Tracking pygmy blue whale diving behaviour and validation of foraging areas defined from horizontal movement data
Foraging in large vertebrates is often inferred from horizontal movement behaviour from satellite tracking data, but the strength of this inference has not been adequately verified. Here, nine pygmy blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) were tagged with satellite tracking tags and pop-up ar...
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Elsevier
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Global Ecology and Conservation |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989424005663 |
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| author | Michele Thums Luciana C. Ferreira Andrew Davenport Micheline Jenner Luciana Möller Grace Russell Robert D. McCauley Curt Jenner |
| author_facet | Michele Thums Luciana C. Ferreira Andrew Davenport Micheline Jenner Luciana Möller Grace Russell Robert D. McCauley Curt Jenner |
| author_sort | Michele Thums |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Foraging in large vertebrates is often inferred from horizontal movement behaviour from satellite tracking data, but the strength of this inference has not been adequately verified. Here, nine pygmy blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) were tagged with satellite tracking tags and pop-up archival tags (PATs) providing depth and accelerometry time series to determine where actual foraging occurs during migration. Four PATs were recovered, providing depth and accelerometry data at 1 Hz, and the remaining tags transmitted 75 s sample-rate data for up to 40 days. The depth time series allowed us to distinguish foraging dives, with accelerometry data key to distinguishing lunge-feeding. Despite a weak temporal relationship between putative (inferred from a movement model) and actual foraging, there was generally good spatial overlap detected, predominantly in high use areas, while more opportunistic foraging areas with lower use were less likely to be detected by the model. More opportunistic foraging occurred off north-west Australia where foraging dives were shallower, horizontal travel rates faster, and there was an absence of a diurnal pattern in diving. This suggests a reliance on more ephemeral prey than off south-west Australia where whales have high residency. Foraging/feeding occurred every 1–10 days at a rate of 4 hours (median) per day (range 0.1 – 12) and occurred during migration, providing support for use of a mixed breeding strategy (income and capital) in this sub-species. Our test of movement models to define foraging is extremely useful given its common usage in ecology and our spatial delineation of foraging areas assists with conservation management. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e8fb2cb046484dc2bbbb4fa6a2e05c57 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2351-9894 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
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| series | Global Ecology and Conservation |
| spelling | doaj-art-e8fb2cb046484dc2bbbb4fa6a2e05c572025-01-23T05:26:54ZengElsevierGlobal Ecology and Conservation2351-98942025-01-0157e03362Tracking pygmy blue whale diving behaviour and validation of foraging areas defined from horizontal movement dataMichele Thums0Luciana C. Ferreira1Andrew Davenport2Micheline Jenner3Luciana Möller4Grace Russell5Robert D. McCauley6Curt Jenner7Australian Institute of Marine Science, Indian Ocean Marine Research Centre, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia; Corresponding author.Australian Institute of Marine Science, Indian Ocean Marine Research Centre, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, AustraliaCentre for Whale Research (WA) Inc., Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia; Centre for Marine Science and Technology, Curtin University, Bentley, Western Australia, AustraliaCentre for Whale Research (WA) Inc., Fremantle, Western Australia, AustraliaCetacean Ecology, Behaviour and Evolution Lab, College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Bedford Park, South AustraliaCentre for Whale Research (WA) Inc., Fremantle, Western Australia, AustraliaCentre for Marine Science and Technology, Curtin University, Bentley, Western Australia, AustraliaCentre for Whale Research (WA) Inc., Fremantle, Western Australia, AustraliaForaging in large vertebrates is often inferred from horizontal movement behaviour from satellite tracking data, but the strength of this inference has not been adequately verified. Here, nine pygmy blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) were tagged with satellite tracking tags and pop-up archival tags (PATs) providing depth and accelerometry time series to determine where actual foraging occurs during migration. Four PATs were recovered, providing depth and accelerometry data at 1 Hz, and the remaining tags transmitted 75 s sample-rate data for up to 40 days. The depth time series allowed us to distinguish foraging dives, with accelerometry data key to distinguishing lunge-feeding. Despite a weak temporal relationship between putative (inferred from a movement model) and actual foraging, there was generally good spatial overlap detected, predominantly in high use areas, while more opportunistic foraging areas with lower use were less likely to be detected by the model. More opportunistic foraging occurred off north-west Australia where foraging dives were shallower, horizontal travel rates faster, and there was an absence of a diurnal pattern in diving. This suggests a reliance on more ephemeral prey than off south-west Australia where whales have high residency. Foraging/feeding occurred every 1–10 days at a rate of 4 hours (median) per day (range 0.1 – 12) and occurred during migration, providing support for use of a mixed breeding strategy (income and capital) in this sub-species. Our test of movement models to define foraging is extremely useful given its common usage in ecology and our spatial delineation of foraging areas assists with conservation management.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989424005663Baleen whaleMillingArea-restricted searchEcologically significant areasRorqualMove persistence |
| spellingShingle | Michele Thums Luciana C. Ferreira Andrew Davenport Micheline Jenner Luciana Möller Grace Russell Robert D. McCauley Curt Jenner Tracking pygmy blue whale diving behaviour and validation of foraging areas defined from horizontal movement data Global Ecology and Conservation Baleen whale Milling Area-restricted search Ecologically significant areas Rorqual Move persistence |
| title | Tracking pygmy blue whale diving behaviour and validation of foraging areas defined from horizontal movement data |
| title_full | Tracking pygmy blue whale diving behaviour and validation of foraging areas defined from horizontal movement data |
| title_fullStr | Tracking pygmy blue whale diving behaviour and validation of foraging areas defined from horizontal movement data |
| title_full_unstemmed | Tracking pygmy blue whale diving behaviour and validation of foraging areas defined from horizontal movement data |
| title_short | Tracking pygmy blue whale diving behaviour and validation of foraging areas defined from horizontal movement data |
| title_sort | tracking pygmy blue whale diving behaviour and validation of foraging areas defined from horizontal movement data |
| topic | Baleen whale Milling Area-restricted search Ecologically significant areas Rorqual Move persistence |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989424005663 |
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