oregon State University, Newport, OR, United States of America
| | - Max F. Czapanskiy
- Department of Biology, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, United States of America
| | - Jeremy A. Goldbogen
- Department of Biology, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, United States of America
| | - Shirel R. Kahane-Rapport
- Department of Biological Science, California State University, Fullerton, Fullerton, CA, United States of America
| | | | - Merceline T. San Luis
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, United States of America
| | - Ari S. Friedlaender
- Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, United States of America
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8
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Segre PS, Gough WT, Roualdes EA, Cade DE, Czapanskiy MF, Fahlbusch J, Kahane-Rapport SR, Oestreich WK, Bejder L, Bierlich KC, Burrows JA, Calambokidis J, Chenoweth EM, di Clemente J, Durban JW, Fearnbach H, Fish FE, Friedlaender AS, Hegelund P, Johnston DW, Nowacek DP, Oudejans MG, Penry GS, Potvin J, Simon M, Stanworth A, Straley JM, Szabo A, Videsen SKA, Visser F, Weir CR, Wiley DN, Goldbogen JA. Scaling of maneuvering performance in baleen whales: larger whales outperform expectations. J Exp Biol 2022; 225:274595. [PMID: 35234874 PMCID: PMC8976943 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.243224] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2021] [Accepted: 01/17/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Despite their enormous size, whales make their living as voracious predators. To catch their much smaller, more maneuverable prey, they have developed several unique locomotor strategies that require high energetic input, high mechanical power output and a surprising degree of agility. To better understand how body size affects maneuverability at the largest scale, we used bio-logging data, aerial photogrammetry and a high-throughput approach to quantify the maneuvering performance of seven species of free-swimming baleen whale. We found that as body size increases, absolute maneuvering performance decreases: larger whales use lower accelerations and perform slower pitch-changes, rolls and turns than smaller species. We also found that baleen whales exhibit positive allometry of maneuvering performance: relative to their body size, larger whales use higher accelerations, and perform faster pitch-changes, rolls and certain types of turns than smaller species. However, not all maneuvers were impacted by body size in the same way, and we found that larger whales behaviorally adjust for their decreased agility by using turns that they can perform more effectively. The positive allometry of maneuvering performance suggests that large whales have compensated for their increased body size by evolving more effective control surfaces and by preferentially selecting maneuvers that play to their strengths.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paolo S Segre
- Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, USA
| | - William T Gough
- Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, USA
| | - Edward A Roualdes
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, California State University, Chico, Chico, CA 95929, USA
| | - David E Cade
- Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, USA.,Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
| | - Max F Czapanskiy
- Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, USA
| | - James Fahlbusch
- Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, USA.,Cascadia Research Collective, Olympia, WA 98501, USA
| | - Shirel R Kahane-Rapport
- Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, USA.,Department of Biological Science, California State University, Fullerton, Fullerton, CA 92834, USA
| | | | - Lars Bejder
- Marine Mammal Research Program, Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Kaneohe, HI 96744, USA.,Zoophysiology, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - K C Bierlich
- Division of Marine Science and Conservation, Duke University Marine Laboratory, Beaufort, NC 28516, USA.,Marine Mammal Institute, Hatfield Marine Science Center, Oregon State University, Newport, OR 97365, USA
| | - Julia A Burrows
- Division of Marine Science and Conservation, Duke University Marine Laboratory, Beaufort, NC 28516, USA.,Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | | | - Ellen M Chenoweth
- University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA.,Department of Natural Sciences, University of Alaska Southeast, AK 99835, USA
| | - Jacopo di Clemente
- Marine Mammal Research, Department of Ecoscience, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.,Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, 2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark.,Department of Biology, University of Southern Denmark, 5230 Odense M, Denmark
| | - John W Durban
- Southall Environmental Associates, Inc., Aptos, CA 95003, USA
| | - Holly Fearnbach
- SR3, SeaLife Response, Rehabilitation and Research, Des Moines, WA 98198, USA
| | - Frank E Fish
- Department of Biology, West Chester University, PA 19383, USA
| | - Ari S Friedlaender
- Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
| | - Peter Hegelund
- Greenland Climate Research Centre, Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, Nuuk 3900, Greenland
| | - David W Johnston
- Division of Marine Science and Conservation, Duke University Marine Laboratory, Beaufort, NC 28516, USA
| | - Douglas P Nowacek
- Nicholas School of the Environment and Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University Marine Lab, Beaufort, NC 28516, USA
| | | | - Gwenith S Penry
- Institute for Coastal and Marine Research, Nelson Mandela University, Gqeberha 6031, South Africa
| | - Jean Potvin
- Department of Physics, Saint Louis University, St Louis, MO 63103, USA
| | - Malene Simon
- Greenland Climate Research Centre, Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, Nuuk 3900, Greenland
| | | | - Janice M Straley
- Department of Natural Sciences, University of Alaska Southeast, AK 99835, USA
| | - Andrew Szabo
- Alaska Whale Foundation, Petersburg, AK 99833, USA
| | - Simone K A Videsen
- Zoophysiology, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - Fleur Visser
- Kelp Marine Research, 1624 CJ Hoorn, The Netherlands.,Department of Freshwater and Marine Ecology, IBED, University of Amsterdam, 1090 GE Amsterdam, The Netherlands.,Department of Coastal Systems, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Texel, 1790 AB Den Burg, The Netherlands
| | | | - David N Wiley
- NOAA/Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, Scituate, MA 02066, USA
| | - Jeremy A Goldbogen
- Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, USA
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9
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Durban JW, Southall BL, Calambokidis J, Casey C, Fearnbach H, Joyce TW, Fahlbusch JA, Oudejans MG, Fregosi S, Friedlaender AS, Kellar NM, Visser F. Integrating remote sensing methods during controlled exposure experiments to quantify group responses of dolphins to navy sonar. Mar Pollut Bull 2022; 174:113194. [PMID: 34902768 DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.113194] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2021] [Revised: 11/21/2021] [Accepted: 11/23/2021] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Human noise can be harmful to sound-centric marine mammals. Significant research has focused on characterizing behavioral responses of protected cetacean species to navy mid-frequency active sonar (MFAS). Controlled exposure experiments (CEE) using animal-borne tags have proved valuable, but smaller dolphins are not amenable to tagging and groups of interacting individuals are more relevant behavioral units for these social species. To fill key data gaps on group responses of social delphinids that are exposed to navy MFAS in large numbers, we describe novel approaches for the coordinated collection and integrated analysis of multiple remotely-sensed datasets during CEEs. This involves real-time coordination of a sonar source, shore-based group tracking, aerial photogrammetry to measure fine-scale movements and passive acoustics to quantify vocal activity. Using an example CEE involving long-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus delphis bairdii), we demonstrate how resultant quantitative metrics can be used to estimate behavioral changes and noise exposure-response relationships.
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Affiliation(s)
- J W Durban
- Southall Environmental Associates, Inc., 9099 Soquel Drive, Aptos, CA 95003, USA; Marine Mammal and Turtle Division, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, 8901 La Jolla Shores Drive, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
| | - B L Southall
- Southall Environmental Associates, Inc., 9099 Soquel Drive, Aptos, CA 95003, USA; Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California Santa Cruz, 115 McAllister Way, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA
| | - J Calambokidis
- Cascadia Research Collective, 218 1/2 W 4th Ave., Olympia, WA 98501, USA
| | - C Casey
- Southall Environmental Associates, Inc., 9099 Soquel Drive, Aptos, CA 95003, USA; Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California Santa Cruz, 115 McAllister Way, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA
| | - H Fearnbach
- SR3 SeaLife Response, Rehabilitation and Research, 2003 S. 216th St. #98811, Des Moines, WA 98198, USA
| | - T W Joyce
- Environmental Assessment Services, 350 Hills St., Suite 112, Richland, WA 99354, USA
| | - J A Fahlbusch
- Cascadia Research Collective, 218 1/2 W 4th Ave., Olympia, WA 98501, USA; Department of Biology, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, USA
| | - M G Oudejans
- Kelp Marine Research, 1624 CJ Hoorn, the Netherlands
| | - S Fregosi
- Southall Environmental Associates, Inc., 9099 Soquel Drive, Aptos, CA 95003, USA
| | - A S Friedlaender
- Southall Environmental Associates, Inc., 9099 Soquel Drive, Aptos, CA 95003, USA; Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California Santa Cruz, 115 McAllister Way, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA
| | - N M Kellar
- Marine Mammal and Turtle Division, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, 8901 La Jolla Shores Drive, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA
| | - F Visser
- Kelp Marine Research, 1624 CJ Hoorn, the Netherlands; Department of Freshwater and Marine Ecology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, P.O. Box 94240, 1090 GE Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Department of Coastal Systems, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, P.O. Box 59, 1790 AB Den Burg, Texel, the Netherlands
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10
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Kienle SS, Friedlaender AS, Crocker DE, Mehta RS, Costa DP. Trade-offs between foraging reward and mortality risk drive sex-specific foraging strategies in sexually dimorphic northern elephant seals. R Soc Open Sci 2022; 9:210522. [PMID: 35116140 PMCID: PMC8767210 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.210522] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2021] [Accepted: 12/14/2021] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
Sex-specific phenotypic differences are widespread throughout the animal kingdom. Reproductive advantages provided by trait differences come at a cost. Here, we link sex-specific foraging strategies to trade-offs between foraging reward and mortality risk in sexually dimorphic northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris). We analyse a decadal dataset on movement patterns, dive behaviour, foraging success and mortality rates. Females are deep-diving predators in open ocean habitats. Males are shallow-diving benthic predators in continental shelf habitats. Males gain six times more mass and acquire energy 4.1 times faster than females. High foraging success comes with a high mortality rate. Males are six times more likely to die than females. These foraging strategies and trade-offs are related to different energy demands and life-history strategies. Males use a foraging strategy with a high mortality risk to attain large body sizes necessary to compete for females, as only a fraction of the largest males ever mate. Females use a foraging strategy with a lower mortality risk, maximizing reproductive success by pupping annually over a long lifespan. Our results highlight how sex-specific traits can drive disparity in mortality rates and expand species' niche space. Further, trade-offs between foraging rewards and mortality risk can differentially affect each sex's ability to maximize fitness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah S. Kienle
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, 130 McAllister Way, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA
- Department of Biology, Baylor University, One Bear Place #97399, Waco, TX 76798, USA
| | - Ari S. Friedlaender
- Ocean Science, University of California, 130 McAllister Way, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA
| | - Daniel E. Crocker
- Biology, Sonoma State University, 1801 East Cotati Avenue, Rohnert Park, CA 94928, USA
| | - Rita S. Mehta
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, 130 McAllister Way, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA
| | - Daniel P. Costa
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, 130 McAllister Way, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA
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11
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Reisinger RR, Corney S, Raymond B, Lombard AT, Bester MN, Crawford RJM, Davies D, Bruyn PJN, Dilley BJ, Kirkman SP, Makhado AB, Ryan PG, Schoombie S, Stevens KL, Tosh CA, Wege M, Whitehead TO, Sumner MD, Wotherspoon S, Friedlaender AS, Cotté C, Hindell MA, Ropert‐Coudert Y, Pistorius PA. Front Cover. DIVERS DISTRIB 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/ddi.13347] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
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12
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Reisinger RR, Corney S, Raymond B, Lombard AT, Bester MN, Crawford RJM, Davies D, Bruyn PJN, Dilley BJ, Kirkman SP, Makhado AB, Ryan PG, Schoombie S, Stevens KL, Tosh CA, Wege M, Whitehead TO, Sumner MD, Wotherspoon S, Friedlaender AS, Cotté C, Hindell MA, Ropert‐Coudert Y, Pistorius PA. Habitat model forecasts suggest potential redistribution of marine predators in the southern Indian Ocean. DIVERS DISTRIB 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/ddi.13447] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Ryan R. Reisinger
- School of Ocean and Earth Science University of SouthamptonNational Oceanography Centre Southampton Southampton UK
- Institute for Marine Sciences University of California Santa Cruz Santa Cruz California USA
- Centre d’Etudes Biologiques de Chizé UMR 7372 du CNRS‐La Rochelle Université Villiers‐en‐Bois France
- Sorbonne UniversitésUPMC University, UMR 7159 CNRS‐IRD‐MNHN, LOCEAN‐IPSL Paris France
- Department of Zoology and Institute for Coastal and Marine Research DST/NRF Centre of Excellence at the FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology Nelson Mandela University Gqeberha South Africa
| | - Stuart Corney
- Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies University of Tasmania Hobart Tasmania Australia
| | - Ben Raymond
- Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies University of Tasmania Hobart Tasmania Australia
- Australian Antarctic DivisionDepartment of Agriculture, Water and the Environment Kingston Tasmania Australia
| | - Amanda T. Lombard
- Institute for Coastal and Marine ResearchNelson Mandela University Gqeberha South Africa
| | - Marthán N. Bester
- Department of Zoology and Entomology Mammal Research Institute University of Pretoria Hatfield South Africa
| | | | - Delia Davies
- FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology DST‐NRF Centre of Excellence University of Cape Town Rondebosch South Africa
| | - P. J. Nico Bruyn
- Department of Zoology and Entomology Mammal Research Institute University of Pretoria Hatfield South Africa
| | - Ben J. Dilley
- FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology DST‐NRF Centre of Excellence University of Cape Town Rondebosch South Africa
| | - Stephen P. Kirkman
- Institute for Coastal and Marine ResearchNelson Mandela University Gqeberha South Africa
- Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Cape Town South Africa
| | - Azwianewi B. Makhado
- Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Cape Town South Africa
- FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology DST‐NRF Centre of Excellence University of Cape Town Rondebosch South Africa
| | - Peter G. Ryan
- FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology DST‐NRF Centre of Excellence University of Cape Town Rondebosch South Africa
| | - Stefan Schoombie
- FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology DST‐NRF Centre of Excellence University of Cape Town Rondebosch South Africa
| | - Kim L. Stevens
- FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology DST‐NRF Centre of Excellence University of Cape Town Rondebosch South Africa
| | - Cheryl A. Tosh
- Research Office Faculty of Health Sciences University of Pretoria Pretoria South Africa
| | - Mia Wege
- Department of Zoology and Entomology Mammal Research Institute University of Pretoria Hatfield South Africa
| | - T. Otto Whitehead
- FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology DST‐NRF Centre of Excellence University of Cape Town Rondebosch South Africa
| | - Michael D. Sumner
- Australian Antarctic DivisionDepartment of Agriculture, Water and the Environment Kingston Tasmania Australia
| | - Simon Wotherspoon
- Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies University of Tasmania Hobart Tasmania Australia
- Australian Antarctic DivisionDepartment of Agriculture, Water and the Environment Kingston Tasmania Australia
| | - Ari S. Friedlaender
- Institute for Marine Sciences University of California Santa Cruz Santa Cruz California USA
| | - Cedric Cotté
- Sorbonne UniversitésUPMC University, UMR 7159 CNRS‐IRD‐MNHN, LOCEAN‐IPSL Paris France
| | - Mark A. Hindell
- Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies University of Tasmania Hobart Tasmania Australia
| | - Yan Ropert‐Coudert
- Centre d’Etudes Biologiques de Chizé UMR 7372 du CNRS‐La Rochelle Université Villiers‐en‐Bois France
| | - Pierre A. Pistorius
- Department of Zoology and Institute for Coastal and Marine Research DST/NRF Centre of Excellence at the FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology Nelson Mandela University Gqeberha South Africa
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13
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Savoca MS, Czapanskiy MF, Kahane-Rapport SR, Gough WT, Fahlbusch JA, Bierlich KC, Segre PS, Di Clemente J, Penry GS, Wiley DN, Calambokidis J, Nowacek DP, Johnston DW, Pyenson ND, Friedlaender AS, Hazen EL, Goldbogen JA. Baleen whale prey consumption based on high-resolution foraging measurements. Nature 2021; 599:85-90. [PMID: 34732868 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03991-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2020] [Accepted: 09/01/2021] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Baleen whales influence their ecosystems through immense prey consumption and nutrient recycling1-3. It is difficult to accurately gauge the magnitude of their current or historic ecosystem role without measuring feeding rates and prey consumed. To date, prey consumption of the largest species has been estimated using metabolic models3-9 based on extrapolations that lack empirical validation. Here, we used tags deployed on seven baleen whale (Mysticeti) species (n = 321 tag deployments) in conjunction with acoustic measurements of prey density to calculate prey consumption at daily to annual scales from the Atlantic, Pacific, and Southern Oceans. Our results suggest that previous studies3-9 have underestimated baleen whale prey consumption by threefold or more in some ecosystems. In the Southern Ocean alone, we calculate that pre-whaling populations of mysticetes annually consumed 430 million tonnes of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba), twice the current estimated total biomass of E. superba10, and more than twice the global catch of marine fisheries today11. Larger whale populations may have supported higher productivity in large marine regions through enhanced nutrient recycling: our findings suggest mysticetes recycled 1.2 × 104 tonnes iron yr-1 in the Southern Ocean before whaling compared to 1.2 × 103 tonnes iron yr-1 recycled by whales today. The recovery of baleen whales and their nutrient recycling services2,3,7 could augment productivity and restore ecosystem function lost during 20th century whaling12,13.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew S Savoca
- Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, USA.
| | - Max F Czapanskiy
- Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, USA
| | | | - William T Gough
- Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, USA
| | - James A Fahlbusch
- Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, USA.,Cascadia Research Collective, Olympia, WA, USA
| | - K C Bierlich
- Duke University Marine Laboratory, Duke University, Beaufort, NC, USA.,Marine Mammal Institute, Hatfield Marine Science Center, Oregon State University, Newport, OR, USA
| | - Paolo S Segre
- Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, USA
| | - Jacopo Di Clemente
- Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.,Department of Biology, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.,Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Gwenith S Penry
- Institute for Coastal and Marine Research, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa
| | - David N Wiley
- Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, NOAA National Ocean Service, Scituate, MA, USA
| | | | - Douglas P Nowacek
- Duke University Marine Laboratory, Duke University, Beaufort, NC, USA
| | - David W Johnston
- Duke University Marine Laboratory, Duke University, Beaufort, NC, USA
| | - Nicholas D Pyenson
- Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC, USA.,Department of Paleontology and Geology, Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Ari S Friedlaender
- Long Marine Laboratory, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
| | - Elliott L Hazen
- Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, USA.,Long Marine Laboratory, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA.,Environmental Research Division, NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center, Monterey, CA, USA
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14
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Chenoweth EM, Boswell KM, Friedlaender AS, McPhee MV, Burrows JA, Heintz RA, Straley JM. Confronting assumptions about prey selection by lunge‐feeding whales using a process‐based model. Funct Ecol 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.13852] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Ellen M. Chenoweth
- University of Alaska Fairbanks Fairbanks AK USA
- University of Alaska Southeast Sitka AK USA
| | | | - Ari S. Friedlaender
- University of California Santa Cruz Santa Cruz CA USA
- Oregon State University Newport OR USA
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15
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Segre PS, Weir CR, Stanworth A, Cartwright S, Friedlaender AS, Goldbogen JA. Biomechanically distinct filter-feeding behaviors distinguish sei whales as a functional intermediate and ecologically flexible species. J Exp Biol 2021. [DOI: 10.1242/jeb.238873] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
ABSTRACT
With their ability to facultatively switch between filter-feeding modes, sei whales represent a functional and ecological intermediate in the transition between intermittent and continuous filter feeding. Morphologically resembling their lunge-feeding, rorqual relatives, sei whales have convergently evolved the ability to skim prey near the surface of the water, like the more distantly related balaenids. Because of their intermediate nature, understanding how sei whales switch between feeding behaviors may shed light on the rapid evolution and flexibility of filter-feeding strategies. We deployed multi-sensor bio-logging tags on two sei whales and measured the kinematics of feeding behaviors in this poorly understood and endangered species. To forage at the surface, sei whales used a unique combination of surface lunges and skim-feeding behaviors. The surface lunges were slow and stereotyped, and were unlike lunges performed by other rorqual species. The skim-feeding events featured a different filtration mechanism from the lunges and were kinematically different from the continuous filter feeding used by balaenids. While foraging below the surface, sei whales used faster and more variable lunges. The morphological characteristics that allow sei whales to effectively perform different feeding behaviors suggest that sei whales rapidly evolved their functionally intermediate and ecologically flexible form to compete with larger and more efficient rorqual species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paolo S. Segre
- Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, USA
| | | | | | | | - Ari S. Friedlaender
- Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
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16
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Cade DE, Seakamela SM, Findlay KP, Fukunaga J, Kahane‐Rapport SR, Warren JD, Calambokidis J, Fahlbusch JA, Friedlaender AS, Hazen EL, Kotze D, McCue S, Meÿer M, Oestreich WK, Oudejans MG, Wilke C, Goldbogen JA. Predator‐scale spatial analysis of intra‐patch prey distribution reveals the energetic drivers of rorqual whale super‐group formation. Funct Ecol 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.13763] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- David E. Cade
- Hopkins Marine Station Stanford University Pacific Grove CA USA
- Institute of Marine Science University of California, Santa Cruz Santa Cruz CA USA
| | - S. Mduduzi Seakamela
- Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, Branch: Oceans and Coasts, Victoria & Alfred Waterfront Cape Town South Africa
| | - Ken P. Findlay
- Oceans Economy Cape Peninsula University of Technology Cape Town South Africa
- MRI Whale Unit Department of Zoology and Entomology University of Pretoria Hatfield South Africa
| | - Julie Fukunaga
- Hopkins Marine Station Stanford University Pacific Grove CA USA
| | | | - Joseph D. Warren
- School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences Stony Brook University Southampton NY USA
| | | | - James A. Fahlbusch
- Hopkins Marine Station Stanford University Pacific Grove CA USA
- Cascadia Research Collective Olympia WA USA
| | - Ari S. Friedlaender
- Institute of Marine Science University of California, Santa Cruz Santa Cruz CA USA
| | - Elliott L. Hazen
- Environmental Research Division/Southwest Fisheries Science Center/National Marine Fisheries Service/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Monterey CA USA
| | - Deon Kotze
- Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, Branch: Oceans and Coasts, Victoria & Alfred Waterfront Cape Town South Africa
| | - Steven McCue
- Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, Branch: Oceans and Coasts, Victoria & Alfred Waterfront Cape Town South Africa
| | - Michael Meÿer
- Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, Branch: Oceans and Coasts, Victoria & Alfred Waterfront Cape Town South Africa
| | | | | | - Christopher Wilke
- Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, Branch: Fisheries Management Cape Town South Africa
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17
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Pirotta E, Booth CG, Cade DE, Calambokidis J, Costa DP, Fahlbusch JA, Friedlaender AS, Goldbogen JA, Harwood J, Hazen EL, New L, Southall BL. Context-dependent variability in the predicted daily energetic costs of disturbance for blue whales. Conserv Physiol 2021; 9:coaa137. [PMID: 33505702 PMCID: PMC7816799 DOI: 10.1093/conphys/coaa137] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2020] [Revised: 12/16/2020] [Accepted: 12/19/2020] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
Assessing the long-term consequences of sub-lethal anthropogenic disturbance on wildlife populations requires integrating data on fine-scale individual behavior and physiology into spatially and temporally broader, population-level inference. A typical behavioral response to disturbance is the cessation of foraging, which can be translated into a common metric of energetic cost. However, this necessitates detailed empirical information on baseline movements, activity budgets, feeding rates and energy intake, as well as the probability of an individual responding to the disturbance-inducing stressor within different exposure contexts. Here, we integrated data from blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus) experimentally exposed to military active sonar signals with fine-scale measurements of baseline behavior over multiple days or weeks obtained from accelerometry loggers, telemetry tracking and prey sampling. Specifically, we developed daily simulations of movement, feeding behavior and exposure to localized sonar events of increasing duration and intensity and predicted the effects of this disturbance source on the daily energy intake of an individual. Activity budgets and movements were highly variable in space and time and among individuals, resulting in large variability in predicted energetic intake and costs. In half of our simulations, an individual's energy intake was unaffected by the simulated source. However, some individuals lost their entire daily energy intake under brief or weak exposure scenarios. Given this large variation, population-level models will have to assess the consequences of the entire distribution of energetic costs, rather than only consider single summary statistics. The shape of the exposure-response functions also strongly influenced predictions, reinforcing the need for contextually explicit experiments and improved mechanistic understanding of the processes driving behavioral and physiological responses to disturbance. This study presents a robust approach for integrating different types of empirical information to assess the effects of disturbance at spatio-temporal and ecological scales that are relevant to management and conservation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Enrico Pirotta
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Washington State University, Vancouver, WA 98686, USA
- School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University College Cork, Cork T23 N73K, Ireland
| | - Cormac G Booth
