"From past to future: environmental variability impacts on the distribution of oceanic predators"
Per Maite Louzao (Instituto Español de Oceanografia, Gijón)
Dimecres 7 de març a les 12.30h a l’Auditorium CEAB
Abstract:
From past to future: environmental variability impacts on the distribution of oceanic predators
Maite Louzao, Thorsten Wiegand, Clara Péron, Karine Delord, Henri Weimerskirch
Pelagic ecosystems are changing significantly due to multiple threats and marine spatial plans are urgently needed for the conservation of pelagic biodiversity. Obtaining long-term distribution data on indicator species could overcome the current limited identification of pelagic protected areas. Long-term spatial modelling studies are essential elements for predicting future species distribution in changing environments, since establishing historical distribution ranges of species provides baseline conditions to understand distribution shifts. In the marine environment, decades of research on marine ecosystems has shown that climatic variables are primary drivers of distributions and dynamics of pelagic organisms and marine top predators are highly sensitive components of the marine ecosystem since major system shifts will be reflected in their populations.
Within this framework, we developed an integrative ecologically study for an oceanic predator, the vulnerable wandering albatross Diomedea exulans, in the highly dynamic Southern Ocean. Based on a long-term tracking database (1998-2008), we identified the current and historical marine areas where the species searched for prey (i.e. the foraging habitat) which were extended beyond observations thanks to the development of predictive habitat models. Albatrosses foraged over topographic features (pelagic areas surrounding main breeding sites, seamounts and submarine mountain ranges) conditioned by dynamic oceanographic variables such as sea surface temperature and sea surface height. Our study provides the first quantitative assessment of the spatial response of a marine top predator to changing pelagic habitats of the Southern Ocean, offering new insights on future effects of climate change on the pelagic realm.
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