Climate mediates the success of migration strategies in a marine predator

Briana Abrahms; Elliott Hazen; Steven J Bograd; Justin S Brashares; Patrick W Robinson; Kylie L Scales; Daniel E Crocker; Daniel P Costa

doi:10.1111/ele.12871

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Climate mediates the success of migration strategies in a marine predator

Journal article

Peer reviewed

Climate mediates the success of migration strategies in a marine predator

Briana Abrahms, Elliott Hazen, Steven J Bograd, Justin S Brashares, Patrick W Robinson, Kylie L Scales, Daniel E Crocker and Daniel P Costa

Ecology Letters, Vol.21(1), pp.63-71

2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.12871

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Abstract

behavioural strategy

climate variability

foraging ecology

habitat selection

individual specialisation

migration

Mirounga angustirostris

northern elephant seal

resource predictability

site fidelity

Individual behavioural specialisation has far-reaching effects on ï¬tness and population persistence.Theory predicts that unconditional site ï¬delity, that is ï¬delity to a site independent of past out-come, provides a ï¬tness advantage in unpredictable environments. However, the beneï¬ts of alter-native site ï¬delity strategies driving intraspeciï¬c variation remain poorly understood and have notbeen evaluated in different environmental contexts. We show that contrary to expectation, strongand weak site ï¬delity strategies in migratory northern elephant seals performed similarly over10 years, but the success of each strategy varied interannually and was strongly mediated by cli-mate conditions. Strong ï¬delity facilitated stable energetic rewards and low risk, while weak ï¬de-lity facilitated high rewards and high risk. Weak ï¬delity outperformed strong ï¬delity inanomalous climate conditions, suggesting that the evolutionary beneï¬ts of site ï¬delity may beupended by increasing environmental variability. We highlight how individual behavioural special-isation may modulate the adaptive capacity of species to climate change.

Details

Title: Climate mediates the success of migration strategies in a marine predator
Authors: Briana Abrahms (Corresponding Author) - NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Centre, United States
Elliott Hazen (Author) - NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Centre, United States
Steven J Bograd (Author) - NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Centre, United States
Justin S Brashares (Author) - University of California Berkeley, United States
Patrick W Robinson (Author) - University of California Berkeley, United States
Kylie L Scales (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Science, Health, Education and Engineering
Daniel E Crocker (Author) - Sonoma State University, United States
Daniel P Costa (Author) - University of California Santa Cruz, United States
Publication details: Ecology Letters, Vol.21(1), pp.63-71
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Date published: 2018
DOI: 10.1111/ele.12871
ISSN: 1461-0248
Organisation Unit: School of Science and Engineering - Legacy; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Science, Technology and Engineering
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99451259002621
Output Type: Journal article

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Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration; International collaboration
Web Of Science research areas: Ecology

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