Running the Gauntlet: Assessing the Threats to Vertical Migrators

Diel vertical migrations by zooplankton and nekton are driven by the selective advantage of avoiding visually cued predators near the surface during the hours of daylight. And just as there is a second set of predators that occupy the migrators’ dark daytime depths, there is also a diverse suite of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Frontiers in Marine Science 2020-02, Vol.7
Main Authors: Robison, Bruce H., Sherlock, Rob E., Reisenbichler, Kim R., McGill, Paul R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Automobiles
Autonomous underwater vehicles
mesopelagic
Migratory species
Nekton
Predators
Prey
ROV
Surveys
Threats
Unmanned vehicles
Vehicles
Vertical migration
Vertical migrations
Zooplankton
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Summary:Diel vertical migrations by zooplankton and nekton are driven by the selective advantage of avoiding visually cued predators near the surface during the hours of daylight. And just as there is a second set of predators that occupy the migrators’ dark daytime depths, there is also a diverse suite of predators that comprise a gauntlet of threats during the migrations. Here we examine these migrations from the perspective of the migrators, to enumerate the kinds of predatory threats they face and to assess the threat potential of various predator types. The study is based on thousands of hours of in situ observations and measurements of the mesopelagic community in Monterey Bay, California, conducted chiefly by remotely operated vehicles. We provide accounts of some predator/prey interactions, and we introduce a means to calculate the threat potential of specific predators, based on MBARI’s long-term time-series of quantitative video surveys.
ISSN:2296-7745
2296-7745
DOI:10.3389/fmars.2020.00064