Utilisation of intensive foraging zones by female Australian fur seals.

ABSTRACT: Within a heterogeneous environment, animals must efficiently locate and utilise foraging patches. One way animals can achieve this is by increasing residency times in areas where foraging success is highest (area-restricted search). For air-breathing diving predators, increased patch residency times can be achieved by altering both surface movements and diving patterns. The current study aimed to spatially identify the areas where female Australian fur seals allocated the most foraging effort, while simultaneously determining the behavioural changes that occur when they increase their foraging intensity. To achieve this, foraging behaviour was successfully recorded with a FastLoc GPS logger and dive behaviour recorder from 29 individual females provisioning pups. Females travelled an avera

SUBMITTER: Hoskins AJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4333298 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature