Variations In Environmental Parameters Research Articles

Quantitative Methodology to Support the Hazard Assessment of Confined Space Operations in the Process Industry

Confined spaces represent a critical issue for the safety of workers. Several accidents, often fatal, occurred in the process industry, caused by inadequate education and training about the possible formation of toxic and/or explosive atmospheres generated by the variation of environmental parameters such as temperature, or by the working operations, which may involve the handling of hazardous impurities. The present study proposes a quantitative methodology to support the identification of hazards in process equipment considering the subsequent assessment of risks to which workers are exposed and suggests the preparation of appropriate working procedures. The proposed methodology, starting from the specific site data, allows the operators to predict the parameters needed for the quantitative evaluation of the possible hazards and the associated risks arising from the operations carried out in the process equipment. The methodology is tailored to the specific case of the food industry, and particularly edible oil refining storage. Based on the outcomes of the method, besides determining a hazard ranking of the considered operation, it is possible to establish the specific training requirements of operators, the appropriate personal protective equipment to be used, and, finally, the working procedure. Finally, in order to apply the results obtained, case studies based on the analysis of realistic industrial plants are presented and discussed.

Both hydrology and physicochemistry influence diatom morphometry

It has been shown that size of planktonic diatoms responds to changes in water chemistry, but little is known about the influence of different types of environmental factors upon benthic diatom size variation. Here we ask whether water chemistry or hydromorphological influences show a stronger effect on benthic diatom morphometry. 10,624 diatom valves / frustules were imaged, identified and measured from 48 samples across eight sites in the Ebro river basin obtained during ten years of biomonitoring work. We analysed how differences in surface-to-volume (S/V) ratio and other morphometric characteristics were related to spatial and temporal variability in environmental parameters. Our results show that both hydrological and physicochemical variables generated significant responses in interspecific and intraspecific morphometric variation. S/V ratio and transapical width showed the strongest responses, followed by (the predominantly used) cell volume. Freshwater benthic diatom morphology seems to respond to diverse environmental factors and could provide complementary ecological information to community composition.

Artificial agri‐environment scheme ponds do not replicate natural environments despite higher aquatic and terrestrial invertebrate richness and abundance

Abstract Farmland ponds are a highly threatened freshwater habitat which has undergone dramatic losses during the last 200 years due to land drainage schemes and agricultural intensification. Agri‐environment schemes (AES) incentivize farmers to adopt farming methods to benefit biodiversity, yet there are a paucity of data evaluating the success of artificially created AES ponds as analogues of natural ponds in an attempt to recreate lost environments. We examined variation in environmental parameters and aquatic and terrestrial invertebrate communities between 38 natural ponds and 91 artificial ponds that were created in south‐west Ireland (n = 129). Artificial ponds in agricultural grassland did not replicate natural ponds in adjacent semi‐natural habitats differing significantly in size, pH, conductivity, productivity (indicated by submerged and emergent plant cover including algae) and surrounding vegetation structure that is, sward height. These differences significantly influenced aquatic and terrestrial invertebrate community structure with a suite of indicator taxa in both natural and artificial ponds. The conservation value of artificial ponds in agricultural grasslands should not be underestimated as they had 43% higher aquatic species richness and 33% higher aquatic species abundance than natural ponds in adjacent semi‐natural habitats. Synthesis and applications. We demonstrate that artificial agri‐environment scheme ponds created in agricultural grasslands, whilst not direct analogues of natural ponds in adjacent semi‐natural habitats, do fulfil a role in preserving high local biodiversity albeit representing a different community of species. Creation of ponds in farmland as well as in adjacent natural habitats could provide a wider range of environmental conditions and richer associated macroinvertebrate communities, increasing landscape connectivity and further enhancing regional biodiversity.

Response of phytoplankton assemblages to variations in environmental parameters in a subtropical bay (Chabahar Bay, Iran): Harmful algal blooms and coastal hypoxia

