The use of mesoscale eddies by juvenile loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) in the southwestern Atlantic

Gaube, Peter; Barceló, Caren; McGillicuddy, Dennis J.; Domingo, Andrés; Miller, Philip; Giffoni, Bruno; Marcovaldi, Neca; Swimmer, Yonat

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0172839

Cited by 41 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…The capacity of eddies for trapping ocean water and to generate vertical movements inside their cores (Barceló‐Llull et al, ; Gaube et al, ) also has biological implications. It has been shown that mesoscale eddies are able to concentrate phytoplankton in their interiors (Chelton, Gaube, et al, ; Gaube et al, ; Liu et al, ) and consequently gather all trophic levels (Gaube et al, ; Godø et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Up to What Extent Can We Characterize Ocean Eddies Using Present‐Day Gridded Altimetric Products?

et al. 2018

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The most common methodology used to detect and characterize mesoscale eddies in the global ocean is to analyze altimetry-based sea-level gridded products with an automatic eddy detection and tracking algorithm. However, a careful look at the location of altimetry tracks shows that their separation is often larger than the Rossby radius of deformation. This implies that gridded products based on the information obtained along track would potentially be unable to characterize the mesoscale variability and, in particular, the eddy field. In this study, we analyze up to what extent sea-level gridded products are able to characterize mesoscale eddies with a special focus on the North Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. In order to perform this task, we have generated synthetic sea level anomaly maps using along-track data extracted from realistic high-resolution ocean model simulations and applying an optimal interpolation procedure. Then, we have used an eddy detection and tracking algorithm to the gridded synthetic product and to the original model outputs and compared the characteristics of the resulting eddy fields. Our results suggest that gridded products largely underestimate the density of eddies, capturing only between 6% and 16% of the total number of eddies. The main reason is that the spatial resolution of the gridded products is not enough to capture the small-scale eddies that are the most abundant. Also, the unresolved structures are aliased into larger structures in the gridded products, so those products show an unrealistic number of large eddies with overestimated amplitudes. Plain Language SummaryMesoscale eddies are ocean vortexes that are found all across the global ocean. These structures can move water inside their interiors and stir the surrounding waters, resulting in a net transport of water properties, such as heat and salt. The most common way to study these eddies is by using satellite-based observations of the signature that most of eddies have on the sea surface. We show, by using a new generation of numerical models and mimicking the measuring process that satellites do, that the vast majority of the eddy field is missed because the available observations do not have enough resolution to resolve the smaller vortexes. Moreover, the mapping procedure used tends to merge several smaller eddies into a larger one, making the true detection of eddies with size enough to be correctly captured by satellite measurements not reliable.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Up to What Extent Can We Characterize Ocean Eddies Using Present‐Day Gridded Altimetric Products?

et al. 2018

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“…50–100 km) to quantitatively link animal movements with specific mesoscale oceanographic features 18 . Yet these features are likely to have profound effects on ocean ecology if large pelagic fishes are able to detect the presence of favorable conditions associated with mesoscale eddies and to adjust their horizontal and vertical movements to increase interactions with prey, as has been shown for marine mammals 19 , seabirds 20 , and turtles 21 , 22 . However, relatively little is known about collocation of pelagic fish movements with mesoscale oceanographic features.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mesoscale eddies influence the movements of mature female white sharks in the Gulf Stream and Sargasso Sea

Gaube

Braun

Lawson

et al. 2018

Sci Rep

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Satellite-tracking of mature white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) has revealed open-ocean movements spanning months and covering tens of thousands of kilometers. But how are the energetic demands of these active apex predators met as they leave coastal areas with relatively high prey abundance to swim across the open ocean through waters often characterized as biological deserts? Here we investigate mesoscale oceanographic variability encountered by two white sharks as they moved through the Gulf Stream region and Sargasso Sea in the North Atlantic Ocean. In the vicinity of the Gulf Stream, the two mature female white sharks exhibited extensive use of the interiors of clockwise-rotating anticyclonic eddies, characterized by positive (warm) temperature anomalies. One tagged white shark was also equipped with an archival tag that indicated this individual made frequent dives to nearly 1,000 m in anticyclones, where it was presumably foraging on mesopelagic prey. We propose that warm temperature anomalies in anticyclones make prey more accessible and energetically profitable to adult white sharks in the Gulf Stream region by reducing the physiological costs of thermoregulation in cold water. The results presented here provide valuable new insight into open ocean habitat use by mature, female white sharks that may be applicable to other large pelagic predators.

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“…Mesoscale eddies are energetic entities that structure open ocean ecosystems on time scales of weeks to months and spatial scales of tens to hundreds of kilometers (4). Eddy processes at these scales provide controls on biogeochemical fluxes (4, 5) and affect biological communities, including lower trophic levels (6–8), marine mammals (9–12), birds (13), turtles (14, 15), and fishes (16). Coupling of biology and ocean physics at the mesoscale has, in some cases, identified specific features as “hotspots” of biological activity, spanning trophic levels from primary producers (17–20) to zooplankton and small fish (21), up to large pelagic fish (22, 23).…”

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confidence: 99%

Mesoscale eddies release pelagic sharks from thermal constraints to foraging in the ocean twilight zone

Braun

Gaube

Sinclair‐Taylor³

et al. 2019

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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107

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Mesoscale eddies are critical components of the ocean’s “internal weather” system. Mixing and stirring by eddies exerts significant control on biogeochemical fluxes in the open ocean, and eddies may trap distinctive plankton communities that remain coherent for months and can be transported hundreds to thousands of kilometers. Debate regarding how and why predators use fronts and eddies, for example as a migratory cue, enhanced forage opportunities, or preferred thermal habitat, has been ongoing since the 1950s. The influence of eddies on the behavior of large pelagic fishes, however, remains largely unexplored. Here, we reconstruct movements of a pelagic predator, the blue shark (Prionace glauca), in the Gulf Stream region using electronic tags, earth-observing satellites, and data-assimilating ocean forecasting models. Based on >2,000 tracking days and nearly 500,000 high-resolution time series measurements collected by 15 instrumented individuals, we show that blue sharks seek out the interiors of anticyclonic eddies where they dive deep while foraging. Our observations counter the existing paradigm that anticyclonic eddies are unproductive ocean “deserts” and suggest anomalously warm temperatures in these features connect surface-oriented predators to the most abundant fish community on the planet in the mesopelagic. These results also shed light on the ecosystem services provided by mesopelagic prey. Careful consideration will be needed before biomass extraction from the ocean twilight zone to avoid interrupting a key link between planktonic production and top predators. Moreover, robust associations between targeted fish species and oceanographic features increase the prospects for effective dynamic ocean management.

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The use of mesoscale eddies by juvenile loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) in the southwestern Atlantic

Cited by 41 publications

References 46 publications

Up to What Extent Can We Characterize Ocean Eddies Using Present‐Day Gridded Altimetric Products?

Up to What Extent Can We Characterize Ocean Eddies Using Present‐Day Gridded Altimetric Products?

Mesoscale eddies influence the movements of mature female white sharks in the Gulf Stream and Sargasso Sea

Mesoscale eddies release pelagic sharks from thermal constraints to foraging in the ocean twilight zone

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