Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment最新文献

{"title":"Green pockets with seeds","authors":"Deng-Fei Li,&nbsp;Xian-Chun Yan","doi":"10.1002/fee.2731","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2731","url":null,"abstract":"<p>While conducting field research on plants in China's western Sichuan Plateau during July 2022, we observed the perennial herb <i>Przewalskia tangutica</i> (Solanaceae) with pocket-like green bracts (hereafter, “green pockets” or simply “pockets”). Each plant had multiple green pockets, and each green pocket contained a single fruit along its interior base. Interestingly, we found that the pocket would naturally fall off the plant once its fruit was mature. Then, as the pocket—now disconnected from its plant—gradually desiccated, it became so light that it could easily be blown far away by the wind. A few days after gaining its independence, the pocket almost entirely decayed, leaving only a mesh-like framework of veins, thereby allowing the seeds to escape. This finding suggests that the pocket plays a role in seed dispersal and promotes the spread of <i>P tangutica</i>, an imperiled species found at high elevations and subject to overharvesting due to its medicinal properties. However, some questions remain unanswered. Because each pocket has a small mouth-like opening at its top, if rain falls into a pocket, does it affect fruit and seed development? Does the green pocket contribute resources (such as carbon and energy) to fruit and seed development through photosynthesis? Was the evolution of the pocket driven by harsh physical conditions (such as low temperatures, ultraviolet radiation from intense sunlight, or heavy rains) on the plateau? Does the pocket provide protection against potential seed predators?</p>","PeriodicalId":171,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment","volume":"22 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":10.3,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/fee.2731","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140333131","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A silent spring, or a new cacophony? Invasive plants as maestros of modern soundscapes","authors":"Jacob N Barney,&nbsp;Grace O'Malley,&nbsp;Gabrielle N Ripa,&nbsp;Joseph Drake,&nbsp;David Franusich,&nbsp;Meryl C Mims","doi":"10.1002/fee.2729","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2729","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;Sound plays a key role in ecosystem function and is a defining part of how humans experience nature. In the seminal book &lt;i&gt;Silent Spring&lt;/i&gt; (Carson &lt;span&gt;1962&lt;/span&gt;), Rachel Carson warned of the ecological and environmental harm of pesticide usage by envisioning a future without birdsong. Soundscapes, or the acoustic patterns of a landscape through space and time, encompass both biological and physical processes (Pijanowski &lt;i&gt;et al&lt;/i&gt;. &lt;span&gt;2011&lt;/span&gt;). Yet, they are often an underappreciated element of the natural world and the ways in which it is perceived. Scientists are only beginning to quantify changes to soundscapes, largely in response to anthropogenic sounds, but soundscape alteration is likely linked to many dimensions of global change. For example, invasive non-native species (hereafter, invasive species) are near-ubiquitous members of ecosystems globally and threaten both natural and managed ecosystems at great expense. Their impacts to soundscapes may be an important, yet largely unknown, threat to ecosystems and the human and economic systems they support.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The proper functioning of sound-based cues depends on the overall soundscape of an environment, which is determined by a range of biological and physical factors, many of which may be influenced by invasive species. To date, research on the effects of invasive species on sound focuses primarily on specific invasive species that make sounds or the loss of sound-making native biota (Hopkins &lt;i&gt;et al&lt;/i&gt;. &lt;span&gt;2022&lt;/span&gt;) rather than on the soundscape overall.