The present work is a comprehensive study on the spatiotemporal variation of environmental parameters in relation to phytoplankton assemblages over a one-year period (March 2017–March 2018) at a semi-enclosed subtropical bay and adjacent coastal waters in the north of Gulf of Oman. The physical and biological parameters were mostly controlled by the southwest monsoon which usually lasts 4 months (June–September) in the region. The outstanding phenomena which highly affected the physicochemical parameters and biological activity were thermal stratification (established in the May–October period), and rising concentration of nutrients due to monsoon-driven upwelling in the late monsoon and post-monsoon periods. As a consequence, the hypoxic condition was established and the pH was also decreased to values smaller than 8.0. It seems that the nitrate concentration limits phytoplankton growth during most times of the year. However, the results showed that the phytoplankton population in the fall inter-monsoon period may also be controlled by silicate availability as its concentration declined to values as small as 0.8 μM in January. Chlorophyll a concentration showed a strong peak in January and a weaker peak in October. The former is due to the intense blooms of Noctiluca scintillans and the later was coincided with high nutrient concentrations and high phytoplankton density and diversity. Diatoms (93%) were dominant during the course of sampling and dinoflagellates (4.5%) were second in dominance. Exceptions were observed in March 2017 when the outbreak of dinoflagellates led to extensive water discoloration and in April 2017 during the massive bloom of Mesodinium rubrum. The most abundant genera were diatoms Pseudo-nitzschia (34.8%), Nitzschia (23.9%), Hemiaulus (20%), and Leptocylindrus (6.1%). While dinoflagellates blooms mostly occurred during high nutrients concentrations in late SW monsoon and inter-monsoon seasons; the bloom of potentially harmful diatoms occurred during the SW monsoon season.

Spatial-Monthly Variations and Influencing Factors of Dissolved Oxygen in Surface Water of Zhanjiang Bay, China

Dissolved oxygen (DO) is one of the most important factors for maintaining a healthy marine ecosystem. The information of DO in large estuaries or bays with large entrances has been widely studied, while it is relatively limited for a bay with a narrow entrance which is vulnerable to human activities. The Zhanjiang Bay, located in the northwestern South China Sea, has a very narrow entrance and suffers from strong anthropogenic activities and obvious seasonal variations in environmental parameters. In this study, we analyzed the spatial and monthly variations of DO, apparent oxygen utilization (AOU), percent oxygen saturation (DO-saturation), and related environmental parameters in the surface water of Zhanjiang Bay to find out the factors controlling the dynamics of DO. Different from many other coastal ecosystems, DO concentrations in the Zhanjiang Bay reached minimum values in late spring and early autumn. The phytoplankton bloom in summer months, which was related to the high concentrations of nutrients brought by rainfall-induced terrestrial inputs, contributed to that phenomenon. Though high chlorophyll a (Chl a) concentrations were observed in both the summer months and December, the DO-saturation values were relatively low and AOU values were relatively high in summer months. Rainfall-induced terrestrial discharge in summer months, which had high concentrations of chemical oxygen demand, contributed much to that phenomenon. The average DO concentrations and DO-saturation values in a hydrological year decreased seaward, and AOU values increased seaward, indicating the anthropogenic influence from terrestrial input. The highest annual average Chl a concentration, relatively high annual average DO-saturation value and relatively low annual AOU value were observed near the Donghai Dam. This indicated that the construction of Donghai Dam has significant influences on the environment of Zhanjiang Bay.

Modeling and Analysis of Hybrid ARQ Scheme for Incremental Cooperative Communication in Underwater Acoustic Sensor Networks

Underwater acoustic sensor network (UASN) is a vast network, in which the neighborhood of a transmitting node consists of many operating sensor nodes. By considering this as an advantage, we propose a hybrid automatic repeat request scheme for incremental cooperative communication (HARQ-INCC) in UASNs. The proposed scheme utilizes neighborhood sensor nodes during the instance of packet retransmission. It combines HARQ scheme with incremental cooperative communication; to enhance reliability and to optimize the energy efficiency. In this article, we present an analytical model to calculate the energy efficiency in UASNs for deep and shallow water scenarios, by examining the influence of acoustic fading, ambient noises and underwater channel characteristics. The analytical results show that HARQ-INCC outperforms the existing techniques for considerable distances between the source and destination nodes. We further propose an optimization algorithm to maximize the energy efficiency, by adjusting the modulation level and packet size as a function of the distance between source and destination nodes. The proposed optimization algorithm significantly enhances the energy efficiency of HARQ-INCC scheme. Finally, we analyze the energy efficiency of UASNs with respect to the variation in environmental parameters like waves and shipping noises. We validate the analytical results using ns-3 simulations.