- SMRU Consulting, Scottish Oceans Institute, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 8LB, UK
| | - David E Cade
- Department of Biology, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, USA
- Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
| | | | - Daniel P Costa
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA
- Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
| | - James A Fahlbusch
- Department of Biology, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, USA
- Cascadia Research Collective, Olympia, WA 98501, USA
| | - Ari S Friedlaender
- Southall Environmental Associates, Inc., Aptos, CA 95003, USA
- Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
| | - Jeremy A Goldbogen
- Department of Biology, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, USA
| | - John Harwood
- SMRU Consulting, Scottish Oceans Institute, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 8LB, UK
- Centre for Research into Ecological and Environmental Modelling, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9LZ, UK
| | - Elliott L Hazen
- Southwest Fisheries Science Center, Environmental Research Division, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Monterey, CA 93940, USA
| | - Leslie New
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Washington State University, Vancouver, WA 98686, USA
| | - Brandon L Southall
- Southall Environmental Associates, Inc., Aptos, CA 95003, USA
- Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
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18
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Oestreich WK, Fahlbusch JA, Cade DE, Calambokidis J, Margolina T, Joseph J, Friedlaender AS, McKenna MF, Stimpert AK, Southall BL, Goldbogen JA, Ryan JP. Animal-Borne Metrics Enable Acoustic Detection of Blue Whale Migration. Curr Biol 2020; 30:4773-4779.e3. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.08.105] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2020] [Revised: 07/31/2020] [Accepted: 08/31/2020] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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19
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Bestley S, Ropert-Coudert Y, Bengtson Nash S, Brooks CM, Cotté C, Dewar M, Friedlaender AS, Jackson JA, Labrousse S, Lowther AD, McMahon CR, Phillips RA, Pistorius P, Puskic PS, Reis AODA, Reisinger RR, Santos M, Tarszisz E, Tixier P, Trathan PN, Wege M, Wienecke B. Marine Ecosystem Assessment for the Southern Ocean: Birds and Marine Mammals in a Changing Climate. Front Ecol Evol 2020. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2020.566936] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
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20
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Flammang BE, Marras S, Anderson EJ, Lehmkuhl O, Mukherjee A, Cade DE, Beckert M, Nadler JH, Houzeaux G, Vázquez M, Amplo HE, Calambokidis J, Friedlaender AS, Goldbogen JA. Remoras pick where they stick on blue whales. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2020; 223:223/20/jeb226654. [PMID: 33115921 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.226654] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/09/2020] [Accepted: 09/07/2020] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
Abstract
Animal-borne video recordings from blue whales in the open ocean show that remoras preferentially adhere to specific regions on the surface of the whale. Using empirical and computational fluid dynamics analyses, we show that remora attachment was specific to regions of separating flow and wakes caused by surface features on the whale. Adhesion at these locations offers remoras drag reduction of up to 71-84% compared with the freestream. Remoras were observed to move freely along the surface of the whale using skimming and sliding behaviors. Skimming provided drag reduction as high as 50-72% at some locations for some remora sizes, but little to none was available in regions where few to no remoras were observed. Experimental work suggests that the Venturi effect may help remoras stay near the whale while skimming. Understanding the flow environment around a swimming blue whale will inform the placement of biosensor tags to increase attachment time for extended ecological monitoring.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brooke E Flammang
- Federated Department of Biological Sciences, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07102, USA
| | - Simone Marras
- Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07102, USA.,Center for Applied Mathematics and Statistics, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07102, USA
| | - Erik J Anderson
- Department of Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering (Guest Investigator), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA.,Department of Mechanical Engineering, Grove City College, Grove City, PA 16127, USA
| | - Oriol Lehmkuhl
- Department of Computer Applications in Science and Engineering, Barcelona Supercomputing Center, 08034 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Abhishek Mukherjee
- Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07102, USA
| | - David E Cade
- Hopkins Marine Station, Department of Biology, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, USA.,Institute for Marine Sciences, University of California Santa Cruz, 15 McAllister Way, Santa Cruz, CA 95003, USA
| | - Michael Beckert
- Advanced Concepts Research Laboratory, Georgia Tech Research Institute, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA.,Exponent Engineering and Scientific Consulting, 3350 Peachtree Road NE, Suite 1125, Atlanta, GA 30326, USA
| | - Jason H Nadler
- Advanced Concepts Research Laboratory, Georgia Tech Research Institute, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA
| | - Guillaume Houzeaux
- Department of Computer Applications in Science and Engineering, Barcelona Supercomputing Center, 08034 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Mariano Vázquez
- Department of Computer Applications in Science and Engineering, Barcelona Supercomputing Center, 08034 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Haley E Amplo
- Federated Department of Biological Sciences, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07102, USA
| | | | - Ari S Friedlaender
- Institute for Marine Sciences, University of California Santa Cruz, 15 McAllister Way, Santa Cruz, CA 95003, USA
| | - Jeremy A Goldbogen
- Hopkins Marine Station, Department of Biology, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, USA
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21
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Kahane-Rapport SR, Savoca MS, Cade DE, Segre PS, Bierlich KC, Calambokidis J, Dale J, Fahlbusch JA, Friedlaender AS, Johnston DW, Werth AJ, Goldbogen JA. Lunge filter feeding biomechanics constrain rorqual foraging ecology across scale. J Exp Biol 2020; 223:jeb224196. [PMID: 32820028 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.224196] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2020] [Accepted: 08/13/2020] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Fundamental scaling relationships influence the physiology of vital rates, which in turn shape the ecology and evolution of organisms. For diving mammals, benefits conferred by large body size include reduced transport costs and enhanced breath-holding capacity, thereby increasing overall foraging efficiency. Rorqual whales feed by engulfing a large mass of prey-laden water at high speed and filtering it through baleen plates. However, as engulfment capacity increases with body length (engulfment volume∝body length3.57), the surface area of the baleen filter does not increase proportionally (baleen area∝body length1.82), and thus the filtration time of larger rorquals predictably increases as the baleen surface area must filter a disproportionally large amount of water. We predicted that filtration time should scale with body length to the power of 1.75 (filter time∝body length1.75). We tested this hypothesis on four rorqual species using multi-sensor tags with corresponding unoccupied aircraft systems-based body length estimates. We found that filter time scales with body length to the power of 1.79 (95% CI: 1.61-1.97). This result highlights a scale-dependent trade-off between engulfment capacity and baleen area that creates a biomechanical constraint to foraging through increased filtration time. Consequently, larger whales must target high-density prey patches commensurate to the gulp size to meet their increased energetic demands. If these optimal patches are absent, larger rorquals may experience reduced foraging efficiency compared with smaller whales if they do not match their engulfment capacity to the size of targeted prey aggregations.
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Affiliation(s)
- S R Kahane-Rapport
- Department of Biology, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, USA
| | - M S Savoca
- Department of Biology, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, USA
| | - D E Cade
- Department of Biology, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, USA
- Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
| | - P S Segre
- Department of Biology, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, USA
| | - K C Bierlich
- Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University Marine Laboratory, Beaufort, NC 27710, USA
| | - J Calambokidis
- Cascadia Research Collective, 218 W. 4th Ave., Olympia, WA 98501, USA
| | - J Dale
- Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University Marine Laboratory, Beaufort, NC 27710, USA
| | - J A Fahlbusch
- Department of Biology, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, USA
| | - A S Friedlaender
- Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
| | - D W Johnston
- Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University Marine Laboratory, Beaufort, NC 27710, USA
| | - A J Werth
- Department of Biology, Hampden-Sydney College, Hampden-Sydney, VA 23943, USA
| | - J A Goldbogen
- Department of Biology, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, USA
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22
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Hückstädt LA, Schwarz LK, Friedlaender AS, Mate BR, Zerbini AN, Kennedy A, Robbins J, Gales NJ, Costa DP. A dynamic approach to estimate the probability of exposure of marine predators to oil exploration seismic surveys over continental shelf waters. ENDANGER SPECIES RES 2020. [DOI: 10.3354/esr01048] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
The ever-increasing human demand for fossil fuels has resulted in the expansion of oil exploration efforts to waters over the continental shelf. These waters are largely utilized by a complex biological community. Large baleen whales, in particular, utilize continental shelf waters as breeding and calving grounds, foraging grounds, and also as migration corridors. We developed a dynamic approach to estimate the likelihood that individuals from different populations of blue whales Balaenoptera musculus and humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae could be exposed to idealized, simulated seismic surveys as they move over the continental shelf. Animal tracking data for the different populations were filtered, and behaviors (transit and foraging) were inferred from the tracks using hidden Markov models. We simulated a range of conditions of exposure by having the source of noise affecting a circular area of different radii (5, 25, 50 and 100 km), moving along a gridded transect of 270 and 2500 km2 at a constant speed of 9 km h-1, and starting the simulated surveys every week of the year. Our approach allowed us to identify the temporal variability in the susceptibility of the different populations under study, as we ran the simulations for an entire year, allowing us to identify periods when the surveys would have an intensified effect on whales. Our results highlight the importance of understanding the behavior and ecology of individuals in a site-specific context when considering the likelihood of exposure to anthropogenic disturbances, as the habitat utilization patterns of each population are highly variable.
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Affiliation(s)
- LA Hückstädt
- Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA
| | - LK Schwarz
- Department of Ocean Sciences, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
| | - AS Friedlaender
- Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA
| | - BR Mate
- Marine Mammal Institute, Oregon State University, Newport, OR 97365, USA
| | - AN Zerbini
- Joint Institute for the Study of Atmosphere and Ocean (JISAO), University of Washington & Marine Mammal Laboratory, NOAA, Seattle, WA 98112, USA
- Marine Ecology and Telemetry Research, Seabeck, WA, 98380, USA
- Instituto Aqualie, Juiz de Fora, MG, Brazil
| | - A Kennedy
- Joint Institute for the Study of Atmosphere and Ocean (JISAO), University of Washington & Marine Mammal Laboratory, NOAA, Seattle, WA 98112, USA
| | - J Robbins
- Center for Coastal Studies, Provincetown, MA 02657, USA
| | - NJ Gales
- Australian Antarctic Division, Kingston, Tasmania 7050, Australia
| | - DP Costa
- Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA
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23
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Bamford CCG, Kelly N, Dalla Rosa L, Cade DE, Fretwell PT, Trathan PN, Cubaynes HC, Mesquita AFC, Gerrish L, Friedlaender AS, Jackson JA. A comparison of baleen whale density estimates derived from overlapping satellite imagery and a shipborne survey. Sci Rep 2020; 10:12985. [PMID: 32737390 PMCID: PMC7395155 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-69887-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2019] [Accepted: 07/07/2020] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
As whales recover from commercial exploitation, they are increasing in abundance in habitats that they have been absent from for decades. However, studying the recovery and habitat use patterns of whales, particularly in remote and inaccessible regions, frequently poses logistical and economic challenges. Here we trial a new approach for measuring whale density in a remote area, using Very-High-Resolution WorldView-3 satellite imagery. This approach has capacity to provide sightings data to complement and assist traditional sightings surveys. We compare at-sea whale density estimates to estimates derived from satellite imagery collected at a similar time, and use suction-cup archival logger data to make an adjustment for surface availability. We demonstrate that satellite imagery can provide useful data on whale occurrence and density. Densities, when unadjusted for surface availability are shown to be considerably lower than those estimated by the ship survey. However, adjusted for surface availability and weather conditions (0.13 whales per km2, CV = 0.38), they fall within an order of magnitude of those derived by traditional line-transect estimates (0.33 whales per km2, CV = 0.09). Satellite surveys represent an exciting development for high-resolution image-based cetacean observation at sea, particularly in inaccessible regions, presenting opportunities for ongoing and future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- C C G Bamford
- British Antarctic Survey, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, UK. .,University of Southampton, University Road, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK.
