Convergence of marine megafauna movement patterns in coastal and open oceans

A. M. M. Sequeira, University of Western Australia
J. P. Rodriguez, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas–University of the Balearic Islands
V. M. Eguíluz, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas–University of the Balearic Islands
R. Harcourt, Macquarie University
M. Hindell, University of Tasmania
D. W. Sims, University of Southampton
C. M. Duarte, University of Western Australia
Daniel Costa, University of California, Santa Cruz
J. Fernández-Gracia, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas–University of the Balearic Islands
L.C. Ferreira, University of Western Australia
G. C. Hayes, Deakin University
M. R. Heupel, Australian Institute of Marine Science
M. G. Meekan, University of Western Australia
A. Aven, University of South Alabama
F. Bailleul, South Australian Research and Development Institute
A. M. M. Baylis, South Atlantic Environmental Research Institute
M. L. Berumen, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
C. D. Braun, Massachusetts Institute of Technology-Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
J. Burns, University of Alaska, Anchorage
M. J. Caley, Queensland University of Technology
R. Campbell, Marine Science Division, Department of Parks and Wildlife
R. H. Carmichael, University of South Alabama
E. Clua, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes
L. D. Einoder, Charles Darwin University
Ari Friedlaender, University of California, Santa Cruz
M. E. Goebel, Southwest Fisheries Science Center
S. D. Goldsworthy, South Australian Research and Development Institute
C. Guinet, UMR 7372 CNRS-Université de La Rochelle
J. Gunn, Australian Institute of Marine Science
D. Hamer, South Australian Research and Development Institute
N. Hammerschlag, University of Miami
M. Hammill, Maurice Lamontagne Institute
L. A. Hückstädt, University of California, Santa Cruz
N.E. Humphries, Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom
M.-A. Lea, University of Tasmania
A. Lowther, South Australian Research and Development Institute
A. Mackay, South Australian Research and Development Institute
E. McHuron, University of California, Santa Cruz
J. McKenzie, South Australian Research and Development Institute
L. McLeay, South Australian Research and Development Institute
C.R. McMahon, Macquarie University
K. Mengersen, Queensland University of Technology
M. M. C. Muelbert, University of Tasmania
A. M. Pagano, Alaska Science Center, US Geological Survey
B. Page, South Australian Research and Development Institute
N. Queiroz, Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom
P. W. Robinson, University of California, Santa Cruz
Scott Shaffer, San Jose State University
M. Shivji, Nova Southeastern University
G. B. Skomal, Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries
S. R. Thorrold, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
S. Villegas-Amtmann, University of California, Santa Cruz
M. Weise, Marine Mammal Program, Office of Naval Research
R. Wells, Chicago Zoological Society
B. Wetherbee, Australian Antarctic Division, Department of the Environment and Energy
A. Wiebkin, South Australian Research and Development Institute
B. Wienecke, Australian Antarctic Division, Department of the Environment and Energy
M. Thums, University of Western Australia

Publication Date

February 2018

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Volume

115

Issue

12

DOI

10.1073/pnas.1716137115

First Page

3072

Last Page

3077

Abstract

The extent of increasing anthropogenic impacts on large marine vertebrates partly depends on the animals’ movement patterns. Effective conservation requires identification of the key drivers of movement including intrinsic properties and extrinsic constraints associated with the dynamic nature of the environments the animals inhabit. However, the relative importance of intrinsic versus extrinsic factors remains elusive. We analyze a global dataset of ∼2.8 million locations from >2,600 tracked individuals across 50 marine vertebrates evolutionarily separated by millions of years and using different locomotion modes (fly, swim, walk/paddle). Strikingly, movement patterns show a remarkable convergence, being strongly conserved across species and independent of body length and mass, despite these traits ranging over 10 orders of magnitude among the species studied. This represents a fundamental difference between marine and terrestrial vertebrates not previously identified, likely linked to the reduced costs of locomotion in water. Movement patterns were primarily explained by the interaction between species-specific traits and the habitat(s) they move through, resulting in complex movement patterns when moving close to coasts compared with more predictable patterns when moving in open oceans. This distinct difference may be associated with greater complexity within coastal microhabitats, highlighting a critical role of preferred habitat in shaping marine vertebrate global movements. Efforts to develop understanding of the characteristics of vertebrate movement should consider the habitat(s) through which they move to identify how movement patterns will alter with forecasted severe ocean changes, such as reduced Arctic sea ice cover, sea level rise, and declining oxygen content.

Keywords

global satellite tracking, probability density function, root-mean-square, turning angles, displacements

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