Unsupervised Idealization of Nano-Electronic Sensors Recordings with Concept Drifts: An Information Theory Approach for Non-Stationary Single-Molecule Data Analysis

Unsupervised Idealization of Nano-Electronic Sensors Recordings with Concept Drifts: An Information Theory Approach for Non-Stationary Single-Molecule Data Analysis

Influence of elevation on the species–area relationship

AbstractAimSpecies–area relationships (SARs) are among the best investigated patterns in ecology, yet the shape of the function that should describe SARs and the biological meaning of the function parameters are disputed. Elevational gradients offer the opportunity of investigating how biodiversity responds to large variations in environmental characteristics within small geographical areas. We asked which function describes SARs at different elevations and explored how variations in environmental characteristics influence SAR shape.LocationAlborz Mountains (Iran).TaxonVascular plants.MethodsWe used sets of nested plots (0.001 to 100 m2) placed at 100 m intervals from 2,000 to 4,500 m elevation to construct series of nested SARs as species accumulation curves. Then, we used these curves to assess the appropriateness of different SAR functions at different elevations. We investigated how parameters of the power function varied along the elevational gradient in response to variation in environmental parameters (ruggedness, temperature, precipitation, exposed rock, percentages of soil sand and total nitrogen, and productivity, expressed by the normalized difference vegetation index).ResultsThe most frequently observed best fit model was the power function, which is controlled by two parameters: z (the velocity in species accumulation with sampled area) and c (the species richness per unit area). z was positively influenced by temperature and soil nitrogen, decreasing with elevation. c was positively influenced by temperature and soil nitrogen, and negatively by rock cover, decreasing with elevation.Main conclusionsThe decrease in c‐values with elevation is consistent with the altitudinal decrease in species richness and is explained by the increase in bare rock. By contrast, c was positively influenced by temperature and total nitrogen, which are two factors promoting plant growth. Similarly, z‐values decreased with elevation, thus indicating a decrease in beta diversity.

Assessment of three mangrove forest systems for future management through benthic community structure receiving anthropogenic influences

The abundance and variation in population and species composition of benthic organisms reflects environmental conditions, which can be used in long term monitoring and management of mangrove forests. This study assessed the three mangrove forest systems Sandspit back waters (SBS), Korangi-Phitti creek (KPM) and Sonmiani Bay (NB) based on the associated benthic community with respect to environmental variations. The samples for macrobenthos and sediment and pore water analyses were collected from 96 cores at three stations in each forest stand. The average values for nutrients in pore water were apparently higher at NB and lower at SBS. A total of 48 macrobenthos species were recorded from the three stands. Species diversity and density was higher at SBS and lower at NB. Crustaceans, polychaetes and molluscs were the most abundant and diverse groups. In this study, the benthic fauna was distinct between the three mangrove systems and the species composition and abundance reflects the responses to variations in environmental parameters. The distribution of polychaete families such as Capitellidae, Spionidae and Cirratullidae reflects that KPM is the most polluted with respect to organic pollution and NB is the least polluted mangrove area. SBS, located near Layari River, appears to be more eutrophic due to higher nutrient loadings. Dry sediments, nutrient loadings, and concentration of Cu and Mn appeared to regulate the forest community structure and negatively correlate with the diversity and density of macrobenthos. The information and suggestions given in this study can be used in the effective management of mangroves forests areas in future.

Beyond the trends: The need to understand multiannual dynamics in aquatic ecosystems

Beyond the trends: The need to understand multiannual dynamics in aquatic ecosystems

Multivariate GP-VAR models for robust structural identification under operational variability

While the concept of structural monitoring has been around for a number of decades, it remains under-exploited in practice. A main driver for this shortcoming lies in the difficulty to robustly and autonomously interpret the information that is extracted from dynamic data. This hindrance in properly deciphering the collected information may be attributed to the uncertainty that is inherent in i) the finite set of measured data, ii) the models employed for capturing the manifested dynamics, and more importantly, iii) the susceptibility of these systems to variations in Environmental and Operational Parameters (EOPs). In previous work of the authors, a Gaussian Process (GP) time-series approach has been introduced, which serves as a hierarchical input–output method to account for the influence of EOPs on structural response. This in turn enables a robust structural identification. In this scheme, the short-term dynamics are modeled by means of linear-in-the-parameters time-series models, while EOV dependence – acting on a long-term time scale – is achieved via GP regression of the model coefficients on measured EOPs. This work corresponds to a further advancement on this modeling approach, corresponding to its generalization to the vector response case. Particularly, the problem of global identification here is solved via an Expectation–Maximization algorithm tailored to the GP time-series model structure. Moreover, an EOP-dependent innovations covariance matrix is integrated in the model, which helps to capture variation in the vibration power. The resulting model does not only have the capability to represent the long-term response of a structure under variable EOPs, but also facilitates the enhanced tracking of modal quantities in contrast to traditional operational modal analysis techniques. The proposed approach is exemplified on the identification of the vibration response of a simulated wind turbine blade at different points along the blade axis in the flap-wise direction, under variability of both the acting wind speeds and ambient temperatures.