| | - N Kelly
- Australian Antarctic Division, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, Australian Government, Channel Highway, Kingston, 7050, Australia
| | - L Dalla Rosa
- Laboratório de Ecologia e Conservação da Megafauna Marinha, Instituto de Oceanografia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande-FURG, Av. Itália km.8, Rio Grande, RS, 96203-900, Brazil
| | - D E Cade
- Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, 120 Ocean View Blvd, Pacific Grove, CA, 93950, USA.,Institute for Marine Sciences, University of California Santa Cruz, 115 McAllister Way, Santa Cruz, CA, 95006, USA
| | - P T Fretwell
- British Antarctic Survey, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, UK
| | - P N Trathan
- British Antarctic Survey, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, UK
| | - H C Cubaynes
- British Antarctic Survey, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, UK
| | - A F C Mesquita
- Laboratório de Ecologia e Conservação da Megafauna Marinha, Instituto de Oceanografia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande-FURG, Av. Itália km.8, Rio Grande, RS, 96203-900, Brazil
| | - L Gerrish
- British Antarctic Survey, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, UK
| | - A S Friedlaender
- Institute for Marine Sciences, University of California Santa Cruz, 115 McAllister Way, Santa Cruz, CA, 95006, USA
| | - J A Jackson
- British Antarctic Survey, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, UK
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24
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Goldbogen JA, Cade DE, Wisniewska DM, Potvin J, Segre PS, Savoca MS, Hazen EL, Czapanskiy MF, Kahane-Rapport SR, DeRuiter SL, Gero S, Tønnesen P, Gough WT, Hanson MB, Holt MM, Jensen FH, Simon M, Stimpert AK, Arranz P, Johnston DW, Nowacek DP, Parks SE, Visser F, Friedlaender AS, Tyack PL, Madsen PT, Pyenson ND. Why whales are big but not bigger: Physiological drivers and ecological limits in the age of ocean giants. Science 2020; 366:1367-1372. [PMID: 31831666 DOI: 10.1126/science.aax9044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 73] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2019] [Accepted: 10/31/2019] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
The largest animals are marine filter feeders, but the underlying mechanism of their large size remains unexplained. We measured feeding performance and prey quality to demonstrate how whale gigantism is driven by the interplay of prey abundance and harvesting mechanisms that increase prey capture rates and energy intake. The foraging efficiency of toothed whales that feed on single prey is constrained by the abundance of large prey, whereas filter-feeding baleen whales seasonally exploit vast swarms of small prey at high efficiencies. Given temporally and spatially aggregated prey, filter feeding provides an evolutionary pathway to extremes in body size that are not available to lineages that must feed on one prey at a time. Maximum size in filter feeders is likely constrained by prey availability across space and time.
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Affiliation(s)
- J A Goldbogen
- Hopkins Marine Station, Department of Biology, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, USA.
| | - D E Cade
- Hopkins Marine Station, Department of Biology, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, USA
| | - D M Wisniewska
- Hopkins Marine Station, Department of Biology, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, USA
| | - J Potvin
- Department of Physics, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - P S Segre
- Hopkins Marine Station, Department of Biology, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, USA
| | - M S Savoca
- Hopkins Marine Station, Department of Biology, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, USA
| | - E L Hazen
- Hopkins Marine Station, Department of Biology, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, USA.,Environmental Research Division, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, Monterey, CA, USA.,Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
| | - M F Czapanskiy
- Hopkins Marine Station, Department of Biology, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, USA
| | - S R Kahane-Rapport
- Hopkins Marine Station, Department of Biology, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, USA
| | - S L DeRuiter
- Mathematics and Statistics Department, Calvin University, Grand Rapids, MI, USA
| | - S Gero
- Zoophysiology, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - P Tønnesen
- Zoophysiology, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - W T Gough
- Hopkins Marine Station, Department of Biology, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, USA
| | - M B Hanson
- Conservation Biology Division, Northwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - M M Holt
- Conservation Biology Division, Northwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - F H Jensen
- Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, USA
| | - M Simon
- Greenland Climate Research Centre, Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, Nuuk, Greenland
| | - A K Stimpert
- Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, Moss Landing, CA, USA
| | - P Arranz
- Biodiversity, Marine Ecology and Conservation Group, Department of Animal Biology, University of La Laguna, La Laguna, Spain
| | - D W Johnston
- Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University Marine Laboratory, Beaufort, NC, USA
| | - D P Nowacek
- Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| | - S E Parks
- Department of Biology, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA
| | - F Visser
- Department of Freshwater and Marine Ecology, IBED, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.,Department of Coastal Systems, NIOZ and Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands.,Kelp Marine Research, Hoorn, Netherlands
| | - A S Friedlaender
- Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
| | - P L Tyack
- Sea Mammal Research Unit, School of Biology, Scottish Oceans Institute, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK
| | - P T Madsen
- Zoophysiology, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.,Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies, Aarhus University, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - N D Pyenson
- Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC, USA.,Department of Paleontology and Geology, Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, Seattle, WA, USA
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25
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Segre PS, Potvin J, Cade DE, Calambokidis J, Di Clemente J, Fish FE, Friedlaender AS, Gough WT, Kahane-Rapport SR, Oliveira C, Parks SE, Penry GS, Simon M, Stimpert AK, Wiley DN, Bierlich KC, Madsen PT, Goldbogen JA. Energetic and physical limitations on the breaching performance of large whales. eLife 2020; 9:51760. [PMID: 32159511 PMCID: PMC7065846 DOI: 10.7554/elife.51760] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2019] [Accepted: 01/29/2020] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The considerable power needed for large whales to leap out of the water may represent the single most expensive burst maneuver found in nature. However, the mechanics and energetic costs associated with the breaching behaviors of large whales remain poorly understood. In this study we deployed whale-borne tags to measure the kinematics of breaching to test the hypothesis that these spectacular aerial displays are metabolically expensive. We found that breaching whales use variable underwater trajectories, and that high-emergence breaches are faster and require more energy than predatory lunges. The most expensive breaches approach the upper limits of vertebrate muscle performance, and the energetic cost of breaching is high enough that repeated breaching events may serve as honest signaling of body condition. Furthermore, the confluence of muscle contractile properties, hydrodynamics, and the high speeds required likely impose an upper limit to the body size and effectiveness of breaching whales.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paolo S Segre
- Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University, Pacific Grove, United States
| | - Jean Potvin
- Saint Louis University, St Louis, United States
| | - David E Cade
- Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University, Pacific Grove, United States
| | | | | | - Frank E Fish
- West Chester University, West Chester, United States
| | - Ari S Friedlaender
- Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, United States
| | - William T Gough
- Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University, Pacific Grove, United States
| | | | - Cláudia Oliveira
- Okeanos R&D Centre and the Institute of Marine Research, University of the Azores, Horta, Portugal
| | - Susan E Parks
- Department of Biology, Syracuse University, Syracuse, United States
| | - Gwenith S Penry
- Institute for Coastal and Marine Research, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa
| | - Malene Simon
- Department of Birds and Mammals, Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, Nuuk, Greenland
| | - Alison K Stimpert
- Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, San Jose State University, San Jose, United States
| | - David N Wiley
- Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, Scituate, United States
| | - K C Bierlich
- Duke University Marine Laboratory, Piver's Island, United States
| | - Peter T Madsen
- Aarhus Institute for Advanced Studies, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.,Zoophysiology, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Jeremy A Goldbogen
- Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University, Pacific Grove, United States
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26
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Tackaberry JE, Cade DE, Goldbogen JA, Wiley DN, Friedlaender AS, Stimpert AK. From a calf's perspective: humpback whale nursing behavior on two US feeding grounds. PeerJ 2020; 8:e8538. [PMID: 32181052 PMCID: PMC7060748 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.8538] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2019] [Accepted: 01/09/2020] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Nursing influences growth rate and overall health of mammals; however, the behavior is difficult to study in wild cetaceans because it occurs below the surface and can thus be misidentified from surface observations. Nursing has been observed in humpback whales on the breeding and calving grounds, but the behavior remains unstudied on the feeding grounds. We instrumented three dependent calves (four total deployments) with combined video and 3D-accelerometer data loggers (CATS) on two United States feeding grounds to document nursing events. Two associated mothers were also tagged to determine if behavior diagnostic of nursing was evident in the mother’s movement. Animal-borne video was manually analyzed and the average duration of successful nursing events was 23 s (±7 sd, n = 11). Nursing occurred at depths between 4.1–64.4 m (along the seafloor) and in close temporal proximity to foraging events by the mothers, but could not be predicted solely by relative positions of mother and calf. When combining all calf deployments, successful nursing was documented eleven times; totaling only 0.3% of 21.0 hours of video. During nursing events, calves had higher overall dynamic body acceleration (ODBA) and increased fluke-stroke rate (FSR) compared to non-nursing segments (Mixed effect models, ODBA: F1,107 = 13.57756, p = 0.0004, FSR: F1,107 = 32.31018, p < 0.0001). In contrast, mothers had lower ODBA and reduced FSR during nursing events compared to non-nursing segments. These data provide the first characterization of accelerometer data of humpback whale nursing confirmed by animal-borne video tags and the first analysis of nursing events on feeding grounds. This is an important step in understanding the energetic consequences of lactation while foraging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer E Tackaberry
- Vertebrate Ecology Lab, Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, Moss Landing, CA, United States of America.,Cascadia Research Collective, Olympia, WA, United States of America
| | - David E Cade
- Department of Biology, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, United States of America
| | - Jeremy A Goldbogen
- Department of Biology, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, United States of America
| | - David N Wiley
- Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, Situate, MA, United States of America
| | - Ari S Friedlaender
- University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, United States of America
| | - Alison K Stimpert
- Vertebrate Ecology Lab, Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, Moss Landing, CA, United States of America
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27
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Rogers AD, Frinault BAV, Barnes DKA, Bindoff NL, Downie R, Ducklow HW, Friedlaender AS, Hart T, Hill SL, Hofmann EE, Linse K, McMahon CR, Murphy EJ, Pakhomov EA, Reygondeau G, Staniland IJ, Wolf-Gladrow DA, Wright RM. Antarctic Futures: An Assessment of Climate-Driven Changes in Ecosystem Structure, Function, and Service Provisioning in the Southern Ocean. Ann Rev Mar Sci 2020; 12:87-120. [PMID: 31337252 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-marine-010419-011028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 62] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
In this article, we analyze the impacts of climate change on Antarctic marine ecosystems. Observations demonstrate large-scale changes in the physical variables and circulation of the Southern Ocean driven by warming, stratospheric ozone depletion, and a positive Southern Annular Mode. Alterations in the physical environment are driving change through all levels of Antarctic marine food webs, which differ regionally. The distributions of key species, such as Antarctic krill, are also changing. Differential responses among predators reflect differences in species ecology. The impacts of climate change on Antarctic biodiversity will likely vary for different communities and depend on species range. Coastal communities and those of sub-Antarctic islands, especially range-restricted endemic communities, will likely suffer the greatest negative consequences of climate change. Simultaneously, ecosystem services in the Southern Ocean will likely increase. Such decoupling of ecosystem services and endemic species will require consideration in the management of human activities such as fishing in Antarctic marine ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- A D Rogers
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PS, United Kingdom;
- REV Ocean, 1366 Lysaker, Norway
| | - B A V Frinault
- School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QY, United Kingdom
| | - D K A Barnes
- British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, Cambridge CB3 0ET, United Kingdom
| | - N L Bindoff
- Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre and CSIRO Oceans and Atmospheres, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia
| | - R Downie
- WWF, Living Planet Centre, Surrey GU21 4LL, United Kingdom
| | - H W Ducklow
- Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, Palisades, New York 10964-8000, USA
| | - A S Friedlaender
- Institute for Marine Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, California 95060, USA
| | - T Hart
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PS, United Kingdom;
| | - S L Hill
- British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, Cambridge CB3 0ET, United Kingdom
| | - E E Hofmann
- Center for Coastal Physical Oceanography, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia 23508, USA
| | - K Linse
- British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, Cambridge CB3 0ET, United Kingdom
| | - C R McMahon
- Integrated Marine Observing System Animal Tracking Facility, Sydney Institute of Marine Science, Sydney, New South Wales 2088, Australia
| | - E J Murphy
- British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, Cambridge CB3 0ET, United Kingdom
| | - E A Pakhomov
- Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada
- Aquatic Ecosystems Research Lab, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada
| | - G Reygondeau
- Aquatic Ecosystems Research Lab, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada
| | - I J Staniland
- British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, Cambridge CB3 0ET, United Kingdom
| | - D A Wolf-Gladrow
- Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung (AWI), 27570 Bremerhaven, Germany
