Convergence of marine megafauna movement patterns in coastal and open oceans

A. M.M. Sequeira; J. P. Rodríguez; V. M. Eguíluz; R. Harcourt; M. Hindell; D. W. Sims; C. M. Duarte; D. P. Costa; J. Fernández-Gracia; L. C. Ferreira; G. C. Hays; M. R. Heupel; M. G. Meekan; A. Aven; F. Bailleul; A. M.M. Baylis; M. L. Berumen; C. D. Braun; J. Burns; M. J. Caley; R. Campbell; R. H. Carmichael; E. Clua; L. D. Einoder; Ari Friedlaender; M. E. Goebel; S. D. Goldsworthy; C. Guinet; J. Gunn; D. Hamer; N. Hammerschlag; M. Hammill; L. A. Hückstädt; N. E. Humphries; M. A. Lea; A. Lowther; A. Mackay; E. McHuron; J. McKenzie; L. McLeay; C. R. McMahon; K. Mengersen; M. M.C. Muelbert; A. M. Pagano; B. Page; N. Queiroz; P. W. Robinson; S. A. Shaffer; M. Shivji; G. B. Skomal; S. R. Thorrold; S. Villegas-Amtmann; M. Weise; R. Wells; B. Wetherbee; A. Wiebkin; B. Wienecke; M. Thums

doi:10.1073/pnas.1716137115

Convergence of marine megafauna movement patterns in coastal and open oceans

A. M.M. Sequeira^*, J. P. Rodríguez, V. M. Eguíluz, R. Harcourt, M. Hindell, D. W. Sims, C. M. Duarte, D. P. Costa, J. Fernández-Gracia, L. C. Ferreira, G. C. Hays, M. R. Heupel, M. G. Meekan, A. Aven, F. Bailleul, A. M.M. Baylis, M. L. Berumen, C. D. Braun, J. Burns, M. J. CaleyR. Campbell, R. H. Carmichael, E. Clua, L. D. Einoder, Ari Friedlaender, M. E. Goebel, S. D. Goldsworthy, C. Guinet, J. Gunn, D. Hamer, N. Hammerschlag, M. Hammill, L. A. Hückstädt, N. E. Humphries, M. A. Lea, A. Lowther, A. Mackay, E. McHuron, J. McKenzie, L. McLeay, C. R. McMahon, K. Mengersen, M. M.C. Muelbert, A. M. Pagano, B. Page, N. Queiroz, P. W. Robinson, S. A. Shaffer, M. Shivji, G. B. Skomal, S. R. Thorrold, S. Villegas-Amtmann, M. Weise, R. Wells, B. Wetherbee, A. Wiebkin, B. Wienecke, M. Thums

^*Corresponding author for this work

Biological, Environmental Sciences and Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

74 Scopus citations

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 patternswhenmoving 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.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	3072-3077
Number of pages	6
Journal	PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume	115
Issue number	12
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1716137115
State	Published - Mar 20 2018

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. We are thankful to I. Jonsen for initial discussions and all involved with the many aspects of fieldwork and data collection; details are included in SI Appendix, Acknowledgments. Workshop funding was granted by the University of Western Australia (UWA) Oceans Institute, the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). A.M.M.S. was supported by Australian Research Council Grant DE170100841 and an Indian Ocean Ocean Marine Research Centre (UWA, AIMS, Commonwealth of Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) fellowship. J.P.R., V.M.E., and J.F.G. were supported by Agencia Estatal de Inves-tigación (AEI, Spain) and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) through project Spatiotemporality in Sociobological Interactions, Models and Methods (SPASIMM) (FIS2016-80067-P AEI/FEDER, European Union), and by research funding from KAUST. J.P.R. was supported by Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte (Formación de Profesorado Universitario Grant, Spain). D.W.S. was supported by the UK Natural Environment Research Council and Save Our Seas Foundation. N.Q. was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (Portugal). M.M.C.M. was supported by a Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de pessoal de Nível Superior fellowship (Ministry of Education).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 National Academy of Sciences. All Rights Reserved.

