Mesoscale fronts as foraging habitats: Composite front mapping reveals oceanographic drivers of habitat use for a pelagic seabird

Kylie L Scales; P I Miller; C B Embling; S N Ingram; E Pirotta; S C Votier

doi:10.1098/rsif.2014.0679

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Mesoscale fronts as foraging habitats: Composite front mapping reveals oceanographic drivers of habitat use for a pelagic seabird

Journal article

Peer reviewed

Mesoscale fronts as foraging habitats: Composite front mapping reveals oceanographic drivers of habitat use for a pelagic seabird

Kylie L Scales, P I Miller, C B Embling, S N Ingram, E Pirotta and S C Votier

Journal of the Royal Society Interface, Vol.11(100)

2014

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2014.0679

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Abstract

seabird

marine vertebrate

foraging

remote sensing

oceanographic front

habitat use

The oceanographic drivers of marine vertebrate habitat use are poorly understood yet fundamental to our knowledge of marine ecosystem functioning. Here, we use composite front mapping and high-resolution GPS tracking to determine the significance of mesoscale oceanographic fronts as physical drivers of foraging habitat selection in northern gannets Morus bassanus. We tracked 66 breeding gannets from a Celtic Sea colony over 2 years and used residence time to identify area-restricted search (ARS) behaviour. Composite front maps identified thermal and chlorophyll-a mesoscale fronts at two different temporal scales-(i) contemporaneous fronts and (ii) seasonally persistent frontal zones. Using generalized additive models (GAMs), with generalized estimating equations (GEE-GAMs) to account for serial autocorrelation in tracking data,we found that gannets do not adjust their behaviour in response to contemporaneous fronts. However, ARS was more likely to occur within spatially predictable, seasonally persistent frontal zones (GAMs). Our results provide proof of concept that composite front mapping is a useful tool for studying the influence of oceanographic features on animalmovements. Moreover, we highlight that frontal persistence is a crucial element of the formation of pelagic foraging hotspots for mobile marine vertebrates. © 2014 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

Details

Title: Mesoscale fronts as foraging habitats: Composite front mapping reveals oceanographic drivers of habitat use for a pelagic seabird
Authors: Kylie L Scales (Author) - Plymouth Marine Laboratory, United Kingdom
P I Miller (Author) - Plymouth Marine Laboratory, United Kingdom
C B Embling (Author) - Plymouth University, United Kingdom
S N Ingram (Author) - Plymouth University, United Kingdom
E Pirotta (Author) - University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom
S C Votier (Author) - University of Exeter, United Kingdom
Publication details: Journal of the Royal Society Interface, Vol.11(100)
Publisher: Royal Society Publishing
Date published: 2014
DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2014.0679
ISSN: 1742-5689
Organisation Unit: School of Science and Engineering - Legacy; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Science, Technology and Engineering
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99450679702621
Output Type: Journal article

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