Protection of highly mobile species and shifting habitats is a practical challenge for conservation in both marine and terrestrial systems, particularly in light of the acceleration of land-use ...change and climate-driven range shifts. Static protected areas have long been a keystone of conservation but are generally insufficient for such species and habitats. Spatially and temporally dynamic management (DM) has arisen as a potential solution to this challenge. We present what we believe to be the first comparative analysis of DM across marine and terrestrial systems, focusing on the scales of DM approaches. Our results show that marine DM has largely been focused on relatively finer temporal scales, whereas terrestrial DM has focused on relatively finer spatial scales, often following the scale of available and relevant datasets. We explore not only the constraints imposed by data availability but also other drivers of DM trends and scales, highlighting areas in which exchange of approaches pioneered in each domain may be beneficial.
Abstract Social information is predicted to enhance the quality of animals’ migratory decisions in dynamic ecosystems, but the relative benefits of social information in the long-range movements of ...marine megafauna are unknown. In particular, whether and how migrants use nonlocal information gained through social communication at the large spatial scale of oceanic ecosystems remains unclear. Here we test hypotheses about the cues underlying timing of blue whales’ breeding migration in the Northeast Pacific via individual-based models parameterized by empirical behavioral data. Comparing emergent patterns from individual-based models to individual and population-level empirical metrics of migration timing, we find that individual whales likely rely on both personal and social sources of information about forage availability in deciding when to depart from their vast and dynamic foraging habitat and initiate breeding migration. Empirical patterns of migratory phenology can only be reproduced by models in which individuals use long-distance social information about conspecifics’ behavioral state, which is known to be encoded in the patterning of their widely propagating songs. Further, social communication improves pre-migration seasonal foraging performance by over 60% relative to asocial movement mechanisms. Our results suggest that long-range communication enhances the perceptual ranges of migrating whales beyond that of any individual, resulting in increased foraging performance and more collective migration timing. These findings indicate the value of nonlocal social information in an oceanic migrant and suggest the importance of long-distance acoustic communication in the collective migration of wide-ranging marine megafauna.
Human disturbance is contributing to widespread, global changes in the distributions and densities of wild animals. These anthropogenic impacts on wildlife arise from multiple bottom-up and top-down ...pathways, including habitat loss, resource provisioning, climate change, pollution, infrastructure development, hunting and our direct presence. Animal behaviour is an important mechanism linking these disturbances to population outcomes, although these behavioural pathways are often complex and can remain obscured when different aspects of behaviour are studied in isolation from one another. The spatial–social interface provides a lens for understanding how an animal’s spatial and social environments interact to determine its spatial and social phenotype (i.e. measurable characteristics of an individual), and how these phenotypes interact and feed back to reshape environments. Here, we review studies of animal behaviour at the spatial–social interface to understand and predict how human disturbance affects animal movement, distribution and intraspecific interactions, with consequences for the conservation of populations and ecosystems. By understanding the spatial–social mechanisms linking human disturbance to conservation outcomes, we can better design management interventions to mitigate undesired consequences of disturbance. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The spatial–social interface: a theoretical and empirical integration’.
Linking individual and population scales is fundamental to many concepts in ecology 1, including migration 2, 3. This behavior is a critical 4 yet increasingly threatened 5 part of the life history ...of diverse organisms. Research on migratory behavior is constrained by observational scale 2, limiting ecological understanding and precise management of migratory populations in expansive, inaccessible marine ecosystems 6. This knowledge gap is magnified for dispersed oceanic predators such as endangered blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus). As capital breeders, blue whales migrate vast distances annually between foraging and breeding grounds, and their population fitness depends on synchrony of migration with phenology of prey populations 7, 8. Despite previous studies of individual-level blue whale vocal behavior via bio-logging 9, 10 and population-level acoustic presence via passive acoustic monitoring 11, detection of the life history transition from foraging to migration remains challenging. Here, we integrate direct high-resolution measures of individual behavior and continuous broad-scale acoustic monitoring of regional song production (Figure 1A) to identify an acoustic signature of the transition from foraging to migration in the Northeast Pacific population. We find that foraging blue whales sing primarily at night, whereas migratory whales sing primarily during the day. The ability to acoustically detect population-level transitions in behavior provides a tool to more comprehensively study the life history, fitness, and plasticity of population behavior in a dispersed, capital breeding population. Real-time detection of this behavioral signal can also inform dynamic management efforts 12 to mitigate anthropogenic threats to this endangered population 13, 14).