Keywords

Displacements
Global satellite tracking
Probability density function
Root-mean-square
Turning angles

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1073/pnas.1716137115

Cite this

Sequeira, A. M. M., Rodríguez, J. P., Eguíluz, V. M., Harcourt, R., Hindell, M., Sims, D. W., Duarte, C. M., Costa, D. P., Fernández-Gracia, J., Ferreira, L. C., Hays, G. C., Heupel, M. R., Meekan, M. G., Aven, A., Bailleul, F., Baylis, A. M. M., Berumen, M. L., Braun, C. D., Burns, J., ... Thums, M. (2018). Convergence of marine megafauna movement patterns in coastal and open oceans. PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 115(12), 3072-3077. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1716137115

@article{e0ec22ce4e44461f86e67d58a0e601c9,

title = "Convergence of marine megafauna movement patterns in coastal and open oceans",

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 patternswhenmoving 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 = "Displacements, Global satellite tracking, Probability density function, Root-mean-square, Turning angles",

author = "Sequeira, {A. M.M.} and Rodr{\'i}guez, {J. P.} and Egu{\'i}luz, {V. M.} and R. Harcourt and M. Hindell and Sims, {D. W.} and Duarte, {C. M.} and Costa, {D. P.} and J. Fern{\'a}ndez-Gracia and Ferreira, {L. C.} and Hays, {G. C.} and Heupel, {M. R.} and Meekan, {M. G.} and A. Aven and F. Bailleul and Baylis, {A. M.M.} and Berumen, {M. L.} and Braun, {C. D.} and J. Burns and Caley, {M. J.} and R. Campbell and Carmichael, {R. H.} and E. Clua and Einoder, {L. D.} and Ari Friedlaender and Goebel, {M. E.} and Goldsworthy, {S. D.} and C. Guinet and J. Gunn and D. Hamer and N. Hammerschlag and M. Hammill and H{\"u}ckst{\"a}dt, {L. A.} and Humphries, {N. E.} and Lea, {M. A.} and A. Lowther and A. Mackay and E. McHuron and J. McKenzie and L. McLeay and McMahon, {C. R.} and K. Mengersen and Muelbert, {M. M.C.} and Pagano, {A. M.} and B. Page and N. Queiroz and Robinson, {P. W.} and Shaffer, {S. A.} and M. Shivji and Skomal, {G. B.} and Thorrold, {S. R.} and S. Villegas-Amtmann and M. Weise and R. Wells and B. Wetherbee and A. Wiebkin and B. Wienecke and M. Thums",

note = "Funding Information: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. We are thankful to I. Jonsen for initial discussions and all involved with the many aspects of fieldwork and data collection; details are included in SI Appendix, Acknowledgments. Workshop funding was granted by the University of Western Australia (UWA) Oceans Institute, the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). A.M.M.S. was supported by Australian Research Council Grant DE170100841 and an Indian Ocean Ocean Marine Research Centre (UWA, AIMS, Commonwealth of Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) fellowship. J.P.R., V.M.E., and J.F.G. were supported by Agencia Estatal de Inves-tigaci{\'o}n (AEI, Spain) and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) through project Spatiotemporality in Sociobological Interactions, Models and Methods (SPASIMM) (FIS2016-80067-P AEI/FEDER, European Union), and by research funding from KAUST. J.P.R. was supported by Ministerio de Educaci{\'o}n, Cultura y Deporte (Formaci{\'o}n de Profesorado Universitario Grant, Spain). D.W.S. was supported by the UK Natural Environment Research Council and Save Our Seas Foundation. N.Q. was supported by Funda{\c c}{\~a}o para a Ci{\^e}ncia e Tecnologia (Portugal). M.M.C.M. was supported by a Coordena{\c c}{\~a}o de Aperfei{\c c}oamento de pessoal de N{\'i}vel Superior fellowship (Ministry of Education). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2018 National Academy of Sciences. All Rights Reserved.",

year = "2018",

month = mar,

day = "20",

doi = "10.1073/pnas.1716137115",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "115",

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journal = "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America",

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publisher = "National Academy of Sciences",