| | - R M Wright
- Tyndall Centre, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom
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28
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Friedlaender AS, Bowers MT, Cade D, Hazen EL, Stimpert AK, Allen AN, Calambokidis J, Fahlbusch J, Segre P, Visser F, Southall BL, Goldbogen JA. The advantages of diving deep: Fin whales quadruple their energy intake when targeting deep krill patches. Funct Ecol 2019. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.13471] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Ari S. Friedlaender
- Department of Ocean Sciences and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Institute for Marine Sciences University of California Santa Cruz Santa Cruz CA USA
- Southall Environmental Associates Aptos CA USA
| | - Matthew T. Bowers
- Southall Environmental Associates Aptos CA USA
- Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology Colorado State University Fort Collins CO USA
| | - David Cade
- Hopkins Marine Station Stanford University Pacific Grove CA USA
| | - Elliott L. Hazen
- Department of Ocean Sciences and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Institute for Marine Sciences University of California Santa Cruz Santa Cruz CA USA
- NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center Monterey CA USA
| | | | - Ann N. Allen
- NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center Honolulu HI USA
| | | | - James Fahlbusch
- Hopkins Marine Station Stanford University Pacific Grove CA USA
- Cascadia Research Collective Cascadia WA USA
| | - Paolo Segre
- Hopkins Marine Station Stanford University Pacific Grove CA USA
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29
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Dunn DC, Harrison AL, Curtice C, DeLand S, Donnelly B, Fujioka E, Heywood E, Kot CY, Poulin S, Whitten M, Åkesson S, Alberini A, Appeltans W, Arcos JM, Bailey H, Ballance LT, Block B, Blondin H, Boustany AM, Brenner J, Catry P, Cejudo D, Cleary J, Corkeron P, Costa DP, Coyne M, Crespo GO, Davies TE, Dias MP, Douvere F, Ferretti F, Formia A, Freestone D, Friedlaender AS, Frisch-Nwakanma H, Froján CB, Gjerde KM, Glowka L, Godley BJ, Gonzalez-Solis J, Granadeiro JP, Gunn V, Hashimoto Y, Hawkes LM, Hays GC, Hazin C, Jimenez J, Johnson DE, Luschi P, Maxwell SM, McClellan C, Modest M, Notarbartolo di Sciara G, Palacio AH, Palacios DM, Pauly A, Rayner M, Rees AF, Salazar ER, Secor D, Sequeira AMM, Spalding M, Spina F, Van Parijs S, Wallace B, Varo-Cruz N, Virtue M, Weimerskirch H, Wilson L, Woodward B, Halpin PN. The importance of migratory connectivity for global ocean policy. Proc Biol Sci 2019; 286:20191472. [PMID: 31551061 PMCID: PMC6784718 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2019.1472] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The distributions of migratory species in the ocean span local, national and international jurisdictions. Across these ecologically interconnected regions, migratory marine species interact with anthropogenic stressors throughout their lives. Migratory connectivity, the geographical linking of individuals and populations throughout their migratory cycles, influences how spatial and temporal dynamics of stressors affect migratory animals and scale up to influence population abundance, distribution and species persistence. Population declines of many migratory marine species have led to calls for connectivity knowledge, especially insights from animal tracking studies, to be more systematically and synthetically incorporated into decision-making. Inclusion of migratory connectivity in the design of conservation and management measures is critical to ensure they are appropriate for the level of risk associated with various degrees of connectivity. Three mechanisms exist to incorporate migratory connectivity into international marine policy which guides conservation implementation: site-selection criteria, network design criteria and policy recommendations. Here, we review the concept of migratory connectivity and its use in international policy, and describe the Migratory Connectivity in the Ocean system, a migratory connectivity evidence-base for the ocean. We propose that without such collaboration focused on migratory connectivity, efforts to effectively conserve these critical species across jurisdictions will have limited effect.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel C Dunn
- Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.,Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Queensland, Level 5, Goddard Building (#8), St Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia
| | - Autumn-Lynn Harrison
- Migratory Bird Center, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, National Zoological Park, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Corrie Curtice
- Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Sarah DeLand
- Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Ben Donnelly
- Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Ei Fujioka
- Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Eleanor Heywood
- Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Connie Y Kot
- Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Sarah Poulin
- Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Meredith Whitten
- Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Susanne Åkesson
- Department of Biology, Center for Animal Movement Research, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Amalia Alberini
- Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Ward Appeltans
- Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO, IOC Project Office for IODE, Oostende, Belgium
| | | | - Helen Bailey
- Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Solomons, MD, USA
| | - Lisa T Ballance
- Southwest Fisheries Science Center, NOAA Fisheries, La Jolla, CA, USA.,Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA, USA.,Marine Mammal Institute and Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon State University, Newport, OR, USA
| | - Barbara Block
- Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, USA
| | - Hannah Blondin
- Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.,Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, USA
| | | | | | - Paulo Catry
- MARE-Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, ISPA Instituto Universitário, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Daniel Cejudo
- Biology Department of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas, Spain
| | - Jesse Cleary
- Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Peter Corkeron
- Protected Species Branch, NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center, Woods Hole, MA, USA
| | - Daniel P Costa
- Dept of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
| | - Michael Coyne
- seaturtle.org, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
| | | | | | | | | | - Francesco Ferretti
- Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, USA.,Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, College of Natural Resources and Environment, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA
| | - Angela Formia
- Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx, NY, USA; Bata, Equatorial Guinea and Libreville, Gabon
| | | | - Ari S Friedlaender
- Dept of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
| | - Heidrun Frisch-Nwakanma
- Secretariat of the Convention on Migratory Species of Wild Animals, Bonn, Germany and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
| | | | - Kristina M Gjerde
- IUCN Global Marine and Polar Programme and World Commission on Protected Areas, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Lyle Glowka
- Secretariat of the Convention on Migratory Species of Wild Animals, Bonn, Germany and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
| | - Brendan J Godley
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus, Penryn, UK
| | | | | | - Vikki Gunn
- GOBI Secretariat, Seascape Consultants Ltd, Romsey, UK
| | - Yuriko Hashimoto
- Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Pacific Wildlife Research Centre, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Lucy M Hawkes
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus, Penryn, UK
| | - Graeme C Hays
- Centre for Integrative Ecology, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia
| | | | | | | | | | - Sara M Maxwell
- School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, University of Washington, Bothell Campus, Bothell, WA, USA
| | | | - Michelle Modest
- Dept of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
| | | | | | - Daniel M Palacios
- Marine Mammal Institute and Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon State University, Newport, OR, USA
| | - Andrea Pauly
- Secretariat of the Convention on Migratory Species of Wild Animals, Bonn, Germany and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
| | - Matt Rayner
- Auckland War Memorial Museum, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Alan F Rees
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus, Penryn, UK
| | - Erick Ross Salazar
- Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx, NY, USA; Bata, Equatorial Guinea and Libreville, Gabon
| | - David Secor
- Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Solomons, MD, USA
| | - Ana M M Sequeira
- UWA Oceans Institute and School of Biological Sciences, Indian Ocean Marine Research Centre, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia
| | | | - Fernando Spina
- ISPRA-Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale, Ozzano dell'Emilia, Italy
| | - Sofie Van Parijs
- Protected Species Branch, NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center, Woods Hole, MA, USA
| | - Bryan Wallace
- Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.,Ecolibrium, Inc, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Nuria Varo-Cruz
- Biology Department of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas, Spain
| | - Melanie Virtue
- Secretariat of the Convention on Migratory Species of Wild Animals, Bonn, Germany and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
| | | | - Laurie Wilson
- Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Pacific Wildlife Research Centre, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Bill Woodward
- U.S. Animal Telemetry Network, NOAA/IOOS, Silver Spring, MD, USA
| | - Patrick N Halpin
- Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
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Gray PC, Bierlich KC, Mantell SA, Friedlaender AS, Goldbogen JA, Johnston DW. Drones and convolutional neural networks facilitate automated and accurate cetacean species identification and photogrammetry. Methods Ecol Evol 2019. [DOI: 10.1111/2041-210x.13246] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Patrick C. Gray
- Division of Marine Science and Conservation Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University Marine Laboratory Beaufort North Carolina
| | - Kevin C. Bierlich
- Division of Marine Science and Conservation Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University Marine Laboratory Beaufort North Carolina
| | - Sydney A. Mantell
- Department of Biology University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill North Carolina
| | - Ari S. Friedlaender
- Institute of Marine Sciences, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of California Santa Cruz Santa Cruz California
| | - Jeremy A. Goldbogen
- Department of Biology, Hopkins Marine Station Stanford University Monterey California
| | - David W. Johnston
- Division of Marine Science and Conservation Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University Marine Laboratory Beaufort North Carolina
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Segre PS, Cade DE, Calambokidis J, Fish FE, Friedlaender AS, Potvin J, Goldbogen JA. Body Flexibility Enhances Maneuverability in the World's Largest Predator. Integr Comp Biol 2019; 59:48-60. [PMID: 30445585 DOI: 10.1093/icb/icy121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Blue whales are often characterized as highly stable, open-ocean swimmers who sacrifice maneuverability for long-distance cruising performance. However, recent studies have revealed that blue whales actually exhibit surprisingly complex underwater behaviors, yet little is known about the performance and control of these maneuvers. Here, we use multi-sensor biologgers equipped with cameras to quantify the locomotor dynamics and the movement of the control surfaces used by foraging blue whales. Our results revealed that simple maneuvers (rolls, turns, and pitch changes) are performed using distinct combinations of control and power provided by the flippers, the flukes, and bending of the body, while complex trajectories are structured by combining sequences of simple maneuvers. Furthermore, blue whales improve their turning performance by using complex banked turns to take advantage of their substantial dorso-ventral flexibility. These results illustrate the important role body flexibility plays in enhancing control and performance of maneuvers, even in the largest of animals. The use of the body to supplement the performance of the hydrodynamically active surfaces may represent a new mechanism in the control of aquatic locomotion.
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Affiliation(s)
- P S Segre
- Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University, 120 Ocean View Blvd, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, United States
| | - D E Cade
- Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University, 120 Ocean View Blvd, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, United States
| | - J Calambokidis
- Cascadia Research Collective, 218 1/2 4th Avenue W, Olympia, WA 98501, USA
| | - F E Fish
- West Chester University, 750 South Church Street, West Chester, PA 19383, USA
| | - A S Friedlaender
- University of California, Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
| | - J Potvin
- Saint Louis University, Saint Louis, MO 63103, USA
| | - J A Goldbogen
- Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University, 120 Ocean View Blvd, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, United States
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32
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Arranz P, Benoit-Bird KJ, Friedlaender AS, Hazen EL, Goldbogen JA, Stimpert AK, DeRuiter SL, Calambokidis J, Southall BL, Fahlman A, Tyack PL. Diving Behavior and Fine-Scale Kinematics of Free-Ranging Risso's Dolphins Foraging in Shallow and Deep-Water Habitats. Front Ecol Evol 2019. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2019.00053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
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33
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Gough WT, Segre PS, Bierlich KC, Cade DE, Potvin J, Fish FE, Dale J, di Clemente J, Friedlaender AS, Johnston DW, Kahane-Rapport SR, Kennedy J, Long JH, Oudejans M, Penry G, Savoca MS, Simon M, Videsen SKA, Visser F, Wiley DN, Goldbogen JA. Scaling of swimming performance in baleen whales. J Exp Biol 2019; 222:jeb.204172. [DOI: 10.1242/jeb.204172] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2019] [Accepted: 09/24/2019] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
The scale-dependence of locomotor factors have long been studied in comparative biomechanics, but remain poorly understood for animals at the upper extremes of body size. Rorqual baleen whales include the largest animals, but we lack basic kinematic data about their movements and behavior below the ocean surface. Here we combined morphometrics from aerial drone photogrammetry, whale-borne inertial sensing tag data, and hydrodynamic modeling to study the locomotion of five rorqual species. We quantified changes in tail oscillatory frequency and cruising speed for individual whales spanning a threefold variation in body length, corresponding to an order of magnitude variation in estimated body mass. Our results showed that oscillatory frequency decreases with body length (∝ length−0.53) while cruising speed remains roughly invariant (∝ length0.08) at 2 m s−1. We compared these measured results for oscillatory frequency against simplified models of an oscillating cantilever beam (∝ length−1) and an optimized oscillating Strouhal vortex generator (∝ length−1). The difference between our length-scaling exponent and the simplified models suggests that animals are often swimming non-optimally in order to feed or perform other routine behaviors. Cruising speed aligned more closely with an estimate of the optimal speed required to minimize the energetic cost of swimming (∝ length0.07). Our results are among the first to elucidate the relationships between both oscillatory frequency and cruising speed and body size for free-swimming animals at the largest scale.
