ORCID Profile
0000-0003-2817-8743
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Publisher: The Company of Biologists
Date: 15-06-2016
DOI: 10.1242/BIO.018085
Abstract: Knowledge of top predator foraging adaptability is imperative for predicting their biological response to environmental variability. While seabirds have developed highly specialised techniques to locate prey, little is known about intraspecific variation in foraging strategies with many studies deriving information from uniform oceanic environments. Australasian gannets (Morus serrator) typically forage in continental shelf regions on small schooling prey. The present study used GPS and video data loggers to compare habitat-specific foraging strategies at two sites of contrasting oceanographic regimes (deep water near the continental shelf edge, n=23 shallow inshore embayment, n=26), in south-eastern Australia. In iduals from the continental shelf site exhibited pelagic foraging behaviours typical of gannet species, using local enhancement to locate and feed on small schooling fish in contrast only 50% of the in iduals from the inshore site foraged offshore, displaying the typical pelagic foraging strategy. The remainder adopted a strategy of searching sand banks in shallow inshore waters in the absence of conspecifics and other predators for large, single prey items. Furthermore, of the in iduals foraging inshore, 93% were male, indicating that the inshore strategy may be sex-specific. Large inter-colony differences in Australasian gannets suggest strong plasticity in foraging behaviours, essential for adapting to environmental change.
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 07-2018
Abstract: Social foraging behaviours, which range from cooperative hunting to local enhancement, can result in increased prey capture and access to information, which may significantly reduce time and energy costs of acquiring prey. In colonial species, it has been proposed that the colony itself may act as a site of social information transfer and group formation. However, conclusive evidence from empirical studies is lacking. In particular, most studies in colonial species have generally focussed on behaviours either at the colony or at foraging sites in isolation, and have failed to directly connect social associations at the colony to social foraging. In this study, we simultaneously tracked 85% of a population of Australasian gannets ( Morus serrator ) over multiple foraging trips, to study social associations at the colony and test whether these associations influence the location of foraging sites. We found that gannets positively associate with conspecifics while departing from the colony and that co-departing gannets have more similar initial foraging patches than in iduals that did not associate at the colony. These results provide strong evidence for the theory that the colony may provide a source of information that influences foraging location.
Publisher: The Company of Biologists
Date: 2020
DOI: 10.1242/BIO.047514
Abstract: Knowledge of the factors influencing foraging efficiency in top predators can provide insights into the effects of environmental variability on their populations. Seabirds are important marine predators foraging in a highly temporally and spatially variable environment. While numerous studies have focussed on search time and its effects on foraging energetics in seabirds, relatively little is known of the factors influencing capture success and prey profitability in these predators. In the present study, animal-borne cameras were used to investigate the chase durations, capture success, handling durations and profitability of prey consumed by Australasian gannets (Morus serrator) (n=95) from two breeding colonies in south-eastern Australia exposed to different oceanographic conditions. Capture success was generally lower when in iduals foraged alone. However, foraging in multi-species groups and in high prey densities increased chase time, while larger prey elicited longer handling times. While prey type influenced profitability, high prey density and foraging in multispecies groups was found to lower prey profitability due to increased time expenditure. While previous studies have found group foraging reduces search time, the increased profitability explains why some animals may favour solitary foraging. Therefore future studies should combine search time and the currently found factors.
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 04-12-2015
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 20-04-2020
DOI: 10.1111/ELE.13507
No related grants have been discovered for Melanie Wells.