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Habitat modelling of tracking data from multiple marine predators identifies important areas in the Southern Indian Ocean

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-19, 23:45 authored by Reisinger, RR, Ben Raymond, Mark HindellMark Hindell, Bester, MN, Crawford, RJM, Davies, D, Nico de Bruyn, PJ, Dilley, BJ, Kirkman, SP, Makhado, AB, Ryan, PG, Schoombie, S, Stevens, K, Michael SumnerMichael Sumner, Tosh, CA, Wege, M, Whitehead, TO, Wotherspoon, S, Pistorius, PA
Aim: The distribution of marine predators is driven by the distribution and abundance of their prey; areas preferred by multiple marine predator species should therefore indicate areas of ecological significance. The Southern Ocean supports large populations of seabirds and marine mammals and is undergoing rapid environmental change. The management and conservation of these predators and their environment relies on understanding their distribution and its link with the biophysical environment, as the latter determines the distribution and abundance of prey. We addressed this issue using tracking data from 14 species of marine predators to identify important habitat.

Location: Indian Ocean sector of the Southern Ocean.

Methods: We used tracking data from 538 tag deployments made over a decade at the Subantarctic Prince Edward Islands. For each real track, we simulated a set of pseudo‐tracks that allowed a presence‐availability habitat modelling approach that estimates an animal's habitat preference. Using model ensembles of boosted regression trees and random forests, we modelled these tracks as a response to a set of 17 environmental variables. We combined the resulting species‐specific models to evaluate areas of mean importance.

Results: Real tracking locations covered 39.75 million km2, up to 7,813 km from the Prince Edward Islands. Areas of high mean importance were located broadly from the Subtropical Zone to the Polar Frontal Zone in summer and from the Subantarctic to Antarctic Zones in winter. Areas of high mean importance were best predicted by factors including wind speed, sea surface temperature, depth and current speed.

Main conclusions: The models and predictions developed here identify important habitat of marine predators around the Prince Edward Islands and can support the large‐scale conservation and management of Subantarctic ecosystems and the marine predators they sustain. The results also form the basis of future efforts to predict the consequences of environmental change.

History

Publication title

Diversity and Distributions

Volume

24

Issue

4

Pagination

535-550

ISSN

1366-9516

Department/School

Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies

Publisher

Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Place of publication

9600 Garsington Rd, Oxford, England, Oxon, Ox4 2Dg

Rights statement

© 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Marine biodiversity