MEPS

Marine Ecology Progress Series

MEPS is a leading hybrid research journal on all aspects of marine, coastal and estuarine ecology. Priority is given to outstanding research that advances our ecological understanding.

Online: ISSN 1616-1599

Print: ISSN 0171-8630

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps

Impact Factor2.1 (JCR 2025 release)

Article Acceptance Rate52.2% (2024)

Average Time in Review216 days (2024)

Total Annual Downloads2.996.010 (2025)

Volume contents
Mar Ecol Prog Ser 443:217-235 (2011)

Active acoustic examination of the diving behavior of murres foraging on patchy prey

ABSTRACT: During the 2008 and 2009 breeding seasons of murres Uria spp., we combined visual observations of these predators with active acoustics (sonar), fish trawls, zooplankton net tows, and hydrographic measurements in the area surrounding breeding colonies in the southeastern Bering Sea. We acoustically detected thousands of bubble trails that were strongly correlated with the number of visually detected murres, providing a new tool for quantitatively studying the foraging ecology of diving birds. At the regional scale, the number of acoustically detected bubble trails, which served as a proxy for diving murre abundance, was related to the combined availability and vertical accessibility of squid, krill, and pollock. There were, however, no clear relationships at this scale between diving murres and any individual prey taxon, highlighting the importance of prey diversity to these animals. Individual krill patches targeted by murres had higher krill density and were located shallower than the mean depth of krill patches, but were similar in total krill abundance and overall size. The diving depth of murres within krill patches was highly correlated to the depth of the upper edge of these patches, whereas murres found outside of krill patches showed a depth distribution similar to that of juvenile pollock. Throughout the study area, murres showed strong diel patterns in their diving behavior in response to the diel migrations of their prey. These results suggest that murres select prey with specific patch characteristics implying effective information gathering about prey by murres. The high proportion of diving murres in aggregations and their consistent inter-individual spacing support the hypothesis that intra-specific local enhancement may facilitate foraging in these predators.

KEYWORDS

Kelly J. Benoit-Bird (Co-author)

  • College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, 104 COAS Administration Building, Corvallis, Oregon 97331, USA

Kathy Kuletz (Co-author)

  • US Fish and Wildlife Service, 1011 E. Tudor Road, Anchorage, Alaska 99503, USA

Scott Heppell (Co-author)

  • Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon State University, 104 Nash Hall, Corvallis, Oregon 97331, USA

Nathan Jones (Co-author)

  • Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, 8272 Moss Landing Road, Moss Landing, California 95039, USA

Brian Hoover (Co-author)

  • Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, 8272 Moss Landing Road, Moss Landing, California 95039, USA