Predator-scale spatial analysis of intra-patch prey distribution reveals the energetic drivers of rorqual whale super-group formation

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dc.contributor.author Cade, David E.
dc.contributor.author Seakamela, S. Mduduzi
dc.contributor.author Findlay, Kenneth Pierce
dc.contributor.author Fukunaga, Julie
dc.contributor.author Kahane-Rapport, Shirel R.
dc.contributor.author Warren, Joseph D.
dc.contributor.author Calambokidis, John
dc.contributor.author Fahlbusch, James A.
dc.contributor.author Friedlaender, Ari S.
dc.contributor.author Hazen, Elliott L.
dc.contributor.author Kotze, Deon
dc.contributor.author McCue, Steven
dc.contributor.author Meyer, Michael
dc.contributor.author Oestreich, William K.
dc.contributor.author Oudejans, Machiel G.
dc.contributor.author Wilke, Christopher
dc.contributor.author Goldbogen, Jeremy A.
dc.date.accessioned 2021-06-08T14:45:40Z
dc.date.issued 2021-04
dc.description.abstract Animals are distributed relative to the resources they rely upon, often scaling in abundance relative to available resources. Yet, in heterogeneously distributed environments, describing resource availability at relevant spatial scales remains a challenge in ecology, inhibiting understanding of predator distribution and foraging decisions. We investigated the foraging behaviour of two species of rorqual whales within spatially limited and numerically extraordinary super-aggregations in two oceans. We additionally described the lognormal distribution of prey data at species-specific spatial scales that matched the predator's unique lunge-feeding strategy. Here we show that both humpback whales off South Africa's west coast and blue whales off the US west coast perform more lunges per unit time within these aggregations than when foraging individually, and that the biomass within gulp-sized parcels was on average higher and more tightly distributed within super-group-associated prey patches, facilitating greater energy intake per feeding event as well as increased feeding rates. Prey analysis at predator-specific spatial scales revealed a stronger association of super-groups with patches containing relatively high geometric mean biomass and low geometric standard deviations than with arithmetic mean biomass, suggesting that the foraging decisions of rorqual whales may be more influenced by the distribution of high-biomass portions of a patch than total biomass. The hierarchical distribution of prey in spatially restricted, temporally transient, super-group-associated patches demonstrated high biomass and less variable distributions that facilitated what are likely near-minimum intervals between feeding events. Combining increased biomass with increased foraging rates implied that overall intake rates of whales foraging within super-groups were approximately double those of whales foraging in other environments. Locating large, high-quality prey patches via the detection of aggregation hotspots may be an important aspect of rorqual whale foraging, one that may have been suppressed when population sizes were anthropogenically reduced in the 20th century to critical lows. en_ZA
dc.description.department Zoology and Entomology en_ZA
dc.description.embargo 2022-01-25
dc.description.librarian hj2021 en_ZA
dc.description.sponsorship Office of Naval Research, Stanford University, South African Department of the Environment, Forestry and Fisheries National Science Foundation. en_ZA
dc.description.uri http://wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fec en_ZA
dc.identifier.citation Cade, D.E., Seakamela, S.M., Findlay, K.P. et al. 2021, 'Predator-scale spatial analysis of intra-patch prey distribution reveals the energetic drivers of rorqual whale super-group formation', Functional Ecology, vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 894-908. en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn 0269-8463 (print)
dc.identifier.issn 1365-2435 (online)
dc.identifier.other 10.1111/1365-2435.13763
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/2263/80253
dc.language.iso en en_ZA
dc.publisher Wiley en_ZA
dc.rights © 2021 British Ecological Society. This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the following article : 'Predator-scale spatial analysis of intra-patch prey distribution reveals the energetic drivers of rorqual whale super-group formation', Functional Ecology, vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 894-908, 2021. doi : 10.1111/1365-2435.13763, which has been published in final form at : http://wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fec. en_ZA
dc.subject Blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) en_ZA
dc.subject Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) en_ZA
dc.subject Fisheries acoustics en_ZA
dc.subject Foraging ecology en_ZA
dc.subject Gulp-sized cell en_ZA
dc.subject Lognormal prey distribution en_ZA
dc.subject Patchiness en_ZA
dc.subject Raptorial filter-feeding en_ZA
dc.subject Whale scale en_ZA
dc.title Predator-scale spatial analysis of intra-patch prey distribution reveals the energetic drivers of rorqual whale super-group formation en_ZA
dc.type Postprint Article en_ZA


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