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;For instance, invasive amphibians, such as the American bullfrog (&lt;i&gt;Lithobates catesbeianus&lt;/i&gt;), can dominate a soundscape, resulting in alterations to vocalizations, increased energy expenditure, and reduction in breeding success of native amphibians (Both and Grant &lt;span&gt;2012&lt;/span&gt;). The arrival of sound-making invasive species may thus increase the overall diversity of a soundscape, but with negative consequences for native species. Alternatively, invasive species may eliminate the most dominant and recognizable parts of soundscapes. The invasive brown tree snake (&lt;i&gt;Boiga irregularis&lt;/i&gt;) has driven the functional extinction of an entire avian community, resulting in Guam's “silent forests” with cascading effects on ecosystem function (Rogers &lt;i&gt;et al&lt;/i&gt;. &lt;span&gt;2017&lt;/span&gt;). In some cases, invasive species may change soundscapes by driving community turnover and diversity through environmental change. Through alterations in the physical environment, invasive beavers (&lt;i&gt;Castor canadensis&lt;/i&gt;) in South America shifted avian community composition, subsequently changing the soundscape (Francomano &lt;i&gt;et al&lt;/i&gt;. &lt;span&gt;2021&lt;/span&gt;). Even when beaver dams were removed, the original composition of the avian community, and resulting soundscape, remained altered (Francomano &lt;i&gt;et al&lt;/i&gt;. &lt;span&gt;2021&lt;/span&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;As Hopkins &lt;i&gt;et al&lt;/i&gt;. (&lt;span&gt;2022&lt;/span&gt;) noted in their review of contemporary studies on ","PeriodicalId":171,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment","volume":"22 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":10.3,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/fee.2729","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140333133","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Dinner with Moray?","authors":"Peter J Auster,&nbsp;Jorge Cortés","doi":"10.1002/fee.2730","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2730","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In mixed-species groups, moray eels (Muraenidae) can function as focal species, hunting for prey within the deep interstices of reefs and, in the process, flushing out potential prey that are then vulnerable to attack by the moray's companions. On 7 December 2021, we observed an unusually large mixed-species hunting group of piscivorous fishes, composed of 26 bluefin trevally (<i>Caranx melampygus</i>), two black jack (<i>Caranx lugubris</i>), and three whitetip reef sharks (<i>Triaenodon obesus</i>) following a single yellow-edged moray (<i>Gymnothorax flavimarginatus</i>) at dusk along the deep (21 m) reef–sand margin off Manuelita Island in Isla del Coco National Park (Pacific Costa Rica). The moray entered a crevice (indicated by the arrow, in the top image) in an isolated coral framework while the primary hunting group circled the vicinity in both clockwise and counterclockwise directions, and the sharks entered and exited the crevice for about seven minutes before dispersing with only the moray remaining. The association of the hunting group may have enabled its members to encounter disturbed prey and then to provoke the moray to continue swimming and hunting, and thus flush out additional prey at other nearby locations. Current understanding remains limited for how predators determine trade-offs for hunting in groups versus individually, how predators share information related to group formation and dissolution, and what the outcomes of such behaviors are in terms of individual fitness. How short-term mutualisms such as these shape the functional relationships between predators and prey in fish communities is an area in need of enhanced attention, given the existing threats to large predators from overfishing and the need to conserve species interactions as a component of ecosystem management.</p>","PeriodicalId":171,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment","volume":"22 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":10.3,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/fee.2730","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140333129","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A scenario-guided strategy for the future management of biological invasions","authors":"Núria Roura-Pascual,&nbsp;Wolf-Christian Saul,&nbsp;Cristian Pérez-Granados,&nbsp;Lucas Rutting,&nbsp;Garry D Peterson,&nbsp;Guillaume Latombe,&nbsp;Franz Essl,&nbsp;Tim Adriaens,&nbsp;David C Aldridge,&nbsp;Sven Bacher,&nbsp;Rubén Bernardo-Madrid,&nbsp;Lluís Brotons,&nbsp;François Diaz,&nbsp;Belinda Gallardo,&nbsp;Piero Genovesi,&nbsp;Marina Golivets,&nbsp;Pablo González-Moreno,&nbsp;Marcus Hall,&nbsp;Petra Kutlesa,&nbsp;Bernd Lenzner,&nbsp;Chunlong Liu,&nbsp;Konrad Pagitz,&nbsp;Teresa Pastor,&nbsp;Wolfgang Rabitsch,&nbsp;Peter Robertson,&nbsp;Helen E Roy,&nbsp;Hanno Seebens,&nbsp;Wojciech Solarz,&nbsp;Uwe Starfinger,&nbsp;Rob Tanner,&nbsp;Montserrat Vilà,&nbsp;Brian Leung,&nbsp;Carla Garcia-Lozano,&nbsp;Jonathan M Jeschke","doi":"10.1002/fee.2725","DOIUrl":"10.1002/fee.2725","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Future dynamics of biological invasions are highly uncertain because they depend on multiple social–ecological drivers. We used a scenario-based approach to explore potential management options for invasive species in