Abstract
Substantial variation in foraging strategies can exist within populations, even those typically regarded as generalists. Specializations arise from the consistent exploitation of a narrow behavioral, spatial or dietary niche over time, which may reduce intraspecific competition and influence adaptability to environmental change. However, few studies have investigated whether behavioral consistency confers benefits at the individual and/or population level. While still recovering from commercial sealing overexploitation, Australian fur seals (AUFS; Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus) represent the largest marine predator biomass in south‐eastern Australia. During lactation, female AUFS adopt a central‐place foraging strategy and are, thus, vulnerable to changes in prey availability. The present study investigated the population‐level repeatability and individual consistency in foraging behavior of 34 lactating female AUFS at a south‐east Australian breeding colony between 2006 and 2019. Additionally, the influence of individual‐level behavioral consistency on indices of foraging success and efficiency during benthic diving was determined. Low to moderate population‐level repeatability was observed across foraging behaviors, with the greatest repeatability in the mean bearing and modal dive depth. Individual‐level consistency was greatest for the proportion of benthic diving, total distance travelled, and trip duration. Indices of benthic foraging success and efficiency were positively influenced by consistency in the proportion of benthic diving, trip duration and dive rate but not influenced by consistency in bearing to most distal point, dive depth or foraging site fidelity. The results of the present study provide evidence of the benefits of consistency for individuals, which may have flow‐on effects at the population level.
Highlights
The importance of individual- and population-level differences in resource use and behavior has long been recognized (Foster, 1999)
In order to determine the consistency in foraging behaviors between and within individuals, the optimal fixed effects structure (Table 2) for each response variable needed to be identified to account for intrinsic effects on foraging behavior
The variance associated with the individual contributed > 60% of the variance observed for each of the foraging behaviors with the exception of the modal dive depth, which was influenced by the inter and intraindividual components (Table 3)
Summary
The importance of individual- and population-level differences in resource use and behavior has long been recognized (Foster, 1999). Specializations are widespread amongst wild animal populations (Bolnick et al, 2003) and are expected to be prevalent among top-order predators due to bottom-up processes and resource competition (Estes et al, 2003) Such specializations are suggested to reduce intraspecific competition and increase reproductive success (Araujo et al, 2011). The lack of consensus on whether foraging and dietary specialization is beneficial at the individual- or population- level highlights the need for more studies into the ecological consequences of specialization (Araujo et al, 2011) Such knowledge is important for understanding how populations may respond to anticipated changes in their environment (Bolnick et al, 2003). | 4430 consistency in foraging behavior influences the foraging success and efficiency of female Australian fur seals
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