Sub‐mesoscale fronts modify elephant seals foraging behavior
Abstract Sub‐mesoscale fronts—with scales from 1 to 50 km are ubiquitous in satellite images of the world oceans. They are known to generate strong vertical velocities with significant impacts on biogeochemical fluxes and pelagic ecosystems. Here, we use a unique data set, combining high‐resolution...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2019-12-01
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| Series: | Limnology and Oceanography Letters |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/lol2.10121 |
| _version_ | 1818173658444595200 |
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| author | Pascal Rivière Thomas Jaud Lia Siegelman Patrice Klein Cédric Cotté Julien Le Sommer Guillaume Dencausse Christophe Guinet |
| author_facet | Pascal Rivière Thomas Jaud Lia Siegelman Patrice Klein Cédric Cotté Julien Le Sommer Guillaume Dencausse Christophe Guinet |
| author_sort | Pascal Rivière |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Sub‐mesoscale fronts—with scales from 1 to 50 km are ubiquitous in satellite images of the world oceans. They are known to generate strong vertical velocities with significant impacts on biogeochemical fluxes and pelagic ecosystems. Here, we use a unique data set, combining high‐resolution behavioral and physical measurements, to determine the effects of sub‐mesoscale structures on the foraging behavior of 12 instrumented female southern elephant seals. These marine mammals make long voyages (several months over more than 2000 km), diving and feeding continuously in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Our results show that elephant seals change their foraging behavior when crossing sub‐mesoscale fronts: They forage more and at shallower depths inside sub‐mesoscale fronts compared to nonfrontal areas, and they also reduce their horizontal velocity likely to concentrate on their vertical diving activity. The results highlight the importance of sub‐mesoscale fronts in enhancing prey accessibility for upper trophic levels, and suggest that trophic interactions are stimulated in these structures. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T19:32:00Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ccc79533386c478d9d1c8700ca9b1d31 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2378-2242 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T19:32:00Z |
| publishDate | 2019-12-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Limnology and Oceanography Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-ccc79533386c478d9d1c8700ca9b1d312022-12-22T00:53:15ZengWileyLimnology and Oceanography Letters2378-22422019-12-014619320410.1002/lol2.10121Sub‐mesoscale fronts modify elephant seals foraging behaviorPascal Rivière0Thomas Jaud1Lia Siegelman2Patrice Klein3Cédric Cotté4Julien Le Sommer5Guillaume Dencausse6Christophe Guinet7Laboratoire des sciences de l'Environnement MARin (LEMAR, UMR 6539) Univ. Brest‐CNRS‐IRD‐Ifremer IUEM Plouzané FranceLaboratoire des sciences de l'Environnement MARin (LEMAR, UMR 6539) Univ. Brest‐CNRS‐IRD‐Ifremer IUEM Plouzané FranceLaboratoire des sciences de l'Environnement MARin (LEMAR, UMR 6539) Univ. Brest‐CNRS‐IRD‐Ifremer IUEM Plouzané FranceJet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA) California Institute of Technology Pasadena CaliforniaLOCEAN Sorbonne Universités (UPMC, Univ Paris 06) CNRS‐IRD‐MNHN Paris FranceUniv. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IRD, IGE Grenoble FranceLaboratoire d'Océanographie Physique et Spatiale (LOPS, UMR 6523) CNRS‐Ifremer‐Univ. Brest‐IRD IUEM Brest FranceCentre d'études biologiques de Chizé, CEBC, CNRS Chizé FranceAbstract Sub‐mesoscale fronts—with scales from 1 to 50 km are ubiquitous in satellite images of the world oceans. They are known to generate strong vertical velocities with significant impacts on biogeochemical fluxes and pelagic ecosystems. Here, we use a unique data set, combining high‐resolution behavioral and physical measurements, to determine the effects of sub‐mesoscale structures on the foraging behavior of 12 instrumented female southern elephant seals. These marine mammals make long voyages (several months over more than 2000 km), diving and feeding continuously in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Our results show that elephant seals change their foraging behavior when crossing sub‐mesoscale fronts: They forage more and at shallower depths inside sub‐mesoscale fronts compared to nonfrontal areas, and they also reduce their horizontal velocity likely to concentrate on their vertical diving activity. The results highlight the importance of sub‐mesoscale fronts in enhancing prey accessibility for upper trophic levels, and suggest that trophic interactions are stimulated in these structures.https://doi.org/10.1002/lol2.10121 |
| spellingShingle | Pascal Rivière Thomas Jaud Lia Siegelman Patrice Klein Cédric Cotté Julien Le Sommer Guillaume Dencausse Christophe Guinet Sub‐mesoscale fronts modify elephant seals foraging behavior Limnology and Oceanography Letters |
| title | Sub‐mesoscale fronts modify elephant seals foraging behavior |
| title_full | Sub‐mesoscale fronts modify elephant seals foraging behavior |
| title_fullStr | Sub‐mesoscale fronts modify elephant seals foraging behavior |
| title_full_unstemmed | Sub‐mesoscale fronts modify elephant seals foraging behavior |
| title_short | Sub‐mesoscale fronts modify elephant seals foraging behavior |
| title_sort | sub mesoscale fronts modify elephant seals foraging behavior |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/lol2.10121 |
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