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Short-finned pilot whales exhibit behavioral plasticity in foraging strategies mediated by their environment

Publication ,  Journal Article
Shearer, JM; Jensen, FH; Quick, NJ; Friedlaender, A; Southall, B; Nowacek, DP; Bowers, M; Foley, HJ; Swaim, ZT; Waples, DM; Read, AJ
Published in: Marine Ecology Progress Series
August 25, 2022

Predators adapt their foraging behavior to exploit a variety of prey in a range of environments. Short-finned pilot whales are wide-ranging predators in tropical and sub-tropical oceans, but most previous studies of their foraging ecology have been conducted near oceanic islands. We deployed sound- and movement-recording tags on 43 shortfinned pilot whales off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, USA, to measure their foraging behavior in a continental shelf-break ecosystem and investigate how variation in the environment shapes their be - havior. Overall, the foraging behavior of pilot whales off Cape Hatteras was similar to that of their counterparts from island-associated habitats. Off Cape Hatteras, pilot whales made foraging dives as deep as 1077 m (mean: 445 m), lasting up to 23 min (mean: 12.8 min), with sprints (pursuit at speeds over 3 m s-1 and up to 6.9 m s-1) in more than half of foraging dives. However, tagged whales off Cape Hatteras produced higher buzz rates (11.3 buzzes dive-1), foraged more extensively in daytime hours, and en - gaged in more frequent benthic foraging than islandassociated ecotypes. By parsing the echoic scene generated by the animal's own echolocation clicks, we show that pilot whales off Cape Hatteras frequently exploit bathymetric features for foraging, with benthic dives resulting in higher prey capture attempts than pelagic dives. The ability of these predators to strategically adapt foraging strategies to local habitat features likely contributes to their ecological success and may allow them to adjust to shifts in prey distributions in a rapidly changing Anthropocene ocean.

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Published In

Marine Ecology Progress Series

DOI

EISSN

1616-1599

ISSN

0171-8630

Publication Date

August 25, 2022

Volume

695

Start / End Page

1 / 14

Related Subject Headings

  • Marine Biology & Hydrobiology
  • 4102 Ecological applications
  • 3109 Zoology
  • 3103 Ecology
  • 0608 Zoology
  • 0602 Ecology
  • 0405 Oceanography
 

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Shearer, J. M., Jensen, F. H., Quick, N. J., Friedlaender, A., Southall, B., Nowacek, D. P., … Read, A. J. (2022). Short-finned pilot whales exhibit behavioral plasticity in foraging strategies mediated by their environment. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 695, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps14132
Shearer, J. M., F. H. Jensen, N. J. Quick, A. Friedlaender, B. Southall, D. P. Nowacek, M. Bowers, et al. “Short-finned pilot whales exhibit behavioral plasticity in foraging strategies mediated by their environment.” Marine Ecology Progress Series 695 (August 25, 2022): 1–14. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps14132.
Shearer JM, Jensen FH, Quick NJ, Friedlaender A, Southall B, Nowacek DP, et al. Short-finned pilot whales exhibit behavioral plasticity in foraging strategies mediated by their environment. Marine Ecology Progress Series. 2022 Aug 25;695:1–14.
Shearer, J. M., et al. “Short-finned pilot whales exhibit behavioral plasticity in foraging strategies mediated by their environment.” Marine Ecology Progress Series, vol. 695, Aug. 2022, pp. 1–14. Scopus, doi:10.3354/meps14132.
Shearer JM, Jensen FH, Quick NJ, Friedlaender A, Southall B, Nowacek DP, Bowers M, Foley HJ, Swaim ZT, Waples DM, Read AJ. Short-finned pilot whales exhibit behavioral plasticity in foraging strategies mediated by their environment. Marine Ecology Progress Series. 2022 Aug 25;695:1–14.
Journal cover image

Published In

Marine Ecology Progress Series

DOI

EISSN

1616-1599

ISSN

0171-8630

Publication Date

August 25, 2022

Volume

695

Start / End Page

1 / 14

Related Subject Headings

  • Marine Biology & Hydrobiology
  • 4102 Ecological applications
  • 3109 Zoology
  • 3103 Ecology
  • 0608 Zoology
  • 0602 Ecology
  • 0405 Oceanography