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Can Thermoclines Be a Cue to Prey Distribution for Marine Top Predators? A Case Study with Little Penguins

The use of top predators as bio-platforms is a modern approach to understanding how physical changes in the environment may influence their foraging success. This study examined if the presence of thermoclines could be a reliable signal of resource availability for a marine top predator, the little...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Pelletier, Laure, Kato, Akiko, Chiaradia, André, Ropert-Coudert, Yan
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2012
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3335045/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22536314
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0031768
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author Pelletier, Laure
Kato, Akiko
Chiaradia, André
Ropert-Coudert, Yan
author_facet Pelletier, Laure
Kato, Akiko
Chiaradia, André
Ropert-Coudert, Yan
author_sort Pelletier, Laure
collection PubMed
description The use of top predators as bio-platforms is a modern approach to understanding how physical changes in the environment may influence their foraging success. This study examined if the presence of thermoclines could be a reliable signal of resource availability for a marine top predator, the little penguin (Eudyptula minor). We studied weekly foraging activity of 43 breeding individual penguins equipped with accelerometers. These loggers also recorded water temperature, which we used to detect changes in thermal characteristics of their foraging zone over 5 weeks during the penguin’s guard phase. Data showed the thermocline was detected in the first 3 weeks of the study, which coincided with higher foraging efficiency. When a thermocline was not detected in the last two weeks, foraging efficiency decreased as well. We suggest that thermoclines can represent temporary markers of enhanced food availability for this top-predator to which they must optimally adjust their breeding cycle.
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spelling pubmed-33350452012-04-25 Can Thermoclines Be a Cue to Prey Distribution for Marine Top Predators? A Case Study with Little Penguins Pelletier, Laure Kato, Akiko Chiaradia, André Ropert-Coudert, Yan PLoS One Research Article The use of top predators as bio-platforms is a modern approach to understanding how physical changes in the environment may influence their foraging success. This study examined if the presence of thermoclines could be a reliable signal of resource availability for a marine top predator, the little penguin (Eudyptula minor). We studied weekly foraging activity of 43 breeding individual penguins equipped with accelerometers. These loggers also recorded water temperature, which we used to detect changes in thermal characteristics of their foraging zone over 5 weeks during the penguin’s guard phase. Data showed the thermocline was detected in the first 3 weeks of the study, which coincided with higher foraging efficiency. When a thermocline was not detected in the last two weeks, foraging efficiency decreased as well. We suggest that thermoclines can represent temporary markers of enhanced food availability for this top-predator to which they must optimally adjust their breeding cycle. Public Library of Science 2012-04-20 /pmc/articles/PMC3335045/ /pubmed/22536314 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0031768 Text en Pelletier et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Pelletier, Laure
Kato, Akiko
Chiaradia, André
Ropert-Coudert, Yan
Can Thermoclines Be a Cue to Prey Distribution for Marine Top Predators? A Case Study with Little Penguins
title Can Thermoclines Be a Cue to Prey Distribution for Marine Top Predators? A Case Study with Little Penguins
title_full Can Thermoclines Be a Cue to Prey Distribution for Marine Top Predators? A Case Study with Little Penguins
title_fullStr Can Thermoclines Be a Cue to Prey Distribution for Marine Top Predators? A Case Study with Little Penguins
title_full_unstemmed Can Thermoclines Be a Cue to Prey Distribution for Marine Top Predators? A Case Study with Little Penguins
title_short Can Thermoclines Be a Cue to Prey Distribution for Marine Top Predators? A Case Study with Little Penguins
title_sort can thermoclines be a cue to prey distribution for marine top predators? a case study with little penguins
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3335045/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22536314
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0031768
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