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Affiliation(s)
- William T. Gough
- Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, USA
| | - Paolo S. Segre
- Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, USA
| | - K. C. Bierlich
- Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Beaufort, NC 28516, USA
| | - David E. Cade
- Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, USA
| | - Jean Potvin
- Department of Physics, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO 633103, USA
| | - Frank E. Fish
- Department of Biology, West Chester University, West Chester, PA 19383, USA
| | - Julian Dale
- Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Beaufort, NC 28516, USA
| | | | - Ari S. Friedlaender
- Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
| | - David W. Johnston
- Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Beaufort, NC 28516, USA
| | | | - John Kennedy
- Department of Physics, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO 633103, USA
| | - John H. Long
- Departments of Biology and Cognitive Science, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY 12604, USA
| | | | - Gwenith Penry
- Department of Zoology, Institute for Coastal and Marine Research, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa
| | - Matthew S. Savoca
- Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, USA
| | - Malene Simon
- Greenland Climate Research Centre, Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, Kivioq 2, 3900 Nuuk, Greenland
| | - Simone K. A. Videsen
- Zoophysiology, Department of Bioscience, Faculty of Science and Technology, Aarhus University, Aarhus 8000, Denmark
| | - Fleur Visser
- Kelp Marine Research, Hoorn, the Netherlands
- Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics – Freshwater and Marine Ecology, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Texel, the Netherlands
| | - David N. Wiley
- US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, Scituate, MA 02066, USA
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34
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Pickett EP, Fraser WR, Patterson‐Fraser DL, Cimino MA, Torres LG, Friedlaender AS. Spatial niche partitioning may promote coexistence of Pygoscelis penguins as climate-induced sympatry occurs. Ecol Evol 2018; 8:9764-9778. [PMID: 30386573 PMCID: PMC6202752 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.4445] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2018] [Revised: 07/03/2018] [Accepted: 07/06/2018] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Climate-induced range overlap can result in novel interactions between similar species and potentially lead to competitive exclusion. The West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) is one of the most rapidly warming regions on Earth and is experiencing a poleward climate migration from a polar to subpolar environment. This has resulted in a range expansion of the ice-intolerant gentoo penguins (Pygoscelis papua) and a coincident decrease in ice-obligate Adélie penguins (P. adeliae) near Palmer Station, Anvers Island, WAP. Ecologically similar species that share a limited prey resource must occupy disparate foraging niches in order to co-exist. Therefore, we determined the extent of foraging and dietary niche segregation between Adélie and gentoo penguins during the austral breeding season near Palmer Station. This research was conducted across six breeding seasons, from 2009 to 2014, which allowed us to investigate niche overlap in the context of interannual resource variability. Using biotelemetry and diet sampling, we found substantial overlap in the diets of Adélie and gentoo penguins, who primarily consumed Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba); however, our results showed that Adélie and gentoo penguins partitioned this shared prey resource through horizontal segregation of their core foraging areas. We did not find evidence that Antarctic krill were a limiting resource during the breeding season or that climate-induced sympatry of Adélie and gentoo penguins resulted in competition for prey or caused the subsequent differing population trajectories. This apparent absence of resource competition between Adélie and gentoo penguins throughout this study implies that current population trends in this region are governed by other biological and physical factors. Our results highlight the importance of understanding the mechanistic processes that influence top predator populations in the context of climate-driven ecosystem shifts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erin P. Pickett
- Department of Fisheries and WildlifeMarine Mammal InstituteOregon State UniversityNewportOregon
| | | | | | - Megan A. Cimino
- Scripps Institution of OceanographyUniversity of CaliforniaSan DiegoCalifornia
| | - Leigh G. Torres
- Department of Fisheries and WildlifeMarine Mammal InstituteOregon State UniversityNewportOregon
| | - Ari S. Friedlaender
- Department of Fisheries and WildlifeMarine Mammal InstituteOregon State UniversityNewportOregon
- Institute for Marine ScienceUniversity of California Santa CruzSanta CruzCalifornia
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35
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Weinstein BG, Irvine L, Friedlaender AS. Capturing foraging and resting behavior using nested multivariate Markov models in an air-breathing marine vertebrate. Mov Ecol 2018; 6:16. [PMID: 30250739 PMCID: PMC6146519 DOI: 10.1186/s40462-018-0134-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2018] [Accepted: 07/16/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Matching animal movement with the behaviors that shape life history requires a rigorous connection between the observed patterns of space use and inferred behavioral states. As animal-borne dataloggers capture a greater diversity and frequency of three dimensional movements, we can increase the complexity of movement models describing animal behavior. One challenge in combining data streams is the different spatial and temporal frequency of observations. Nested movement models provide a flexible framework for gleaning data from long-duration, but temporally sparse, data sources. RESULTS Using a two-layer nested model, we combined geographic and vertical movement to infer traveling, foraging and resting behaviors of Humpback whales off the West Antarctic Peninsula. This approach refined previous work using only geographic data to delineate coarser behavioral states. Our results showed increased intensity in foraging activity in late season animals as the whales prepared to migrate north to tropical calving grounds. Our model also suggests strong diel variation in movement states, likely linked to daily changes in prey distribution. CONCLUSIONS Using a combination of two-dimensional and three-dimensional movement data, we highlight the connection between whale movement and krill availability, as well as the complex spatial pattern of whale foraging in productive polar waters.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ben G. Weinstein
- Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Marine Mammal Institute, Oregon State University, 2030 Marine Science Drive, Newport, OR 97365 USA
| | - Ladd Irvine
- Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Marine Mammal Institute, Oregon State University, 2030 Marine Science Drive, Newport, OR 97365 USA
| | - Ari S. Friedlaender
- Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Marine Mammal Institute, Oregon State University, 2030 Marine Science Drive, Newport, OR 97365 USA
- Institute of Marine Sciences, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, UC Santa Cruz, 115 McAllister Way, Santa Cruz, CA 95060 USA
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36
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Lewis LA, Calambokidis J, Stimpert AK, Fahlbusch J, Friedlaender AS, McKenna MF, Mesnick SL, Oleson EM, Southall BL, Szesciorka AR, Širović A. Context-dependent variability in blue whale acoustic behaviour. R Soc Open Sci 2018; 5:180241. [PMID: 30225013 PMCID: PMC6124089 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.180241] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2018] [Accepted: 07/03/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Acoustic communication is an important aspect of reproductive, foraging and social behaviours for many marine species. Northeast Pacific blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus) produce three different call types-A, B and D calls. All may be produced as singular calls, but A and B calls also occur in phrases to form songs. To evaluate the behavioural context of singular call and phrase production in blue whales, the acoustic and dive profile data from tags deployed on individuals off southern California were assessed using generalized estimating equations. Only 22% of all deployments contained sounds attributed to the tagged animal. A larger proportion of tagged animals were female (47%) than male (13%), with 40% of unknown sex. Fifty per cent of tags deployed on males contained sounds attributed to the tagged whale, while only a few (5%) deployed on females did. Most calls were produced at shallow depths (less than 30 m). Repetitive phrasing (singing) and production of singular calls were most common during shallow, non-lunging dives, with the latter also common during surface behaviour. Higher sound production rates occurred during autumn than summer and they varied with time-of-day: singular call rates were higher at dawn and dusk, while phrase production rates were highest at dusk and night.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leah A. Lewis
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
| | - John Calambokidis
- Cascadia Research Collective, 218 ½ W 4th Ave., Olympia, WA 98501, USA
| | - Alison K. Stimpert
- Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, 8272 Moss Landing Road, Moss Landing, CA 95039, USA
| | - James Fahlbusch
- Cascadia Research Collective, 218 ½ W 4th Ave., Olympia, WA 98501, USA
| | - Ari S. Friedlaender
- Institute for Marine Sciences, University of California Santa Cruz, 115 McAllister Way, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
- Southall Environmental Associates, 9099 Soquel Drive, Suite 8, Aptos, CA 95003, USA
| | - Megan F. McKenna
- Natural Sounds and Night Skies Division, National Park Service, 1201 Oakridge Drive, Fort Collins, CO 80525, USA
| | - Sarah L. Mesnick
- Southwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA, 8901 La Jolla Shores Drive, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA
| | - Erin M. Oleson
- Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA, 1845 Wasp Blvd., Building 176, Honolulu, HI 96818, USA
| | - Brandon L. Southall
- Institute for Marine Sciences, University of California Santa Cruz, 115 McAllister Way, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
- Southall Environmental Associates, 9099 Soquel Drive, Suite 8, Aptos, CA 95003, USA
| | - Angela R. Szesciorka
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
- Cascadia Research Collective, 218 ½ W 4th Ave., Olympia, WA 98501, USA
| | - Ana Širović
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
- Texas A&M University Galveston, 200 Seawolf Parkway, Galveston, TX 77554, USA
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37
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Narazaki T, Isojunno S, Nowacek DP, Swift R, Friedlaender AS, Ramp C, Smout S, Aoki K, Deecke VB, Sato K, Miller PJO. Body density of humpback whales (Megaptera novaengliae) in feeding aggregations estimated from hydrodynamic gliding performance. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0200287. [PMID: 30001369 PMCID: PMC6042725 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0200287] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2017] [Accepted: 06/22/2018] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Many baleen whales undertake annual fasting and feeding cycles, resulting in substantial changes in their body condition, an important factor affecting fitness. As a measure of lipid-store body condition, tissue density of a few deep diving marine mammals has been estimated using a hydrodynamic glide model of drag and buoyancy forces. Here, we applied the method to shallow-diving humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in North Atlantic and Antarctic feeding aggregations. High-resolution 3-axis acceleration, depth and speed data were collected from 24 whales. Measured values of acceleration during 5 s glides were fitted to a hydrodynamic glide model to estimate unknown parameters (tissue density, drag term and diving gas volume) in a Bayesian framework. Estimated species-average tissue density (1031.6 ± 2.1 kg m-3, ±95% credible interval) indicates that humpback whale tissue is typically negatively buoyant although there was a large inter-individual variation ranging from 1025.2 to 1043.1 kg m-3. The precision of the individual estimates was substantially finer than the variation across different individual whales, demonstrating a progressive decrease in tissue density throughout the feeding season and comparably high lipid-store in pregnant females. The drag term (CDAm-1) was estimated to be relatively high, indicating a large effect of lift-related induced drag for humpback whales. Our results show that tissue density of shallow diving baleen whales can be estimated using the hydrodynamic gliding model, although cross-validation with other techniques is an essential next step. This method for estimating body condition is likely to be broadly applicable across a range of aquatic animals and environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tomoko Narazaki
- Sea Mammal Research Unit, University of St Andrews, Fife, United Kingdom
- Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba, Japan
- * E-mail:
| | - Saana Isojunno
- Sea Mammal Research Unit, University of St Andrews, Fife, United Kingdom
| | - Douglas P. Nowacek
- Nicholas School of the Environment and Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University Marine Laboratory, Beaufort, North Carolina, United States of America
| | - Rene Swift
- Sea Mammal Research Unit, University of St Andrews, Fife, United Kingdom
| | - Ari S. Friedlaender
- Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California, United States of America
| | - Christian Ramp
- Sea Mammal Research Unit, University of St Andrews, Fife, United Kingdom
- Mingan Island Cetacean Study, Longue-Pointe-de-Mingan, Québec, Canada
| | - Sophie Smout
- Sea Mammal Research Unit, University of St Andrews, Fife, United Kingdom
| | - Kagari Aoki
- Sea Mammal Research Unit, University of St Andrews, Fife, United Kingdom
- Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba, Japan
| | - Volker B. Deecke
- Department of Science, Natural Resources and Outdoor Studies, University of Cumbria, Ambleside, United Kingdom
| | - Katsufumi Sato
- Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba, Japan
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Bowers MT, Friedlaender AS, Janik VM, Nowacek DP, Quick NJ, Southall BL, Read AJ. Selective reactions to different killer whale call categories in two delphinid species. J Exp Biol 2018; 221:jeb162479. [PMID: 29895580 PMCID: PMC6515772 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.162479] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2017] [Accepted: 04/09/2018] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