Europe. During two workshops involving a multidisciplinary team of experts, we developed a management strategy arranged into 19 goals relating to policy, research, public awareness, and biosecurity. We conceived solutions for achieving these goals under different plausible future scenarios, and identified four interrelated recommendations around which any long-term strategy for managing invasive species can be structured: (1) a European biosecurity regime, (2) a dedicated communication strategy, (3) data standardization and management tools, and (4) a monitoring and assessment system. Finally, we assessed the feasibility of the management strategy and found substantial differences among scenarios. Collectively, our results indicate that it is time for a new strategy for managing biological invasions in Europe, one that is based on a more integrative approach across socioeconomic sectors and countries.</p>","PeriodicalId":171,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment","volume":"22 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":10.3,"publicationDate":"2024-03-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/fee.2725","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140108065","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"From plant litter to soil organic matter: a game to understand carbon dynamics","authors":"Maria-Victoria Piazza,&nbsp;Priscila Pinto,&nbsp;Bruno Bazzoni,&nbsp;Paula Berenstecher,&nbsp;Cecilia Casas,&nbsp;Ximena López Zieher,&nbsp;Julieta Mallerman,&nbsp;M Soledad Méndez,&nbsp;Marina Omacini,&nbsp;Gervasio Piñeiro,&nbsp;María Semmartin,&nbsp;Lucía Vivanco,&nbsp;Laura Yahdjian","doi":"10.1002/fee.2724","DOIUrl":"10.1002/fee.2724","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Managing ecosystems to sequester soil carbon requires a thorough understanding of complex soil processes. Here, we integrate these soil processes through the metaphor of a game—one that moves through multiple dimensions (from macro-aggregates to micropores and clay particles) and scales (from centimeters to nanometers) of the soil. The rules of the game are based on current understanding of soil carbon persistence, which differs from the classic humus concept of molecular complexity. The game's objective is to win points, by keeping “tokens” (plant-derived organic compounds) within the soil organic matter for as long as possible. The game begins when tokens enter different “pool-levels” (plant litter, particulate organic matter, dissolved organic matter, and mineral-associated organic matter) of the soil, either directly or after metabolic transformation by soil biota. Points are lost through either respiration by soil biota or leaching. We invite readers to play this game and explore different natural ecosystems and land-use scenarios to better comprehend complex soil processes.</p>","PeriodicalId":171,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment","volume":"22 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":10.3,"publicationDate":"2024-03-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140107654","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Local knowledge reconstructs historical resource use","authors":"Leandro Castello,&nbsp;Eduardo G Martins,&nbsp;Michael G Sorice,&nbsp;Eric Smith,&nbsp;Morgana Almeida,&nbsp;Gastao CC Bastos,&nbsp;Luis G Cardoso,&nbsp;Mariana Clauzet,&nbsp;Alisson P Dopona,&nbsp;Beatrice Ferreira,&nbsp;Manuel Haimovici,&nbsp;Marcelo Jorge,&nbsp;Jocemar Mendonça,&nbsp;Antonio O Ávila-da-Silva,&nbsp;Ana PO Roman,&nbsp;Milena Ramires,&nbsp;Laura V de Miranda,&nbsp;Priscila FM Lopes","doi":"10.1002/fee.2726","DOIUrl":"10.1002/fee.2726","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Information on natural resource exploitation is vital for conservation but scarce in developing nations, which encompass most of the world and often lack the capacity to produce it. A growing approach to generate information about resource use in the context of developing nations relies on surveys of resource users about their recollections (recall) of past harvests. However, the reliability of harvest recalls remains unclear. Here, we show that harvest recalls can be as accurate to data collected by standardized protocols, despite that recalls are variable and affected by the age of the recollecting person and the length of time elapsed since the event. Samples of harvest recalls permit relatively reliable reconstruction of harvests for up to 39 years in the past. Harvest recalls therefore have strong potential to inform data-poor resource systems and curb shifting baselines around the world at a fraction of the cost of conventional approaches.