Tidal drift removes the need for area-restricted search in foraging Atlantic puffins.
Biol Lett
; 15(7): 20190208, 2019 07 26.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-31288687
Understanding how animals forage is a central objective in ecology. Theory suggests that where food is uniformly distributed, Brownian movement ensures the maximum prey encounter rate, but when prey is patchy, the optimal strategy resembles a Lévy walk where area-restricted search (ARS) is interspersed with commuting between prey patches. Such movement appears ubiquitous in high trophic-level marine predators. Here, we report foraging and diving behaviour in a seabird with a high cost of flight, the Atlantic puffin ( Fratercula arctica), and report a clear lack of Brownian or Levy flight and associated ARS. Instead, puffins foraged using tides to transport them through their feeding grounds. Energetic models suggest the cost of foraging trips using the drift strategy is 28-46% less than flying between patches. We suggest such alternative movement strategies are habitat-specific, but likely to be far more widespread than currently thought.
Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Charadriiformes
/
Buceo
Límite:
Animals
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Biol Lett
Asunto de la revista:
BIOLOGIA
Año:
2019
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Irlanda
Pais de publicación:
Reino Unido