Dear all,
We are pleased to announce the recent publication of the following
article in Frontiers in Marine Science:
Llapapasca MA, Pardo MA, Grados D and Quiñones J (2022) The oxygen
minimum zone relative depth is a key driver of dolphin habitats in the
northern Humboldt Current System. Front. Mar. Sci. 9:1027366. doi:
10.3389/fmars.2022.1027366
The article is freely available at
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.1027366.
Abstract:
Highly mobile odontocetes need habitats with environmental conditions
with the potential of aggregating enough and high-quality prey, to
maximize foraging success. Until now, the characterization of those
habitats was in terms of physical and biological indicators of high
production, capable of attracting and sustaining prey. Nevertheless,
there has been no approach to quantifying the effects of a biophysical
characteristic of the ocean with proven effects on the vertical
distribution of prey for cetaceans: The oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) depth.
In the northern branch of the Humboldt Current System off Peru (~6-18°
S), a shallow OMZ (30-50 m) affects the distribution of the Peruvian
anchovy (/Engraulis //ringens/), main prey for several marine predators,
including dolphins. We hypothesized these predators would aggregate in
productive areas, but with preference for places where the relative OMZ
depth can constrain prey vertically, making it more accessible and
maximizing foraging success. We fitted Bayesian habitat models for three
dominant odontocete species in this region, with multiple combinations
of environmental covariates, smoothing techniques, and temporal and
spatial random effects. Cetacean data came from 23 dedicated surveys
spanning 2001-2019. Habitat predictors included the spatial anomalies of
sea surface temperature, surface chlorophyl-a, pycnocline depth and OMZ
depth. Dusky (/Lagenorhynchus //obscurus/) and common dolphins
(/Delphinus //delphis/) preferred productive, cold areas with a very
shallow OMZ, regardless of the season, while bottlenose dolphins
(/Tursiops/ /truncatus/) aggregated in both cold and warm waters, also
with shallow OMZ. The former two species of higher metabolic demands
would maximize energy intake by selecting areas with highly aggregated
prey, while the latter, of more moderate metabolic needs and more
diverse prey, would exploit less restricted habitats.
Kind regards,
--
*Mario A. Pardo*
CICESE <http://www.cicese.edu.mx/> - Unidad La Paz
<https://ulp.cicese.mx/mario-pardo/>
Laboratorio de Macroecología Marina
Investigador Cátedra CONACYT
<https://conacyt.mx/conacyt/areas-del-conacyt/desarrollo-cientifico/catedras-conacyt/>
Miraflores 334, La Paz, BCS 23050, México
Tel: +52(612)1213031 Ext. 28116
ResearchGate <https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mario_Pardo2/> |
GoogleScholar
<https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=EX8mZ9AAAAAJ&hl=en>
ORCiD: 0000-0003-1248-3399 <https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1248-3399>
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