Environmental Influence on the Euglenoid Species Diversity and their Abundance in Museum Lake, Thiruvananthapuram, India

Twenty-three species belonging to the class Euglenophyceae were recorded from the Museum Lake, Thiruvananthapuram, India. A canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) between environmental variables and the dominant euglenophytes indicated interaction with certain physical and chemical parameters, in particular rainfall, electrical conductivity and phosphate versus their distribution in the Museum Lake. The dominant species were Euglena deses, Trachelomonas hispida and Trachelomonas volvocina . The CCA results indicate interaction between a variety of environmental parameters and species abundance. A closer examination suggests some external factor (e.g. evaporation) affecting water quality rather than the environment changing the algal biomass. With low rainfall the phosphate concentration increased from 1.5 to 6.9 mg P/l (likely as a result of anoxic conditions in the muddy bottom) and simultaneously nitrate was (partly) taken up by these dominant algae, as a result of which N : P ratios decreased from 4.5 to 0.7. The present study shows that the dominant euglenoid species co-occur in relatively hard water with high phosphorus concentration, and can be considered as useful bio-indicators in assessing the health and extent of deterioration of a lake ecosystem.

Hygrothermal Risk in Museum Buildings Located in Moderate Climate

Works of art are sensitive to environmental factors—mainly temperature and relative humidity—which, when stable, are generally recommended as ideal protection conditions, but in historical museum buildings, the required conditions are difficult to maintain, due to a lack of adequate heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems. The paper presents the analysis of one-year measurements of temperature and relative humidity in three different museums in Poland. The aim of the research was to identify the risk to museum collections, due to unbalanced moisture loads and unstable indoor air temperatures, as well as to identify possible causes of fluctuations in these parameters. This article focuses on assessing the impact of variable external and internal loads on the hygrothermal parameters of indoor air. The profile of internal hygrothermal loads in exhibition halls varied over time, which resulted in a temporary variation of the indoor environmental parameters. The lack of appropriate systems, shaping the microclimate in the analyzed museums, and the lack of automatic control in existing devices did not allow to maintain the temperature and relative humidity within appropriate limits. In the museums, the maximum indoor temperature values were higher than those recommended in the requirements. Relative humidity values in all museums exceeded the recommended range both above and below.

Niches and radiations: a case study on the Andean sapphire‐vented puffleg Eriocnemis luciani and coppery‐naped puffleg E. sapphiropygia (Aves, Trochilidae)

The interaction between ecology and evolution, particularly with regard to speciation processes, remains a main topic of scientific research. Andean hummingbirds have undergone a remarkable radiation, with many species exhibiting patchy distributions and, in some cases, taxonomic controversy. An example is the sapphire‐vented puffleg Eriocnemis luciani; ssp. baptistae, luciani and meridae, which some authors merge with the coppery‐naped puffleg E. sapphiropygia; ssp. catharina and sapphiropygia. Each group is distributed either north or south from the Huancabamba Depression, the major biogeographical barrier within the tropical Andes. We investigated whether these subspecies share some niche characteristics despite their geographical separation and determined their meaning in the context of the speciation process of trochilids in the tropical Andes. For each subspecies, we performed geographical predictions and paired tests of niche conservatism in environmental space. Geographical predictions included separate regions for subspecies catharina and sapphiropygia, while the predicted regions for subspecies luciani and baptistae greatly overlapped. The E. l. luciani model predicted a single pixel near to the potential area of E. l. meridae, known only from a unique, old record. Subspecies luciani and baptistae exhibited the greatest niche overlap among the pairs of taxa for most variables. However, our results clearly indicated niche divergence for the four members of the E. luciani–sapphiropygia complex, independent of the similarities or slight dissimilarities in their respective backgrounds, indicating that other forces in addition to variation in environmental parameters, such as natural selection or genetic drift, are driving the radiation of these hummingbirds. This finding coincides with the unusually high speciation rates reported for Andean hummingbirds. Thus, the currently accepted taxonomy within the E. luciani–sapphiropygia complex may be even more convoluted than indicated by previous studies. Hence, the results of our study are a wakeup call to include the exploration of lineage diversification in biodiversity‐related efforts.