</p>","PeriodicalId":171,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment","volume":"22 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":10.3,"publicationDate":"2024-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/fee.2726","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140075452","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Rangeland afforestation is not a natural climate solution","authors":"David D Briske,&nbsp;Susanne Vetter,&nbsp;Corli Coetsee,&nbsp;Matthew D Turner","doi":"10.1002/fee.2727","DOIUrl":"10.1002/fee.2727","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Large-scale tree planting on global rangelands is promoted as a natural climate solution (NCS), but there is little scientific evidence to support this narrative. The presumed benefits of rangeland afforestation originate from five major misconceptions: (1) conflation between reforestation and afforestation, (2) overestimation of carbon (C) sequestration potential, (3) insufficient recognition of rangeland ecosystem services, (4) potential for adverse ecological outcomes, and (5) neocolonial tendencies of afforestation programs. Rangeland afforestation possesses minimal potential for additional C storage, but it has high potential to reduce vital rangeland ecosystem services that benefit rangeland residents and non-residents alike. Conservation of existing C—most of which is stored belowground, where it is less vulnerable to loss—may prove to be the most appropriate NCS for extensively managed rangelands. Stewardship strategies promoting rangeland multifunctionality will not only contribute to climate-change mitigation but also support biodiversity conservation and sustainable production of high-protein foods for marginalized populations.</p>","PeriodicalId":171,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment","volume":"22 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":10.3,"publicationDate":"2024-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/fee.2727","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140075407","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Male and female crab spiders “cooperate” to mimic a flower","authors":"Shi-Mao Wu,&nbsp;Jiang-Yun Gao","doi":"10.1002/fee.2721","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2721","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Female crab spiders (<i>Thomisus</i> spp) are able to camouflage themselves as flowers not only to successfully avoid being preyed upon by birds but also to ambush flower-visiting insect prey (<i>Nature</i> 2002; doi.org/10.1038/415133a). This mimicry manipulates flower signals and may vary from species to species. However, do male crab spiders, which are usually much smaller in size and darker in coloration than females, also camouflage themselves in this way?</p><p>In a tropical rainforest in Xishuangbanna (Yunnan, China), we observed one male and one female crab spider (<i>Thomisus guangxicus</i>; Thomisidae) in an apparent partnership, to jointly mimic a single <i>Hoya pandurata</i> (Asclepiadaceae) flower. In this image, where the male crab spider lies on the back of the conspecific female, the male appears to mimic a flower's pistils and stamens while the female appears to mimic that same flower's fused corolla. The flower's complex color is matched as a whole only when individual spiders of both sexes are present. This could be an example of “cooperation” that expands the niche of both females and males in mimicry systems, and cooperating individuals may have improved survivorship and predation efficiency. It would also be interesting to investigate the co-evolution between male and female crab spiders.</p>","PeriodicalId":171,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment","volume":"22 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":10.3,"publicationDate":"2024-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/fee.2721","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140000745","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Why we all lose when Indigenous women suffer: an ecological perspective","authors":"Joseph Gazing Wolf","doi":"10.1002/fee.2717","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2717","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;Indigenous women are the guardians of the environmental foundations of life on Earth. From the Idle No More movement to the protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline to countless camps, sit-ins, political campaigns, and litigations, Indigenous women defend Earth from the extractive onslaught she experiences. Importantly, they are not just “climate leaders” who function at the proverbial altitude of 30,000 feet: they also organize to protect the lives and livelihoods of individuals. For 37 years, I have been present with Amazigh, Nubian, Coptic, Waorani, Lakota, and Levantine Bedouin women as they stood in the paths of bulldozers and soldiers eager to destroy the lands of families in their communities.