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Behaviourally mediated predation avoidance in penguin prey: in situ evidence from animal-borne camera loggers

Predator dietary studies often assume that diet is reflective of the diversity and relative abundance of their prey. This interpretation ignores species-specific behavioural adaptations in prey that could influence prey capture. Here, we develop and describe a scalable biologging protocol, using ani...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Handley, Jonathan M., Thiebault, Andréa, Stanworth, Andrew, Schutt, David, Pistorius, Pierre
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Royal Society 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6124084/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30224976
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.171449
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author Handley, Jonathan M.
Thiebault, Andréa
Stanworth, Andrew
Schutt, David
Pistorius, Pierre
author_facet Handley, Jonathan M.
Thiebault, Andréa
Stanworth, Andrew
Schutt, David
Pistorius, Pierre
author_sort Handley, Jonathan M.
collection PubMed
description Predator dietary studies often assume that diet is reflective of the diversity and relative abundance of their prey. This interpretation ignores species-specific behavioural adaptations in prey that could influence prey capture. Here, we develop and describe a scalable biologging protocol, using animal-borne camera loggers, to elucidate the factors influencing prey capture by a seabird, the gentoo penguin (Pygoscelis papua). From the video evidence, we show, to our knowledge for the first time, that aggressive behavioural defence mechanisms by prey can deter prey capture by a seabird. Furthermore, we provide evidence demonstrating that these birds, which were observed hunting solitarily, target prey when they are most discernible. Specifically, birds targeted prey primarily while ascending and when prey were not tightly clustered. In conclusion, we show that prey behaviour can significantly influence trophic coupling in marine systems because despite prey being present, it is not always targeted. Thus, these predator–prey relationships should be accounted for in studies using marine top predators as samplers of mid- to lower trophic-level species.
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spelling pubmed-61240842018-09-17 Behaviourally mediated predation avoidance in penguin prey: in situ evidence from animal-borne camera loggers Handley, Jonathan M. Thiebault, Andréa Stanworth, Andrew Schutt, David Pistorius, Pierre R Soc Open Sci Biology (Whole Organism) Predator dietary studies often assume that diet is reflective of the diversity and relative abundance of their prey. This interpretation ignores species-specific behavioural adaptations in prey that could influence prey capture. Here, we develop and describe a scalable biologging protocol, using animal-borne camera loggers, to elucidate the factors influencing prey capture by a seabird, the gentoo penguin (Pygoscelis papua). From the video evidence, we show, to our knowledge for the first time, that aggressive behavioural defence mechanisms by prey can deter prey capture by a seabird. Furthermore, we provide evidence demonstrating that these birds, which were observed hunting solitarily, target prey when they are most discernible. Specifically, birds targeted prey primarily while ascending and when prey were not tightly clustered. In conclusion, we show that prey behaviour can significantly influence trophic coupling in marine systems because despite prey being present, it is not always targeted. Thus, these predator–prey relationships should be accounted for in studies using marine top predators as samplers of mid- to lower trophic-level species. The Royal Society 2018-08-22 /pmc/articles/PMC6124084/ /pubmed/30224976 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.171449 Text en © 2018 The Authors. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Biology (Whole Organism)
Handley, Jonathan M.
Thiebault, Andréa
Stanworth, Andrew
Schutt, David
Pistorius, Pierre
Behaviourally mediated predation avoidance in penguin prey: in situ evidence from animal-borne camera loggers
title Behaviourally mediated predation avoidance in penguin prey: in situ evidence from animal-borne camera loggers
title_full Behaviourally mediated predation avoidance in penguin prey: in situ evidence from animal-borne camera loggers
title_fullStr Behaviourally mediated predation avoidance in penguin prey: in situ evidence from animal-borne camera loggers
title_full_unstemmed Behaviourally mediated predation avoidance in penguin prey: in situ evidence from animal-borne camera loggers
title_short Behaviourally mediated predation avoidance in penguin prey: in situ evidence from animal-borne camera loggers
title_sort behaviourally mediated predation avoidance in penguin prey: in situ evidence from animal-borne camera loggers
topic Biology (Whole Organism)
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6124084/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30224976
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.171449
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