Local variations in environmental parameters govern 50 years of the decline of Fucus guiryi populations in the Canary Islands (eastern Atlantic)

Fucus guiryi is a species strongly threatened by climate change, and the populations in its southern distribution limit are fast disappearing. However, the extinction of this species is not widespread, since there are small places where some populations still survive. In this study we explore the general regression trend of F. guiryi populations in Tenerife (Canary Islands), and compare the changes in the thallus morphology, abundance of individuals and biomass that have occurred in two of its populations over the last decades. Our results show that populations on the North and South of the island have followed different trajectories. Populations of F. guiryi in the North showed a slight regression, the thallus still have a similar size to the past and have numerous receptacles. On the contrary, those of the South are in a critical state, with a strong reduction in plant size and loss of reproductive capacity. The biomass of the southern populations has also been reduced by 90%. The increase in wind speed, sea surface temperature and air temperature were negatively related to the development of F. guiryi populations. Our results suggest a ‘site effect’, where the geography and local climatic conditions interact with the current global warming trend. In this sense, some places in the North of the island, with climatic conditions less adverse to F. guiryi growth, are acting as refugia.

Genetic variation in growth pattern within a population of farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) during a standard production cycle

Selection for faster growth to market size has a long history in selective breeding programs for aquaculture species. In Atlantic salmon, selection for faster growth has been carried out for more than four decades, i.e. about ten generations. Genetic improvement of growth rate is indicated as favourable correlated to improved feed utilization and, from an economic perspective, it can be argued that improved feed utilization is the main breeding objective: improved fish production per unit of nutrients (protein or energy) provided. However, also reduced production time in challenging grow-out environments, i.e. reduced exposure to sea lice and other disease agents, may be highly valuable from an animal welfare and environmental perspective. Reduced production time in challenging grow-out environments may also be economically favourable by reducing the need for mechanical or chemical treatments of the fish.Body weights at stocking and harvest are commonly recorded in breeding programs for Atlantic salmon. Selection for faster growth rate is usually based on recorded harvest weights, which represent the accumulated growth during the entire production cycle. Alternatively, selection could be based on other growth parameters, i.e. Thermal Growth Coefficient (TGC), which specify growth in specific production periods. Production of Atlantic salmon in open sea cages entails large variation of environmental parameters, i.e. water temperature, water quality, salinity, day light etc., that influences the growth.In this study, growth of individual Atlantic salmon in an open sea cage were investigated (as a part of the project BEHAVEGENES, NFR 2014–2017) to describe potential GxE for growth in different production periods. Test fish were transported to sea in autumn, 8 months after first feeding, and harvested after 16 months at a mean harvest weight of 5.5 kg. Individual body weights were recorded at five different time points allowing estimation of growth during a total of four subsequent production periods. Sexual growth dimorphism was discovered well before onset of sexual maturation; already 4 months after sea transfer, at average population body weight ~500 g, males were measured on average 2.8% heavier than females. Heritability estimates for body weight were all high (0.42–0.72), while heritability estimates expressed by growth calculated as TGC were mediate to high (0.35–0.56). Genetic correlations between growth (TGC) in different production periods varied between −0.20 and 0.82. The correlation between growth during an 8-month summer period (average body weights increase from 500 g to 3.9 kg) and a 4.5-month winter period (average body weight increased from 3.9 kg to 5.8 kg) was not significant (rg 0.16 ± 0.17), suggesting genetic variation for growth pattern and that different genes are involved in different growth periods.

A Case Study of Terrain Influences on Upscale Convective Growth of a Supercell

Abstract Satellite- and ground-based radar observations have shown that the northern half of Argentina, South America, is a region susceptible to rapid upscale growth of deep moist convection into larger organized mesoscale convective systems (MCSs). In particular, the complex terrain of the Sierras de Córdoba is hypothesized to be vital to this upscale-growth process. A canonical orographic supercell-to-MCS transition case study was analyzed to determine the influence that complex terrain had on processes governing upscale convective growth. High-resolution numerical modeling experiments were conducted in which the terrain height of the Sierras de Córdoba was systematically modified by raising or lowering the elevation of terrain above 1000 m. The alteration of the terrain lead to both direct and indirect effects on storm morphology. A direct effect included terrain blocking of cold pools, whereas indirect effects included terrain-induced variations in pertinent storm environmental parameters (e.g., vertical wind shear, convective available potential energy). When the terrain was raised, low-level and deep-layer vertical wind shear increased, mixed-layer convective available potential energy decreased, deep moist convection initiated earlier, and cold pools were blocked and generally became stronger and deeper. The reverse occurred when the terrain was lowered, resulting in a weaker supercell that did not grow upscale into an MCS. The control simulation supercell displayed the deepest cold pool and correspondingly fastest transition from supercell to MCS, potentially revealing that the unique terrain configuration of the Sierras de Córdoba was supportive of the observed rapid upscale convective growth of this orographic supercell.