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Indigenous women also restore what was taken. From traditional fire to Tatanka (the Lakota term for bison) to seed rematriation to LandBack, Indigenous women are the bees—both workers and queens—of ecological restoration. As living repositories of ecological knowledge, they hold the collective intelligence of ancestral lands, waters, and cultures. Were it not for my grandmothers and aunties, I would be ignorant of the traditional foodways of my Amazigh and Nubian ancestors: foodways that were in use over 30,000 years ago and today allow me to store food without refrigeration.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Among Indigenous women, one common quality that makes them effective environmental leaders is that they do not remain neutral or objective. While in Ecuador working with Kichwa and Waorani communities in 2023, I joined a protest against illegal mining. I stood by the side of Indigenous women, filming them as they took over a city, faced down the local governor's soldiers, forced the governor out of his office, and made him answer to the people. The reason I had the privilege of a front-row seat to the action was because these women were not only my Kichwa and Waorani language teachers but also ecological knowledge holders in the communities with whom I was staying. They also frequent Ecuadorian courtrooms to litigate against the predatory industries that exploit their resource-rich lands in the Amazon (eg agribusiness, logging, oil, mining). These mismatched battles often involve legions of well-paid commercial lawyers facing off against local leaders from rural communities. The women shoulder these burdens while often working more than one job to pay the bills and simultaneously acting as caretakers, mothers, and community leaders.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The natural resource abuses by the Global North often involve blurred lines between governments, multinational corporations, and criminal enterprises such as drug cartels. State-sponsored terrorism on Indigenous lands, supported by companies with regional interests, is—when not conducted by soldiers—seized upon by opportunistic criminal enterprises. In the Amazon, oil and mining companies put constant pressure on local governments and Indigenous communities to allow roads to expand ever deeper into the forest. These tentacles o","PeriodicalId":171,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment","volume":"22 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":10.3,"publicationDate":"2024-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/fee.2717","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140000756","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Whale sharks and tunas hunt together","authors":"Jorge Fontes,&nbsp;Pedro Afonso,&nbsp;Bruno Macena","doi":"10.1002/fee.2718","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2718","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The world's largest extant fish, the whale shark (<i>Rhincodon typus</i>), is a docile giant that occurs in tropical and subtropical regions globally. It prefers to feed on plankton, which it filters through its wide mouth. Adult whale sharks have been reported to occur in large numbers during warm summers off the Azores, an isolated archipelago on the mid-North Atlantic ridge (<i>PLoS ONE</i> 2014; doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0102060). As this oceanic region is oligotrophic, the whale shark's favorite food is not abundant. Instead, we found that they prey on snipefish (<i>Macroramphosus</i> sp) that have been corralled into “bait balls” at the surface by large schools of bluefin (<i>Thunnus thynnus</i>) and tropical tunas, including bigeye (<i>Thunnus obesus</i>), skipjack (<i>Katsuwonus pelamis</i>), and yellowfin (<i>Thunnus albacares</i>). A feeding frenzy often ensues. With the baitfish corralled, the whale sharks then rely on powerful suction to fill their massive mouths with prey. This shark–tuna feeding association has rarely been observed elsewhere, yet in these islands it is the norm when both whale sharks and tunas are present. We have tagged whale sharks with high-resolution biologgers (with accelerometers, cameras, and gauges to measure location, pressure, and temperature) to help elucidate the ecological importance of this unique associative behavior.</p>","PeriodicalId":171,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment","volume":"22 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":10.3,"publicationDate":"2024-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/fee.2718","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140000759","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}