Author:
Vance H. M.,Hooker S. K.,Mikkelsen L.,van Neer A.,Teilmann J.,Siebert U.,Johnson M.
Abstract
AbstractCentral place foragers are expected to offset travel costs between a central place and foraging areas by targeting productive feeding zones. Harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) make multi-day foraging trips away from coastal haul-out sites presumably to target rich food resources, but periodic track points from telemetry tags may be insufficient to infer reliably where, and how often, foraging takes place. To study foraging behaviour during offshore trips, and assess what factors limit trip duration, we equipped harbour seals in the German Wadden Sea with high-resolution multi-sensor bio-logging tags, recording 12 offshore trips from 8 seals. Using acceleration transients as a proxy for prey capture attempts, we found that foraging rates during travel to and from offshore sites were comparable to offshore rates. Offshore foraging trips may, therefore, reflect avoidance of intra-specific competition rather than presence of offshore foraging hotspots. Time spent resting increased by approx. 37 min/day during trips suggesting that a resting deficit rather than patch depletion may influence trip length. Foraging rates were only weakly correlated with surface movement patterns highlighting the value of integrating multi-sensor data from on-animal bio-logging tags (GPS, depth, accelerometers and magnetometers) to infer behaviour and habitat use.
Funder
Bundesamt für Naturschutz
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Reference67 articles.
1. Orians, G. H. & Pearson, N. E. On the theory of central place foraging. Analysis of ecological systems. In Analysis of ecological systems Vol. 2 (eds Horn D. J., Mitchell R. D. & Stairs G. R.) 155–177 (Ohio State Univ. Press, 1979).
2. Biuw, M. et al. Variations in behavior and condition of a Southern Ocean top predator in relation to in situ oceanographic conditions. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 104, 13705–13710 (2007).
3. Arcalís-Planas, A. et al. Limited use of sea ice by the Ross seal (Ommatophoca rossii), in Amundsen Sea, Antarctica, using telemetry and remote sensing data. Polar Biol. 38, 445–461 (2015).
4. Staniland, I. J., Boyd, I. L. & Reid, K. An energy–distance trade-off in a central-place forager, the Antarctic fur seal (Arctocephalus gazella). Mar. Biol. 152, 233–241 (2007).
5. Le Boeuf, B. et al. Foraging ecology of northern elephant seals. Ecol. Monogr. 70, 353–382 (2000).
Cited by
11 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献