Annie Murray, Raphaël Royauté, Guy M. W. Stevens, Callum Roberts, Kathryn E. Arnold
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Flexibility in animal foraging strategies can increase overall feeding efficiency for individuals. For example, group foraging can increase the efficiency of resource exploitation; conversely solo foraging can reduce intraspecific competition, particularly at low resource densities. The cost–benefit trade-off of such flexibility is likely to differ within and among individuals. Reef manta rays (Mobula alfredi) are large filter-feeding elasmobranchs that often aggregate to feed on ephemeral upwellings of zooplankton. Over three years in the Maldives, we free-dived to film 3106 foraging events involving 343 individually identifiable M. alfredi. Individuals fed either solo or in groups with a clear leader plus between one and eight followers. M. alfredi were significantly more likely to forage in groups than solo at high just prior to high tide and when aggregations were larger. Within aggregations, individuals foraged in larger groups when more food was available, and when the overall aggregations were relatively large suggesting that foraging in large groups was more beneficial when food is abundant, and the costs of intraspecific competition were outweighed by the efficiency resulting from group foraging strategies. Females, the larger sex, were more likely to lead foraging groups than males. The high within-individual variance (over 70%), suggested individuals were unpredictable across all foraging behaviours, thus individual M. alfredi cannot be classified into foraging types or specialists. Instead, each individual was capable of considerable behavioural flexibility, as predicted for a species reliant on spatially and temporally ephemeral resources.
Significance statement
Reef manta rays (Mobula alfredi), listed as “Vulnerable” on the IUCN Red List, are at risk from targeted and by-catch fisheries due to their slow life history and aggregative behaviour. M. alfredi feed together in aggregations on short-lived glut of microscopic zooplankton. Over three years in the Maldives, we filmed 3106 foraging events involving 343 individually identifiable M. alfredi. Manta rays were more likely to forage in groups than solo just prior to high tide and when aggregations were larger, attracted by the influx of zooplankton. Foraging groups included more individuals when plankton was more abundant. However, individuals flipped between solo and group foraging and did not specialise. Foraging groups were most often led by females, the larger sex. Individuals were very flexible in how they foraged, which makes sense for a species that relies on a food source that varies enormously in when, where and for how long it is available. Understanding manta ray foraging behaviour will help conservation management efforts and predict their responses to climate change.
期刊介绍：
Accounts of Chemical Research presents short, concise and critical articles offering easy-to-read overviews of basic research and applications in all areas of chemistry and biochemistry. These short reviews focus on research from the author’s own laboratory and are designed to teach the reader about a research project. In addition, Accounts of Chemical Research publishes commentaries that give an informed opinion on a current research problem. Special Issues online are devoted to a single topic of unusual activity and significance.
Accounts of Chemical Research replaces the traditional article abstract with an article "Conspectus." These entries synopsize the research affording the reader a closer look at the content and significance of an article. Through this provision of a more detailed description of the article contents, the Conspectus enhances the article's discoverability by search engines and the exposure for the research.
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