•Acoustic monitoring reveals patterns in population-level blue whale song production•Tag-derived metrics provide behavioral context for distinct diel patterns in song•When integrated, tag and acoustic metrics reveal an acoustic signature of migration•Key to discerning timing, plasticity, and drivers of a dispersed migration
Oestreich et al. integrate long-term acoustic monitoring and tag-derived metrics to identify an acoustic signature of blue whales’ transition from foraging to migration. This finding links individual and population-level behavior in a highly dispersed population and is central to discerning timing, plasticity, and drivers of blue whale migration.
Behavior represents animals’ primary means of responding to environmental variation and adapting to rapid environmental change.Many animals’ presence, let alone behavior, is highly cryptic to human ...observers, presenting a significant barrier in both theoretical and applied behavioral ecology.Bioacoustic signals not only reveal animals’ presence, but also encode detailed information about the behaviors in which they are engaging.The study of behavioral bioacoustics has emerged to decipher the context and function of animal sounds and to apply this comprehension to understanding animal behavior across ecological scales and levels of biological organization.Growing capacity for behavioral bioacoustics represents a profound opportunity to understand animal behavior and steward rapidly changing ecosystems in the Anthropocene.
Interpreting sound gives powerful insight into the health of ecosystems. Beyond detecting the presence of wildlife, bioacoustic signals can reveal their behavior. However, behavioral bioacoustic information is underused because identifying the function and context of animals’ sounds remains challenging. A growing acoustic toolbox is allowing researchers to begin decoding bioacoustic signals by linking individual and population-level sensing. Yet, studies integrating acoustic tools for behavioral insight across levels of biological organization remain scarce. We aim to catalyze the emerging field of behavioral bioacoustics by synthesizing recent successes and rising analytical, logistical, and ethical challenges. Because behavior typically represents animals’ first response to environmental change, we posit that behavioral bioacoustics will provide theoretical and applied insights into animals’ adaptations to global change.
Interpreting sound gives powerful insight into the health of ecosystems. Beyond detecting the presence of wildlife, bioacoustic signals can reveal their behavior. However, behavioral bioacoustic information is underused because identifying the function and context of animals’ sounds remains challenging. A growing acoustic toolbox is allowing researchers to begin decoding bioacoustic signals by linking individual and population-level sensing. Yet, studies integrating acoustic tools for behavioral insight across levels of biological organization remain scarce. We aim to catalyze the emerging field of behavioral bioacoustics by synthesizing recent successes and rising analytical, logistical, and ethical challenges. Because behavior typically represents animals’ first response to environmental change, we posit that behavioral bioacoustics will provide theoretical and applied insights into animals’ adaptations to global change.
Matching the timing of life‐history transitions with ecosystem phenology is critical for the survival of many species, especially those undertaking long‐distance migrations. As a result, whether and ...how migratory populations adjust timing of life‐history transitions in response to environmental variability are important questions in ecology and conservation. Yet the flexibility and drivers of life‐history transitions remain largely untested for migratory marine populations, which contend with the unique spatiotemporal dynamics and sensory conditions found in marine ecosystems.
Here, using an acoustic signature of blue whales’ regional population‐level transition from foraging to breeding migration, we document significant interannual flexibility in the timing of this life‐history transition (spanning roughly 4 months) over a continuous 6‐year study period.
We further show that variability in the timing of this transition follows the oceanographic phenology of blue whales’ foraging habitat, with a later transition from foraging to breeding migration occurring in years with an earlier onset, later peak and greater accumulation of biological productivity.
These findings indicate that blue whales delay the transition from foraging to southward migration in years of the highest and most persistent biological productivity, consistent with the hypothesis that this population maximizes energy intake on foraging grounds rather than departing towards breeding grounds as soon as sufficient energy reserves are accumulated.
The use of flexible cues (e.g. foraging conditions and long‐distance acoustic signals) in timing a major life‐history transition may be key to the persistence of this endangered population facing the pressures of rapid environmental change. Furthermore, these results extend theoretical understanding of the flexibility and drivers of population‐level migration to a relatively solitary marine migrant.
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Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
As the impacts of climate change on human society accelerate, coastal communities are vulnerable to changing environmental conditions. The capacity of communities and households to respond to these ...changes (i.e., their adaptive capacity) will determine the impacts of climate and co-occurring stressors. To date, empirical evidence linking theoretical measures of adaptive capacity to community and household responses remains limited. Here, we conduct a global meta-analysis examining how metrics of adaptive capacity translate to human responses to change (Adapt, React, Cope response) in 22 small-scale fishing case studies from 20 countries (
n
= 191 responses). Using both thematic and qualitative comparative analysis, we evaluate how responses to climate, environmental, and social change were influenced by domains of adaptive capacity. Our findings show that adaptive responses at the community level only occurred in situations where the community had Access to Assets, in combination with other domains including Diversity and Flexibility, Learning and Knowledge, and Natural Capital. In contrast, Access to Assets was nonessential for adaptive responses at the household level. Adaptive households demonstrated Diversity and Flexibility when supported by strong Governance or Institutions and were often able to substitute Learning and Knowledge and Natural Capital with one another. Standardized metrics of adaptive capacity are essential to designing effective policies promoting resilience in natural resource-dependent communities and understanding how social and ecological aspects of communities interact to influence responses. Our framework describes how small-scale fishing communities and households respond to environmental changes and can inform policies that support vulnerable populations.
Land-dependent marine species are a unique guild of species whose life histories rely on both land and sea. This group is exposed to climate change-related stressors 2-fold, as climate change impacts ...likely occur at different velocities across land and sea habitat, leading to a greater probability of evolutionary traps. Thus, it is difficult to assess vulnerability and subsequently manage these populations in response to climate change. Without consideration of the factors unique to land-dependent marine species, current vulnerability assessment frameworks may fall short when evaluating climate impacts on these species. We identified commonalities in climate-related threats across taxa and geographic regions, highlighting the specific life history strategies that may be better suited to adapt to the changing climate. Accordingly, we suggest 3 considerations for assessing the vulnerability of land-dependent marine species: (1) degree of specialization, (2) intraspecies population-level differences, and (3) non-climate stressors. Where possible, we suggest how the exclusion of this information in management and conservation planning may lead to less successful outcomes. Potential compounding impacts of multiple stressors puts this group at particular risk of population collapse when losing land and/or sea habitat and functionality. Each of these considerations should be included when assessing vulnerabilities to climate change, as well as in effective and proactive management responses.
As coral bleaching events become more frequent and intense, our ability to predict and mitigate future events depends upon our capacity to interpret patterns within previous episodes. Responses to ...thermal stress vary among coral species; however the diversity of coral assemblages, environmental conditions, assessment protocols, and severity criteria applied in the global effort to document bleaching patterns creates challenges for the development of a systemic metric of taxon‐specific response. Here, we describe and validate a novel framework to standardize bleaching response records and estimate their measurement uncertainties. Taxon‐specific bleaching and mortality records (2036) of 374 coral taxa (during 1982–2006) at 316 sites were standardized to average percent tissue area affected and a taxon‐specific bleaching response index (taxon‐BRI) was calculated by averaging taxon‐specific response over all sites where a taxon was present. Differential bleaching among corals was widely variable (mean taxon‐BRI = 25.06 ± 18.44%, ±SE). Coral response may differ because holobionts are biologically different (intrinsic factors), they were exposed to different environmental conditions (extrinsic factors), or inconsistencies in reporting (measurement uncertainty). We found that both extrinsic and intrinsic factors have comparable influence within a given site and event (60% and 40% of bleaching response variance of all records explained, respectively). However, when responses of individual taxa are averaged across sites to obtain taxon‐BRI, differential response was primarily driven by intrinsic differences among taxa (65% of taxon‐BRI variance explained), not conditions across sites (6% explained), nor measurement uncertainty (29% explained). Thus, taxon‐BRI is a robust metric of intrinsic susceptibility of coral taxa. Taxon‐BRI provides a broadly applicable framework for standardization and error estimation for disparate historical records and collection of novel data, allowing for unprecedented accuracy in parameterization of mechanistic and predictive models and conservation plans.
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