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The effect of prey abundance and fisheries on the survival, reproduction, and social structure of killer whales (Orcinus orca) at subantarctic Marion Island

Most marine apex predators are keystone species that fundamentally influence their ecosystems through cascading top‐down processes. Reductions in worldwide predator abundances, attributed to environmental‐ and anthropogenic‐induced changes to prey availability and negative interactions with fisherie...

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Autores principales: Jordaan, Rowan K., Oosthuizen, W. Chris, Reisinger, Ryan R., de Bruyn, P. J. Nico
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10239896/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37284666
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10144
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author Jordaan, Rowan K.
Oosthuizen, W. Chris
Reisinger, Ryan R.
de Bruyn, P. J. Nico
author_facet Jordaan, Rowan K.
Oosthuizen, W. Chris
Reisinger, Ryan R.
de Bruyn, P. J. Nico
author_sort Jordaan, Rowan K.
collection PubMed
description Most marine apex predators are keystone species that fundamentally influence their ecosystems through cascading top‐down processes. Reductions in worldwide predator abundances, attributed to environmental‐ and anthropogenic‐induced changes to prey availability and negative interactions with fisheries, can have far‐reaching ecosystem impacts. We tested whether the survival of killer whales (Orcinus orca) observed at Marion Island in the Southern Indian Ocean correlated with social structure and prey variables (direct measures of prey abundance, Patagonian toothfish fishery effort, and environmental proxies) using multistate models of capture–recapture data spanning 12 years (2006–2018). We also tested the effect of these same variables on killer whale social structure and reproduction measured over the same period. Indices of social structure had the strongest correlation with survival, with higher sociality associated with increased survival probability. Survival was also positively correlated with Patagonian toothfish fishing effort during the previous year, suggesting that fishery‐linked resource availability is an important determinant of survival. No correlation between survival and environmental proxies of prey abundance was found. At‐island prey availability influenced the social structure of Marion Island killer whales, but none of the variables explained variability in reproduction. Future increases in legal fishing activity may benefit this population of killer whales through the artificial provisioning of resources they provide.
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spelling pubmed-102398962023-06-06 The effect of prey abundance and fisheries on the survival, reproduction, and social structure of killer whales (Orcinus orca) at subantarctic Marion Island Jordaan, Rowan K. Oosthuizen, W. Chris Reisinger, Ryan R. de Bruyn, P. J. Nico Ecol Evol Research Articles Most marine apex predators are keystone species that fundamentally influence their ecosystems through cascading top‐down processes. Reductions in worldwide predator abundances, attributed to environmental‐ and anthropogenic‐induced changes to prey availability and negative interactions with fisheries, can have far‐reaching ecosystem impacts. We tested whether the survival of killer whales (Orcinus orca) observed at Marion Island in the Southern Indian Ocean correlated with social structure and prey variables (direct measures of prey abundance, Patagonian toothfish fishery effort, and environmental proxies) using multistate models of capture–recapture data spanning 12 years (2006–2018). We also tested the effect of these same variables on killer whale social structure and reproduction measured over the same period. Indices of social structure had the strongest correlation with survival, with higher sociality associated with increased survival probability. Survival was also positively correlated with Patagonian toothfish fishing effort during the previous year, suggesting that fishery‐linked resource availability is an important determinant of survival. No correlation between survival and environmental proxies of prey abundance was found. At‐island prey availability influenced the social structure of Marion Island killer whales, but none of the variables explained variability in reproduction. Future increases in legal fishing activity may benefit this population of killer whales through the artificial provisioning of resources they provide. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2023-06-04 /pmc/articles/PMC10239896/ /pubmed/37284666 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10144 Text en © 2023 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Articles
Jordaan, Rowan K.
Oosthuizen, W. Chris
Reisinger, Ryan R.
de Bruyn, P. J. Nico
The effect of prey abundance and fisheries on the survival, reproduction, and social structure of killer whales (Orcinus orca) at subantarctic Marion Island
title The effect of prey abundance and fisheries on the survival, reproduction, and social structure of killer whales (Orcinus orca) at subantarctic Marion Island
title_full The effect of prey abundance and fisheries on the survival, reproduction, and social structure of killer whales (Orcinus orca) at subantarctic Marion Island
title_fullStr The effect of prey abundance and fisheries on the survival, reproduction, and social structure of killer whales (Orcinus orca) at subantarctic Marion Island
title_full_unstemmed The effect of prey abundance and fisheries on the survival, reproduction, and social structure of killer whales (Orcinus orca) at subantarctic Marion Island
title_short The effect of prey abundance and fisheries on the survival, reproduction, and social structure of killer whales (Orcinus orca) at subantarctic Marion Island
title_sort effect of prey abundance and fisheries on the survival, reproduction, and social structure of killer whales (orcinus orca) at subantarctic marion island
topic Research Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10239896/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37284666
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10144
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