CAREER: Using dynamic energy landscapes to understand drivers of movement, foraging and life history patterns in albatrosses

环境的变化会影响海洋捕食者去哪里寻找食物，以及这些动物在到达觅食地时需要花费多少能量。评估海洋动物的觅食如何受到气候模式的影响对于了解海洋生态系统的未来至关重要。我们预计，在预测的气候情景下，风的模式会发生变化，信天翁，依靠风到达遥远觅食地区的大型海鸟，会受到风模式的强烈影响。因此，环境的变化可能会对信天翁的运动和觅食行为以及它们成功养育雏鸟的能力产生强烈的影响。这项研究将调查风模式如何影响信天翁觅食时所需的能量，这反过来又如何影响信天翁的繁殖，以及厄尔尼诺和拉尼娜条件之间的风模式差异如何影响到达觅食地的能量成本。这项工作将利用标记技术的最新发展，以产生在信天翁觅食旅行的能量消耗估计。教育和推广工作将通过以下方式与研究活动相结合：a）将现实世界的科学研究纳入纽约州高中课程; B）开发新颖有效的手段，与公众交流我的研究;以及c）启动一项计划，以提高妇女在STEM领域的保留和促进。动物运动在物种应对气候变化的能力中发挥着核心作用以及环境的其他方面，是从个体到生态系统的生物过程的主要驱动力。流体流动对飞行和游泳动物的运输成本和生活史特征有重要影响，许多物种已经进化到依赖全球风和洋流模式进行迁移和觅食运动。主导风模式的位置和强度的变化将对觅食的能量成本产生重要影响，但这些变化的影响尚未详细探讨。这项研究为了解环境变化如何影响北太平洋信天翁的运动，觅食能量学和生活史提供了一种新的方法。在现场实时测量的能源消耗的代理将与创新的空间方法（能源景观）相结合，以开发一个机械模型，将气候驱动的风模式变化与信天翁觅食能量学和生活史的变化联系起来。

Changes in the environment impact where marine predators go to find food, and also how much energy these animals have to spend in reaching their foraging grounds. Assessing how foraging in marine animals is influenced by climate patterns is critical to understanding the future of marine ecosystems. We expect wind patterns to shift under predicted climate scenarios, and albatrosses, large seabirds that rely on wind to reach distant foraging areas, are strongly affected by wind patterns. Consequently, changes in the environment will likely have strong impacts on the movement and foraging behavior of albatrosses, as well as their ability to raise chicks successfully. This study will investigate how wind patterns influence the amount of energy that albatrosses have to spend when foraging, how this in turn impacts albatross reproduction, and how differences in wind patterns between El Niño and La Niña conditions influence the energetic cost of reaching foraging grounds. This work will take advantage of recent developments in tagging technology to generate estimates of energetic expenditure during albatross foraging trips. Education and outreach efforts will be integrated with research activities by: a) incorporating real-world scientific research into the New York State high school curriculum; b) developing novel and effective means of communicating my research with the public; and c) initiating a program to improve the retention and promotion of women in STEM fields.Animal movement plays a central role in the ability of species to respond to changes in climate and other aspects of the environment, and is a major driver of biological processes from individuals to ecosystems. Fluid flow has important effects on the cost of transport and life history characteristics in flying and swimming animals, and many species have evolved to rely on global patterns of wind and ocean currents for migrations and foraging movements. Changes in the location and intensity of dominant wind patterns will have important consequences for the energetic costs of foraging, but the implications of these changes have not been explored in detail. This research develops a novel approach for understanding how environmental variability influences movement, foraging energetics and life history of North Pacific albatrosses. Proxies of energy expenditure measured in the field in real-time will be combined with innovative spatial approaches (energy landscapes) to develop a mechanistic model linking climate-driven variability in wind patterns to changes in albatross foraging energetics and life history.