Phenotypic plasticity under desert environment constraints: mandible variation in the dwarf fat-tailed jerboa, Pygeretmus pumilio (Rodentia: Dipodidae)

Arid areas have a comparatively narrow range of habitat types, with restricted variation in environmental parameters, leaving narrow boundaries for phenotypic variation to correlate with ecological variables. To test this presumption, we explored variation in size and shape of the mandible in the dwarf fat-tailed jerboa (Pygeretmus pumilio (Kerr, 1792)) under the constraints of a rigorous desert environment. Size varied significantly and predictably with geographic position and demonstrated a strong, nonlinear longitudinal pattern. Moreover, size was associated with several other climatic variables but not with soil properties or with proxies for primary productivity. Our results suggest that for rodents exposed to rapid and extreme changes, larger size may have multiple advantages, notably in maintaining euthermia during cold nights and efficient water metabolism under aridity stress, in accumulating fat reserves for hibernation, and in digging deeper burrows, better protected from surface extremes. Shape varied clinally along the longitudinal transect, and the pattern was affected more by temperature than by precipitation. We conclude that the success of dwarf fat-tailed jerboa in occupying an extensive geographic range relies on their ability to meet environmental heterogeneity through cohesive and diverse responses, including physiology, behaviour, life-history traits, and morphological plasticity.

Matched Field Processing in Phase Space

The traditional method of matched field processing is based on comparing the complex amplitudes of the measured and calculated sound fields in an underwater waveguide. Because of the high sensitivity of the wave field to variations in environmental parameters, the use of this approach requires accurate knowledge of the ocean-acoustic environment. In this paper, it is shown that under conditions of uncertain environment, instead of comparing the depth dependencies of complex field amplitudes, it is advisable to compare their field amplitude distributions in the phase plane “grazing angle-depth.” Such distributions are calculated using the coherent state expansion borrowed from quantum mechanics. Due to the absence of multipath in the phase space, the amplitudes of the coherent states are less sensitive to variations in the environmental parameters than the total wave field. This makes it possible to construct the similarity coefficients of measured and calculated fields that almost “do not notice” the differences of the compared fields caused by weak sound-speed variations, and “react” only to differences caused by strong changes in the sound-speed field and/or source position.

Habitat utilization of a mesopredator linked to lower sea-surface temperatures & prey abundance in a region of rapid warming

Central place foragers rely on areas within a small range of their breeding grounds for chick provisioning. Therefore there exists a tight coupling between their breeding success and local bio-physical conditions. The effects of fine-scale variability in environmental parameters and resource distribution on the foraging behaviour of marine predators is studied in a region of rapid environmental change. Here we use little penguin habitat preference during two years of varying environmental conditions, to investigate the interactions between environmental variables, resource distribution and penguin habitat preference. Penguins were tagged with GPS devices during a marine heatwave event in 2016 and again in 2018 during comparatively cooler conditions. We found the distribution of penguins to be highly correlated with a fine-scale horizontal SST gradient feature, which appeared on the shelf in 2016 as a result of tropical water from the East Australian Current (EAC) interacting with cooler temperate water from southern Tasmania. Spatially, warmer SST anomalies corresponded to a lower probability of little penguins utilizing an area in both years. This was despite the much more uniform SSTs which were present during 2018. By modelling little penguin habitat preferences using two biological predictors, zooplankton community abundance as an indication of general resource distribution, and krill abundance - a prey species of little penguins - we show habitat preference to be only slightly more strongly driven by prey type, than by general resource distribution. The correlation between little penguin habitat preference and both zooplankton and krill abundance could indicate a plasticity in foraging behaviour which might be beneficial if lower-trophic level structure continues to change due to warming. In light of the continued warming predicted for this region, and the preference shown for cooler SSTs, this plasticity might be important under future resource climates.