Return customers: foraging site fidelity and the effect of environmental variability in wide-ranging antarctic fur seals.

ABSTRACT: Strategies employed by wide-ranging foraging animals involve consideration of habitat quality and predictability and should maximise net energy gain. Fidelity to foraging sites is common in areas of high resource availability or where predictable changes in resource availability occur. However, if resource availability is heterogeneous or unpredictable, as it often is in marine environments, then habitat familiarity may also present ecological benefits to individuals. We examined the winter foraging distribution of female Antarctic fur seals, Arctocephalus gazelle, over four years to assess the degree of foraging site fidelity at two scales; within and between years. On average, between-year fidelity was strong, with most individuals utilising more than half of their annual foraging home r

SUBMITTER: Arthur B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4373865 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature