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      Modeling the spatial and temporal dynamics of foraging movements of humpback whales ( Megaptera novaeangliae) in the Western Antarctic Peninsula

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          Abstract

          Background

          A population of humpback whales ( Megaptera novaeangliae) spends the austral summer feeding on Antarctic krill ( Euphausia superba) along the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP). These whales acquire their annual energetic needs during an episodic feeding season in high latitude waters that must sustain long-distance migration and fasting on low-latitude breeding grounds. Antarctic krill are broadly distributed along the continental shelf and nearshore waters during the spring and early summer, and move closer to land during late summer and fall, where they overwinter under the protective and nutritional cover of sea ice. We apply a novel space-time utilization distribution method to test the hypothesis that humpback whale distribution reflects that of krill: spread broadly during summer with increasing proximity to shore and associated embayments during fall.

          Results

          Humpback whales instrumented with satellite-linked positional telemetry tags (n = 5), show decreased home range size, amount of area used, and increased proximity to shore over the foraging season.

          Conclusions

          This study applies a new method to model the movements of humpback whales in the WAP region throughout the feeding season, and presents a baseline for future observations of the seasonal changes in the movement patterns and foraging behavior of humpback whales (one of several krill-predators affected by climate-driven changes) in the WAP marine ecosystem. As the WAP continues to warm, it is prudent to understand the ecological relationships between sea-ice dependent krill and krill predators, as well as the interactions among recovering populations of krill predators that may be forced into competition for a shared food resource.

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          Most cited references38

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          Uninformative Parameters and Model Selection Using Akaike's Information Criterion

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            A review of models of home range for animal movement

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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                corrie.curtice@duke.edu
                david.johnston@duke.edu
                hducklow@ldeo.columbia.edu
                nick.gales@aad.gov.edu
                phalpin@duke.edu
                ari.friedlaender@oregonstate.edu
                Journal
                Mov Ecol
                Mov Ecol
                Movement Ecology
                BioMed Central (London )
                2051-3933
                1 June 2015
                1 June 2015
                2015
                : 3
                : 1
                : 13
                Affiliations
                [ ]Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University Marine Laboratory, Beaufort, NC 28516 USA
                [ ]Division of Marine Science and Conservation, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University Marine Laboratory, Beaufort, NC 28516 USA
                [ ]Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, NY 10964 USA
                [ ]Australian Antarctic Division, Kingston, TAS Australia
                [ ]Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708 USA
                [ ]Marine Mammal Institute, Hatfield Marine Science Center, Oregon State University, Newport, OR 97365 USA
                Article
                41
                10.1186/s40462-015-0041-x
                4450492
                e21927a5-1e36-479a-a479-6180adae25fb
                © Curtice et al.; licensee BioMed Central. 2015

                This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

                History
                : 4 November 2014
                : 27 April 2015
                Categories
                Research
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                © The Author(s) 2015

                humpback whale,foraging,western antarctic peninsula,antarctic krill,satellite telemetry,space-time utilization distribution,product kernel

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