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Sequeira, AMM, Rodríguez, JP, Eguíluz, VM, Harcourt, R, Hindell, M, Sims, DW, Duarte, CM, Costa, DP, Fernández-Gracia, J, Ferreira, LC, Hays, GC, Heupel, MR, Meekan, MG, Aven, A, Bailleul, F, Baylis, AMM, Berumen, ML, Braun, CD, Burns, J, Caley, MJ, Campbell, R, Carmichael, RH, Clua, E, Einoder, LD, Friedlaender, A, Goebel, ME, Goldsworthy, SD, Guinet, C, Gunn, J, Hamer, D, Hammerschlag, N, Hammill, M, Hückstädt, LA, Humphries, NE, Lea, MA, Lowther, A, Mackay, A, McHuron, E, McKenzie, J, McLeay, L, McMahon, CR, Mengersen, K, Muelbert, MMC, Pagano, AM, Page, B, Queiroz, N, Robinson, PW, Shaffer, SA, Shivji, M, Skomal, GB, Thorrold, SR, Villegas-Amtmann, S, Weise, M, Wells, R, Wetherbee, B, Wiebkin, A, Wienecke, B & Thums, M 2018, 'Convergence of marine megafauna movement patterns in coastal and open oceans', PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, vol. 115, no. 12, pp. 3072-3077. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1716137115

TY - JOUR

T1 - Convergence of marine megafauna movement patterns in coastal and open oceans

AU - Sequeira, A. M.M.

AU - Rodríguez, J. P.

AU - Eguíluz, V. M.

AU - Harcourt, R.

AU - Hindell, M.

AU - Sims, D. W.

AU - Duarte, C. M.

AU - Costa, D. P.

AU - Fernández-Gracia, J.

AU - Ferreira, L. C.

AU - Hays, G. C.

AU - Heupel, M. R.

AU - Meekan, M. G.

AU - Aven, A.

AU - Bailleul, F.

AU - Baylis, A. M.M.

AU - Berumen, M. L.

AU - Braun, C. D.

AU - Burns, J.

AU - Caley, M. J.

AU - Campbell, R.

AU - Carmichael, R. H.

AU - Clua, E.

AU - Einoder, L. D.

AU - Friedlaender, Ari

AU - Goebel, M. E.

AU - Goldsworthy, S. D.

AU - Guinet, C.

AU - Gunn, J.

AU - Hamer, D.

AU - Hammerschlag, N.

AU - Hammill, M.

AU - Hückstädt, L. A.

AU - Humphries, N. E.

AU - Lea, M. A.

AU - Lowther, A.

AU - Mackay, A.

AU - McHuron, E.

AU - McKenzie, J.

AU - McLeay, L.

AU - McMahon, C. R.

AU - Mengersen, K.

AU - Muelbert, M. M.C.

AU - Pagano, A. M.

AU - Page, B.

AU - Queiroz, N.

AU - Robinson, P. W.

AU - Shaffer, S. A.

AU - Shivji, M.

AU - Skomal, G. B.

AU - Thorrold, S. R.

AU - Villegas-Amtmann, S.

AU - Weise, M.

AU - Wells, R.

AU - Wetherbee, B.

AU - Wiebkin, A.

AU - Wienecke, B.

AU - Thums, M.

N1 - Funding Information: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. We are thankful to I. Jonsen for initial discussions and all involved with the many aspects of fieldwork and data collection; details are included in SI Appendix, Acknowledgments. Workshop funding was granted by the University of Western Australia (UWA) Oceans Institute, the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). A.M.M.S. was supported by Australian Research Council Grant DE170100841 and an Indian Ocean Ocean Marine Research Centre (UWA, AIMS, Commonwealth of Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) fellowship. J.P.R., V.M.E., and J.F.G. were supported by Agencia Estatal de Inves-tigación (AEI, Spain) and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) through project Spatiotemporality in Sociobological Interactions, Models and Methods (SPASIMM) (FIS2016-80067-P AEI/FEDER, European Union), and by research funding from KAUST. J.P.R. was supported by Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte (Formación de Profesorado Universitario Grant, Spain). D.W.S. was supported by the UK Natural Environment Research Council and Save Our Seas Foundation. N.Q. was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (Portugal). M.M.C.M. was supported by a Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de pessoal de Nível Superior fellowship (Ministry of Education). Publisher Copyright: © 2018 National Academy of Sciences. All Rights Reserved.

PY - 2018/3/20

Y1 - 2018/3/20

N2 - 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 patternswhenmoving 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.

AB - 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 patternswhenmoving 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.

KW - Displacements

KW - Global satellite tracking

KW - Probability density function

KW - Root-mean-square

KW - Turning angles

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U2 - 10.1073/pnas.1716137115

DO - 10.1073/pnas.1716137115

M3 - Article

C2 - 29483242

AN - SCOPUS:85044256723

SN - 0027-8424

VL - 115

SP - 3072

EP - 3077

JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

IS - 12

ER -

Convergence of marine megafauna movement patterns in coastal and open oceans

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

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