Slow to change? Individual fidelity to three-dimensional foraging habitats in southern elephant seals, Mirounga leonina

Abstract

Slow to change? Individual fidelity to three-dimensional foraging habitats in southern elephant seals, Mirounga leonina Long-term fidelity to foraging areas may have fitness benefits to individuals, particularly in unpredictable environments. However, such strategies may result in short-term energetic losses and delay responses to fast environmental changes. We used satellite tracking data and associated diving data to record the habitat use of nine individual southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) over 34 winter migrations. By assessing overlap in two-and three-dimensional home ranges we illustrate strong long-term (up to seven year) fidelity to foraging habitat. Furthermore, a repeatability statistic and hierarchical clustering exercise provided evidence for individual specialization of foraging migration strategies. We discuss the possible influences of stable longterm foraging migration strategies on the adaptability of individual elephant seals to rapid environmental change. Our results further illustrate the need for more long-term longitudinal studies to quantify the influence of individual-level site familiarity, fidelity and specialization on population-level resource selection and population dynamics. We have now completed a revision of the above-mentioned manuscript and addressed all of the editor's remarks as follows: Title1. Put keywords in alphabetical order. >> Done -please see Abstract document2. Take the figures out of the text and upload them separately. Similarly, put all the tables together after the references. Figure captions should be collected together and placed after the references and tables in the manuscript. They must not be on the same page as the figure or uploaded as figures. >> Done -please refer to the highlighted document.3. Tables should have a short one-sentence title above the table and other information should be placed below the table. >> Done -please refer to the highlighted document.4. 'N' should be a capital letter in italics. >> Done -all places where this was done are highlighted in the highlight document.5. Table 2. Remove the internal horizontal line. >> Done. However, we retained an underlining of the "50% 3D-UD" for clarity. Please advise should you require any further amendments here.6. Use double line spacing in the references. >> Done.7. For software references such as Calenge 2015 add the website address. >> Done -please refer to the highlighted reference list.We also attach a version of the new manuscript, highlighting the changes/corrections made, as well as a 'clean' version of the revised manuscript.We trust that we have adequately addressed the all comments and wish to thank you again for your attention to this manuscript. Highlights We recorded the oceanic behaviour of focal elephant seals over multiple years  Seals displayed long-term fidelity to three-dimensional migration strategies  Individual specialization was evident in foraging migrations

Climate mediates the success of migration strategies in a marine predator

“…; McIntyre et al . ), lending confidence to our treatment of site fidelity as a fixed trait, additional repeat migrations would strengthen our classifications. Our analysis of site fidelity was also based on horizontal migratory movements, while for marine species, site fidelity in vertical movements may be altogether different.…”

“…Recent research indicates elephant seals also display fidelity to three‐dimensional habitats (McIntyre et al . ), and future research should continue to integrate movements over three dimensions (Bestley et al . ) to investigate the linkages between horizontal and vertical site fidelity.…”

“…; McIntyre et al . ). Kernel density UDs quantify the intensity of use of a given location, in addition to mapping used and unused areas, and has reduced bias when the bandwidth, or smoothing parameter, of the kernel estimator is fixed (Seaman & Powell ).…”

Diel movement of brown trout,Salmo trutta, is reduced in dense populations with high site fidelity

“…It is generally known that animals use information to decide whether to return to, reuse or avoid specific areas (Morales et al., ), and the available information about resources corresponds to not only the local movement of individuals within an area but also site fidelity (McIntire et al., ; Switzer, ; Wittmer, McLellan, & Hovey, ). Comparable data about brown trout movement and subpopulation site fidelity are not available, but our findings are indirectly supported by some previous studies.…”

“…Moreover, information about resources motivates individuals to return and reuse preferred areas, which is often referred to as site fidelity (Switzer, 1993(Switzer, , 1997Ward, James, Wilson, & Webster, 2013). Site fidelity corresponds to improved resource exploitation and greater fitness as reported, for example, in amphibians (Bucciarelli, Green, Shaffer, Bradley, & Kats, 2016), birds (Lourenco et al, 2016;Piotr, 2016), and mammals (Forrester, Cassady, & Wittmer, 2015;Geinapp & Merilä, 2011;McIntire, Bester, Bornemann, Tosh, & Nico de Bruyn, 2017).…”