The risk of predation is often invoked as an important factor influencing the evolution of social organization in cetaceans, but little direct information is available about how these aquatic mammals respond to predators or other perceived threats. We used controlled playback experiments to examine the behavioral responses of short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus) off Cape Hatteras, NC, USA, and Risso's dolphins (Grampus griseus) off the coast of Southern California, USA, to the calls of a potential predator, mammal-eating killer whales. We transmitted calls of mammal-eating killer whales, conspecifics and baleen whales to 10 pilot whales and four Risso's dolphins equipped with multi-sensor archival acoustic recording tags (DTAGs). Only playbacks of killer whale calls resulted in significant changes in tagged animal heading. The strong responses observed in both species occurred only following exposure to a subset of killer whale calls, all of which contained multiple non-linear properties. This finding suggests that these structural features of killer whale calls convey information about predatory risk to pilot whales and Risso's dolphins. The observed responses differed between the two species; pilot whales approached the sound source while Risso's dolphins fled following playbacks. These divergent responses likely reflect differences in anti-predator response mediated by the social structure of the two species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew T Bowers
- Division of Marine Science and Conservation, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Beaufort, NC 28516, USA
- Southall Environmental Associates, Inc., 9099 Soquel Drive, Suite 8, Aptos, CA 95003, USA
| | - Ari S Friedlaender
- Southall Environmental Associates, Inc., 9099 Soquel Drive, Suite 8, Aptos, CA 95003, USA
- Institute for Marine Sciences, University of California Santa Cruz, 115 McAllister Way, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA
| | - Vincent M Janik
- Sea Mammal Research Unit, Scottish Oceans Institute, University of St Andrews, East Sands, St Andrews, Fife KY16 8LB, UK
| | - Douglas P Nowacek
- Division of Marine Science and Conservation, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Beaufort, NC 28516, USA
- Electrical and Computer Engineering, Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA
| | - Nicola J Quick
- Division of Marine Science and Conservation, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Beaufort, NC 28516, USA
| | - Brandon L Southall
- Southall Environmental Associates, Inc., 9099 Soquel Drive, Suite 8, Aptos, CA 95003, USA
| | - Andrew J Read
- Division of Marine Science and Conservation, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Beaufort, NC 28516, USA
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39
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Goldbogen JA, Cade DE, Boersma AT, Calambokidis J, Kahane-Rapport SR, Segre PS, Stimpert AK, Friedlaender AS. Using Digital Tags With Integrated Video and Inertial Sensors to Study Moving Morphology and Associated Function in Large Aquatic Vertebrates. Anat Rec (Hoboken) 2018; 300:1935-1941. [PMID: 28971623 DOI: 10.1002/ar.23650] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2017] [Revised: 06/20/2017] [Accepted: 06/21/2017] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
The anatomy of large cetaceans has been well documented, mostly through dissection of dead specimens. However, the difficulty of studying the world's largest animals in their natural environment means the functions of anatomical structures must be inferred. Recently, non-invasive tracking devices have been developed that measure body position and orientation, thereby enabling the detailed reconstruction of underwater trajectories. The addition of cameras to the whale-borne tags allows the sensor data to be matched with real-time observations of how whales use their morphological structures, such as flukes, flippers, feeding apparatuses, and blowholes for the physiological functions of locomotion, feeding, and breathing. Here, we describe a new tag design with integrated video and inertial sensors and how it can be used to provide insights to the function of whale anatomy. This technology has the potential to facilitate a wide range of discoveries and comparative studies, but many challenges remain to increase the resolution and applicability of the data. Anat Rec, 300:1935-1941, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Affiliation(s)
- J A Goldbogen
- Department of Biology, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, California
| | - D E Cade
- Department of Biology, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, California
| | - A T Boersma
- Department of Biology, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, California
| | | | - S R Kahane-Rapport
- Department of Biology, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, California
| | - P S Segre
- Department of Biology, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, California
| | - A K Stimpert
- Vertebrate Ecology Laboratory, Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, Moss Landing, California
| | - A S Friedlaender
- Marine Mammal Institute, Hatfield Marine Science Center, Oregon State University, Newport, Oregon
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40
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Pallin LJ, Baker CS, Steel D, Kellar NM, Robbins J, Johnston DW, Nowacek DP, Read AJ, Friedlaender AS. High pregnancy rates in humpback whales ( Megaptera novaeangliae) around the Western Antarctic Peninsula, evidence of a rapidly growing population. R Soc Open Sci 2018; 5:180017. [PMID: 29892441 PMCID: PMC5990787 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.180017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2018] [Accepted: 03/21/2018] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
Antarctic humpback whales are recovering from near extirpation from commercial whaling. To understand the dynamics of this recovery and establish a baseline to monitor impacts of a rapidly changing environment, we investigated sex ratios and pregnancy rates of females within the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) feeding population. DNA profiling of 577 tissue samples (2010-2016) identified 239 males and 268 females. Blubber progesterone levels indicated 63.5% of the females biopsied were pregnant. This proportion varied significantly across years, from 36% in 2010 to 86% in 2014. A comparison of samples collected in summer versus fall showed significant increases in the proportion of females present (50% to 59%) and pregnant (59% to 72%), consistent with demographic variation in migratory timing. We also found evidence of annual reproduction among females; 54.5% of females accompanied by a calf were pregnant. These high pregnancy rates are consistent with a population recovering from past exploitation, but appear inconsistent with recent estimates of WAP humpback population growth. Thus, our results will help to better understand population growth potential and set a current baseline from which to determine the impact of climate change and variability on fecundity and reproductive rates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Logan J. Pallin
- Fisheries and Wildlife Department, Marine Mammal Institute, Hatfield Marine Science Center, Oregon State University, 2030 SE Marine Science Drive, Newport, OR 97365, USA
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Santa Cruz, Coastal Biology Building, 130 McAllister Way, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA
| | - C. Scott Baker
- Fisheries and Wildlife Department, Marine Mammal Institute, Hatfield Marine Science Center, Oregon State University, 2030 SE Marine Science Drive, Newport, OR 97365, USA
| | - Debbie Steel
- Fisheries and Wildlife Department, Marine Mammal Institute, Hatfield Marine Science Center, Oregon State University, 2030 SE Marine Science Drive, Newport, OR 97365, USA
| | - Nicholas M. Kellar
- Marine Mammal and Turtle Division, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 8901 La Jolla Shores Drive, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA
| | - Jooke Robbins
- Center for Coastal Studies, 5 Holway Avenue, Provincetown, MA 02657, USA
| | - David W. Johnston
- Division of Marine Science and Conservation, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University Marine Laboratory, 135 Duke Marine Lab Road, Beaufort, NC 28516, USA
| | - Doug P. Nowacek
- Division of Marine Science and Conservation, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University Marine Laboratory, 135 Duke Marine Lab Road, Beaufort, NC 28516, USA
- Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA
| | - Andrew J. Read
- Division of Marine Science and Conservation, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University Marine Laboratory, 135 Duke Marine Lab Road, Beaufort, NC 28516, USA
| | - Ari S. Friedlaender
- Fisheries and Wildlife Department, Marine Mammal Institute, Hatfield Marine Science Center, Oregon State University, 2030 SE Marine Science Drive, Newport, OR 97365, USA
- Institute for Marine Science and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Santa Cruz, 115 McAllister Way, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA
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Arranz P, Benoit-Bird KJ, Southall BL, Calambokidis J, Friedlaender AS, Tyack PL. Risso's dolphins plan foraging dives. J Exp Biol 2018; 221:221/4/jeb165209. [DOI: 10.1242/jeb.165209] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2017] [Accepted: 12/18/2017] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Humans remember the past and use that information to plan future actions. Lab experiments that test memory for the location of food show that animals have a similar capability to act in anticipation of future needs, but less work has been done on animals foraging in the wild. We hypothesized that planning abilities are critical and common in breath-hold divers who adjust each dive to forage on prey varying in quality, location and predictability within constraints of limited oxygen availability. We equipped Risso's dolphins with sound-and-motion recording tags to reveal where they focus their attention through their externally observable echolocation and how they fine tune search strategies in response to expected and observed prey distribution. The information from the dolphins was integrated with synoptic prey data obtained from echosounders on an underwater vehicle. At the start of the dives, whales adjusted their echolocation inspection ranges in ways that suggest planning to forage at a particular depth. Once entering a productive prey layer, dolphins reduced their search range comparable to the scale of patches within the layer, suggesting that they were using echolocation to select prey within the patch. On ascent, their search range increased, indicating that they decided to stop foraging within that layer and started searching for prey in shallower layers. Information about prey, learned throughout the dive, was used to plan foraging in the next dive. Our results demonstrate that planning for future dives is modulated by spatial memory derived from multi-modal prey sampling (echoic, visual and capture) during earlier dives.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patricia Arranz
- Sea Mammal Research Unit, School of Biology, University of St Andrews, East Sands, St Andrews KY16 8LB, UK
- Department of Animal Biology, University of La Laguna, Avda. Astrofisico Fco Sanchez s/n, La Laguna 36200, Tenerife, Spain
| | - Kelly J. Benoit-Bird
- Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, 7700 Sandholdt Road, Moss Landing, CA 95039, USA
| | - Brandon L. Southall
- Southall Environmental Associates, 9099 Soquel Drive, Suite 8, Aptos, CA 95003, USA
- Long Marine Laboratory, Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California Santa Cruz, 1156 High St, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
| | - John Calambokidis
- Cascadia Research Collective, 218 1/2 4th Ave W, Olympia, WA 98501, USA
| | - Ari S. Friedlaender
- Southall Environmental Associates, 9099 Soquel Drive, Suite 8, Aptos, CA 95003, USA
- Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Marine Mammal Institute, 2030 Marine Science Drive, Newport, OR 97365, USA
| | - Peter L. Tyack
- Sea Mammal Research Unit, School of Biology, University of St Andrews, East Sands, St Andrews KY16 8LB, UK
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Blair HB, Merchant ND, Friedlaender AS, Wiley DN, Parks SE. Evidence for ship noise impacts on humpback whale foraging behaviour. Biol Lett 2017; 12:rsbl.2016.0005. [PMID: 27512131 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2016.0005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 66] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2016] [Accepted: 07/12/2016] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Noise from shipping activity in North Atlantic coastal waters has been steadily increasing and is an area of growing conservation concern, as it has the potential to disrupt the behaviour of marine organisms. This study examines the impacts of ship noise on bottom foraging humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in the western North Atlantic. Data were collected from 10 foraging whales using non-invasive archival tags that simultaneously recorded underwater movements and the acoustic environment at the whale. Using mixed models, we assess the effects of ship noise on seven parameters of their feeding behaviours. Independent variables included the presence or absence of ship noise and the received level of ship noise at the whale. We found significant effects on foraging, including slower descent rates and fewer side-roll feeding events per dive with increasing ship noise. During 5 of 18 ship passages, dives without side-rolls were observed. These findings indicate that humpback whales on Stellwagen Bank, an area with chronically elevated levels of shipping traffic, significantly change foraging activity when exposed to high levels of ship noise. This measureable reduction in within-dive foraging effort of individual whales could potentially lead to population-level impacts of shipping noise on baleen whale foraging success.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Nathan D Merchant
- Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft, Suffolk, UK
| | | | - David N Wiley
- Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Scituate, MA, USA
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43
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DeRuiter SL, Langrock R, Skirbutas T, Goldbogen JA, Calambokidis J, Friedlaender AS, Southall BL. A multivariate mixed hidden Markov model for blue whale behaviour and responses to sound exposure. Ann Appl Stat 2017. [DOI: 10.1214/16-aoas1008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 62] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
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Goldbogen JA, Cade DE, Calambokidis J, Friedlaender AS, Potvin J, Segre PS, Werth AJ. How Baleen Whales Feed: The Biomechanics of Engulfment and Filtration. Ann Rev Mar Sci 2017; 9:367-386. [PMID: 27620830 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-marine-122414-033905] [Citation(s) in RCA: 88] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
Baleen whales are gigantic obligate filter feeders that exploit aggregations of small-bodied prey in littoral, epipelagic, and mesopelagic ecosystems. At the extreme of maximum body size observed among mammals, baleen whales exhibit a unique combination of high overall energetic demands and low mass-specific metabolic rates. As a result, most baleen whale species have evolved filter-feeding mechanisms and foraging strategies that take advantage of seasonally abundant yet patchily and ephemerally distributed prey resources. New methodologies consisting of multi-sensor tags, active acoustic prey mapping, and hydrodynamic modeling have revolutionized our ability to study the physiology and ecology of baleen whale feeding mechanisms. Here, we review the current state of the field by exploring several hypotheses that aim to explain how baleen whales feed. Despite significant advances, major questions remain about the processes that underlie these extreme feeding mechanisms, which enabled the evolution of the largest animals of all time.
