Flexible use of a dynamic energy landscape buffers a marine predator against extreme climate variability.

ABSTRACT: Animal migrations track predictable seasonal patterns of resource availability and suitable thermal habitat. As climate change alters this 'energy landscape', some migratory species may struggle to adapt. We examined how climate variability influences movements, thermal habitat selection and energy intake by juvenile Pacific bluefin tuna (Thunnus orientalis) during seasonal foraging migrations in the California Current. We tracked 242 tuna across 15 years (2002-2016) with high-resolution archival tags, estimating their daily energy intake via abdominal warming associated with digestion (the 'heat increment of feeding'). The poleward extent of foraging migrations was flexible in response to climate variability, allowing tuna to track poleward displacements of thermal habitat where th

SUBMITTER: Carroll G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8334847 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature