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Shallow divers, deep waters and the rise of behavioural stochasticity

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Abstract

Little penguins (Eudyptula minor) have one of the widest geographic distributions among penguins, exposing them to variable ecological constraints across their range, which in turn can affect their foraging behaviour. Presumably, behavioural flexibility exists to allow animals to adapt to prevailing environmental conditions throughout their foraging range. This study examined whether complexity in the temporal organization of foraging sequences corresponds to characteristics of the foraging area across four colonies geographically distributed along the entire species’ range. Complexity and fractal scaling in spatiotemporal patterns of foraging behaviour have been theoretically linked to foraging efficiency in heterogeneous environments. Using fractal time series methods (detrended fluctuation analysis), we found that foraging complexity along a stochastic–deterministic gradient was associated with bathymetry in local foraging areas; little penguins foraging in deeper waters produced more stochastic/less deterministic foraging sequences than those foraging in shallower waters. Corresponding data on fledging success suggest that little penguins foraging in deeper waters also experienced reduced reproductive success. A principal component analysis further showed that our fractal scaling index, which specifically measured the degree to which sequences are long-range dependent (a deterministic phenomenon), correlated positively with foraging efficiency (prey encounter per unit time) and negatively with foraging effort (total time underwater). Our statistical models showed that production of complex foraging sequences with high degrees of stochasticity appears to be energy intensive. However, we could not determine which strategy would have maximized foraging success, a variable we could not measure, under the conditions observed. We propose that increasing stochastic elements in foraging behaviour may be necessary under challenging environmental conditions, but it may not be sufficient to match fitness gains attained under more favourable conditions.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the staff and students of Phillip Island Nature Parks, in particular P. Dann, L. Renwick, P. Waziak, J. Yorke and the support of B. Cannell, D. Houston, Y. Naito and S. Ward. We thank the staff and rangers at Penguin Island and Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony. We also thank two anonymous reviewers for providing very valuable comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. This work was financially supported by grants from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Phillip Island Nature Parks, Penguin Foundation, Australian Academy of Science, Murdoch University, Otago University, Sasakawa Scientific Research Grant from the Japan Science Society and the Ministère de l’Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche (France).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, IPHC UMR 7178, 23 Rue Becquerel, 67087, Strasbourg, France

    Xavier Meyer & Cédric Sueur

  2. Kyoto University Wildlife Research Center, 2-24 Tanaka-Sekiden-cho, Sakyo, Kyoto, 606-8203, Japan

    Andrew J. J. MacIntosh

  3. Kyoto University Primate Research Institute, Kanrin 41-2, Inuyama, Aichi, 484-8506, Japan

    Andrew J. J. MacIntosh

  4. Research Department, Phillip Island Nature Parks, P.O. Box 97, Cowes, 3922, Victoria, Australia

    Andre Chiaradia

  5. Centre d’Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, CNRS, UMR 7372, 79360, Villiers-en-Bois, France

    Akiko Kato & Yan Ropert-Coudert

  6. Department of Zoology, University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin, 9054, New Zealand

    Thomas Mattern

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  1. Xavier Meyer
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  2. Andrew J. J. MacIntosh
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Correspondence to Xavier Meyer.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Funding

XM received financial support from a PhD scholarship from the Ministère de l’Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche (France). The data were collected thank to grants from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (YRC-AK), Phillip Island Nature Parks (AC), Penguin Foundation (AC), Australian Academy of Science (AC), Murdoch University (YRC), Otago University (TM) and Sasakawa Scientific Research Grant from the Japan Science Society (YRC-AK).

Ethical approval

The study was approved by the respective ethics committees of Phillip Island Nature Parks (Animal Experimentation Ethics Committee Number 6.2000), Murdoch University (no number) and Otago University (no number), and research permits were acquired from the Department of Natural Resources of Victoria (Wildlife permit No. 10001184), the New Zealand Department of Conservation (no number), and the Department of Conservation and Land Management of Western Australia (no number).

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Responsible Editor V.H. Paiva.

Reviewed by: A. McInnes and an undisclosed expert.

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Meyer, X., MacIntosh, A.J.J., Chiaradia, A. et al. Shallow divers, deep waters and the rise of behavioural stochasticity. Mar Biol 164, 149 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-017-3177-y

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