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Affiliation(s)
- J A Goldbogen
- Department of Biology, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, California 93950; , ,
| | - D E Cade
- Department of Biology, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, California 93950; , ,
| | - J Calambokidis
- Cascadia Research Collective, Olympia, Washington 98501;
| | - A S Friedlaender
- Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Marine Mammal Institute, Hatfield Marine Science Center, Oregon State University, Newport, Oregon 97365;
| | - J Potvin
- Department of Physics, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri 63103;
| | - P S Segre
- Department of Biology, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, California 93950; , ,
| | - A J Werth
- Department of Biology, Hampden-Sydney College, Hampden-Sydney, Virginia 23943;
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45
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Cade DE, Barr KR, Calambokidis J, Friedlaender AS, Goldbogen JA. Determining forward speed from accelerometer jiggle in aquatic environments. J Exp Biol 2017; 221:jeb.170449. [DOI: 10.1242/jeb.170449] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2017] [Accepted: 11/26/2017] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
How fast animals move is critical to understanding their energetic requirements, locomotor capacity, and foraging performance, yet current methods for measuring speed via animal-attached devices are not universally applicable. Here we present and evaluate a new method that relates forward speed to the stochastic motion of biologging devices since tag jiggle, the amplitude of the tag vibrations as measured by high sample rate accelerometers, increases exponentially with increasing speed. We successfully tested this method in a flow tank using two types of biologging devices and tested the method in situ on wild cetaceans spanning ∼3 to >20 m in length using two types of suction cup-attached and two types of dart-attached tag. This technique provides some advantages over other approaches for determining speed as it is device-orientation independent and relies only on a pressure sensor and a high sample rate accelerometer, sensors that are nearly universal across biologging device types.
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Affiliation(s)
- David E. Cade
- Department of Biology, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, USA
| | - Kelly R. Barr
- Department of Biology, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, USA
- Present address: Center for Tropical Research, Institute for the Environment and Sustainability, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - John Calambokidis
- Cascadia Research Collective, 218 1/2 W. 4th Avenue, Olympia, WA 98501, USA
| | - Ari S. Friedlaender
- Marine Mammal Institute, Hatfield Marine Science Center, Department of Fish and Wildlife, Oregon State University, Newport, OR 97365, USA
- Present address: Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064, USA
| | - Jeremy A. Goldbogen
- Department of Biology, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, USA
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46
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Obryk MK, Doran PT, Friedlaender AS, Gooseff MN, Li W, Morgan-Kiss RM, Priscu JC, Schofield O, Stammerjohn SE, Steinberg DK, Ducklow HW. Responses of Antarctic Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems to Changing Ice Conditions. Bioscience 2016. [DOI: 10.1093/biosci/biw109] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/29/2023] Open
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Allen AN, Goldbogen JA, Friedlaender AS, Calambokidis J. Development of an automated method of detecting stereotyped feeding events in multisensor data from tagged rorqual whales. Ecol Evol 2016; 6:7522-7535. [PMID: 28725418 PMCID: PMC5513260 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.2386] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2016] [Revised: 07/11/2016] [Accepted: 07/18/2016] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
The introduction of animal‐borne, multisensor tags has opened up many opportunities for ecological research, making previously inaccessible species and behaviors observable. The advancement of tag technology and the increasingly widespread use of bio‐logging tags are leading to large volumes of sometimes extremely detailed data. With the increasing quantity and duration of tag deployments, a set of tools needs to be developed to aid in facilitating and standardizing the analysis of movement sensor data. Here, we developed an observation‐based decision tree method to detect feeding events in data from multisensor movement tags attached to fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus). Fin whales exhibit an energetically costly and kinematically complex foraging behavior called lunge feeding, an intermittent ram filtration mechanism. Using this automated system, we identified feeding lunges in 19 fin whales tagged with multisensor tags, during a total of over 100 h of continuously sampled data. Using movement sensor and hydrophone data, the automated lunge detector correctly identified an average of 92.8% of all lunges, with a false‐positive rate of 9.5%. The strong performance of our automated feeding detector demonstrates an effective, straightforward method of activity identification in animal‐borne movement tag data. Our method employs a detection algorithm that utilizes a hierarchy of simple thresholds based on knowledge of observed features of feeding behavior, a technique that is readily modifiable to fit a variety of species and behaviors. Using automated methods to detect behavioral events in tag records will significantly decrease data analysis time and aid in standardizing analysis methods, crucial objectives with the rapidly increasing quantity and variety of on‐animal tag data. Furthermore, our results have implications for next‐generation tag design, especially long‐term tags that can be outfitted with on‐board processing algorithms that automatically detect kinematic events and transmit ethograms via acoustic or satellite telemetry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ann N Allen
- Cascadia Research Collective 218 1/2 W. 4th Avenue Olympia Washington 98501
| | - Jeremy A Goldbogen
- Department of Biology Hopkins Marine Station Stanford University Pacific Grove California 93950
| | - Ari S Friedlaender
- Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Marine Mammal Institute Hatfield Marine Science Center Oregon State University Newport Oregon 97365
| | - John Calambokidis
- Cascadia Research Collective 218 1/2 W. 4th Avenue Olympia Washington 98501
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48
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Arranz P, DeRuiter SL, Stimpert AK, Neves S, Friedlaender AS, Goldbogen JA, Visser F, Calambokidis J, Southall BL, Tyack PL. Discrimination of fast click-series produced by tagged Risso's dolphins (Grampus griseus) for echolocation or communication. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2016; 219:2898-2907. [PMID: 27401759 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.144295] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2016] [Accepted: 07/05/2016] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Early studies that categorized odontocete pulsed sounds had few means of discriminating signals used for biosonar-based foraging from those used for communication. This capability to identify the function of sounds is important for understanding and interpreting behavior; it is also essential for monitoring and mitigating potential disturbance from human activities. Archival tags were placed on free-ranging Grampus griseus to quantify and discriminate between pulsed sounds used for echolocation-based foraging and those used for communication. Two types of rapid click-series pulsed sounds, buzzes and burst pulses, were identified as produced by the tagged dolphins and classified using a Gaussian mixture model based on their duration, association with jerk (i.e. rapid change of acceleration) and temporal association with click trains. Buzzes followed regular echolocation clicks and coincided with a strong jerk signal from accelerometers on the tag. They consisted of series averaging 359±210 clicks (mean±s.d.) with an increasing repetition rate and relatively low amplitude. Burst pulses consisted of relatively short click series averaging 45±54 clicks with decreasing repetition rate and longer inter-click interval that were less likely to be associated with regular echolocation and the jerk signal. These results suggest that the longer, relatively lower amplitude, jerk-associated buzzes are used in this species to capture prey, mostly during the bottom phase of foraging dives, as seen in other odontocetes. In contrast, the shorter, isolated burst pulses that are generally emitted by the dolphins while at or near the surface are used outside of a direct, known foraging context.
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Affiliation(s)
- P Arranz
- Sea Mammal Research Unit, School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 8LB, UK
| | - S L DeRuiter
- Centre for Research into Ecological and Environmental Modelling, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9LZ, UK Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI 49546, USA
| | - A K Stimpert
- Vertebrate Ecology Lab, Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, Moss Landing, CA 95039, USA
| | - S Neves
- Sea Mammal Research Unit, School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 8LB, UK
| | - A S Friedlaender
- Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Mammal Institute, Hatfield Marine Science Center, Oregon State University, Newport, OR 97635, USA
| | - J A Goldbogen
- Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, USA
| | - F Visser
- Kelp Marine Research, Hoorn 1624 CJ, The Netherlands Institute of Biology, Leiden University, Leiden 2311, The Netherlands
| | | | - B L Southall
- Southall Environmental Associates, Aptos, CA 95003, USA University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
| | - P L Tyack
- Sea Mammal Research Unit, School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 8LB, UK
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49
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Friedlaender AS, Hazen EL, Goldbogen JA, Stimpert AK, Calambokidis J, Southall BL. Prey-mediated behavioral responses of feeding blue whales in controlled sound exposure experiments. Ecol Appl 2016; 26:1075-1085. [PMID: 27509749 DOI: 10.1002/15-0783] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
Behavioral response studies provide significant insights into the nature, magnitude, and consequences of changes in animal behavior in response to some external stimulus. Controlled exposure experiments (CEEs) to study behavioral response have faced challenges in quantifying the importance of and interaction among individual variability, exposure conditions, and environmental covariates. To investigate these complex parameters relative to blue whale behavior and how it may change as a function of certain sounds, we deployed multi-sensor acoustic tags and conducted CEEs using simulated mid-frequency active sonar (MFAS) and pseudo-random noise (PRN) stimuli, while collecting synoptic, quantitative prey measures. In contrast to previous approaches that lacked such prey data, our integrated approach explained substantially more variance in blue whale dive behavioral responses to mid-frequency sounds (r2 = 0.725 vs. 0.14 previously). Results demonstrate that deep-feeding whales respond more clearly and strongly to CEEs than those in other behavioral states, but this was only evident with the increased explanatory power provided by incorporating prey density and distribution as contextual covariates. Including contextual variables increases the ability to characterize behavioral variability and empirically strengthens previous findings that deep-feeding blue whales respond significantly to mid-frequency sound exposure. However, our results are only based on a single behavioral state with a limited sample size, and this analytical framework should be applied broadly across behavioral states. The increased capability to describe and account for individual response variability by including environmental variables, such as prey, that drive foraging behavior underscores the importance of integrating these and other relevant contextual parameters in experimental designs. Our results suggest the need to measure and account for the ecological dynamics of predator-prey interactions when studying the effects of anthropogenic disturbance in feeding animals.
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50
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Friedlaender AS, Johnston DW, Tyson RB, Kaltenberg A, Goldbogen JA, Stimpert AK, Curtice C, Hazen EL, Halpin PN, Read AJ, Nowacek DP. Multiple-stage decisions in a marine central-place forager. R Soc Open Sci 2016; 3:160043. [PMID: 27293784 PMCID: PMC4892446 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.160043] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2016] [Accepted: 04/08/2016] [Indexed: 06/02/2023]
Abstract
Air-breathing marine animals face a complex set of physical challenges associated with diving that affect the decisions of how to optimize feeding. Baleen whales (Mysticeti) have evolved bulk-filter feeding mechanisms to efficiently feed on dense prey patches. Baleen whales are central place foragers where oxygen at the surface represents the central place and depth acts as the distance to prey. Although hypothesized that baleen whales will target the densest prey patches anywhere in the water column, how depth and density interact to influence foraging behaviour is poorly understood. We used multi-sensor archival tags and active acoustics to quantify Antarctic humpback whale foraging behaviour relative to prey. Our analyses reveal multi-stage foraging decisions driven by both krill depth and density. During daylight hours when whales did not feed, krill were found in deep high-density patches. As krill migrated vertically into larger and less dense patches near the surface, whales began to forage. During foraging bouts, we found that feeding rates (number of feeding lunges per hour) were greatest when prey was shallowest, and feeding rates decreased with increasing dive depth. This strategy is consistent with previous models of how air-breathing diving animals optimize foraging efficiency. Thus, humpback whales forage mainly when prey is more broadly distributed and shallower, presumably to minimize diving and searching costs and to increase feeding rates overall and thus foraging efficiency. Using direct measurements of feeding behaviour from animal-borne tags and prey availability from echosounders, our study demonstrates a multi-stage foraging process in a central place forager that we suggest acts to optimize overall efficiency by maximizing net energy gain over time. These data reveal a previously unrecognized level of complexity in predator-prey interactions and underscores the need to simultaneously measure prey distribution in marine central place forager studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ari S. Friedlaender
- Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Marine Mammal Institute, Hatfield Marine Science Center, Oregon State University, Newport, OR, USA
| | - David W. Johnston
- Division of Marine Science and Conservation, Duke University Marine Laboratory, Beaufort, NC, USA
| | - Reny B. Tyson
- Division of Marine Science and Conservation, Duke University Marine Laboratory, Beaufort, NC, USA
| | | | - Jeremy A. Goldbogen
- Hopkins Marine Station, Department of Biology, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, USA
| | | | - Corrie Curtice
- Division of Marine Science and Conservation, Duke University Marine Laboratory, Beaufort, NC, USA
| | | | - Patrick N. Halpin
- Division of Marine Science and Conservation, Duke University Marine Laboratory, Beaufort, NC, USA
| | - Andrew J. Read
- Division of Marine Science and Conservation, Duke University Marine Laboratory, Beaufort, NC, USA
| | - Douglas P. Nowacek
- Division of Marine Science and Conservation, Duke University Marine Laboratory, Beaufort, NC, USA
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