Journal
MARINE BIOLOGY
Volume 159, Issue 3, Pages 481-488Publisher
SPRINGER HEIDELBERG
DOI: 10.1007/s00227-011-1825-1
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- Natural Environment Research Council
- NERC
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Whilst a range of animals have been shown to respond behaviourally to components of the Earth's magnetic Weld, evidence of the value of this sensory perception for small animals advected by strong flows (wind/ocean currents) is equivocal. We added geomagnetic directional swimming behaviour for North Atlantic loggerhead turtle hatchlings (Caretta caretta) into a high-resolution (1/4 degrees) global general circulation ocean model to simulate 2,925-year-long hatchling trajectories comprising 355,875 locations. A little directional swimming (1-3 h per day) had a major impact on trajectories; simulated hatchlings travelled further south into warmer water. As a result, thermal elevation of hatchling metabolic rates was estimated to be between 63.3 and 114.5% after 220 days. We show that even small animals in strong flows can benefit from geomagnetic orientation and thus the potential implications of directional swimming for other taxa may be broad.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available