Ecological drivers of movement for two sympatric marine predators in the California current large marine ecosystem

An animal's movement reflects behavioral decisions made to address ecological needs; specifically, that movement will become less directional in regions with high prey availability, indicating foraging behavior. In the marine realm, animal behavior occurs below the sea surface and is difficult to observe. We used an extensive satellite tagging dataset to explore how physical and biological habitat characteristics influence blue (Balaenoptera musculus) and fin (B. physalus) whale movement and foraging behavior in the California Current Ecosystem across four known bioregions.

We fitted movement models to 14 years of blue whale satellite tracking data and 13 years of fin whale data to characterize their movement persistence, with higher move persistence values representing more directional movement and lower move persistence values representing less directional movement. Models were evaluated against a range of physical and biological environmental predictors to identify significant correlates of low move persistence (i.e., presumed intensified foraging behavior). We then used data from a subset of sensor-equipped tags that monitored vertical behavior (e.g., dive and feeding), in addition to movement, to test the relationship between vertical behavior and movement persistence.

Low move persistence was strongly correlated with shallower water depth and sea surface height for both species, with additional effects of chlorophyll-a concentration, vorticity and marine nekton biomass for blue whales. Data from sensor-equipped tags additionally showed that low move persistence occurred when whales made more numerous feeding dives. Temporal patterns of bioregion occupancy coincided with seasonal peaks in productivity. Most blue whale low-move-persistence movements occurred in the northern, nearshore bioregion with a late-season peak in productivity and were evenly distributed across all bioregions for fin whales.

We demonstrated that low move persistence is indicative of increased feeding behavior for both blue and fin whales. The environmental drivers of low move persistence were similar to those previously identified for survey-based species distribution models, linking environmental metrics to subsurface behavior. Occupancy and movement behavior patterns across bioregions indicate both species moved to exploit seasonal and spatial variability in productivity, with blue whales especially focusing on the bioregion of highest productivity during late summer and fall.