MARMAM,
On behalf of my co-authors, I am pleased to provide information
regarding our recent publication on interesting aspects of fine scale
foraging behavior that we argue demonstrate advance planning in
echolocation search strategies. The reference, link, and abstract are
provided below and .pdfs are available upon request.
Thanks,
Brandon Southall
*Arranz, P., Benoit-Bird, K. J., Southall, B. L., Calambokidis, J.,
Friedlaender, A. S., & Tyack, P. L. (2018). Risso's dolphins plan
foraging dives. /Journal of Experimental Biology/, /221/(4), jeb165209.*
<http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/reprint/221/4/jeb165209.pdf?ijkey=EsklXTeMuJBNdbx&keytype=finite>
ABSTRACT
Humans remember the past and use that information to plan future
actions. Lab experiments that test memory for the location of food show
that animals have a similar capability to act in anticipation of future
needs, but less work has been done on animals foraging in the wild. We
hypothesized that planning abilities are critical and common in
breathhold divers who adjust each dive to forage on prey varying in
quality, location and predictability within constraints of limited
oxygen availability. We equipped Risso*’*s dolphins with
sound-and-motion recording tags to reveal where they focus their
attention through their externally observable echolocation and how they
fine tune search strategies in response to expected and observed prey
distribution. The information from the dolphins was integrated with
synoptic prey data obtained from echosounders on an underwater vehicle.
At the start of the dives, whales adjusted their echolocation inspection
ranges in ways that suggest planning to forage at a particular depth.
Once entering a productive prey layer, dolphins reduced their search
range comparable to the scale of patches within the layer, suggesting
that they were using echolocation to select prey within the patch. On
ascent, their search range increased, indicating that they decided to
stop foraging within that layer and started searching for prey in
shallower layers. Information about prey, learned throughout the dive,
was used to plan foraging in the next dive. Our results demonstrate that
planning for future dives is modulated by spatial memory derived from
multi-modal prey sampling (echoic, visual and capture) during earlier
dives. [KEY WORDS: Predator*–*prey dynamics, Perceptual range, Grampus
griseus, Animal decision making, Episodic-like memory, Foraging behaviour]
--
Brandon L. Southall, Ph.D.
President, Senior Scientist, SEA, Inc.
Research Associate, University of California, Santa Cruz
9099 Soquel Drive, Suite 8, Aptos, CA 95003, USA
831.332.8744 (mobile); 831.661.5177 (office); 831.661.5178 (fax)
brandon.south...@sea-inc.net; www.sea-inc.net
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