Group hunting behaviour in striped marlin, Kajikia audax

几十年来，群体狩猎一直是行为生态学领域的一个关键主题，集中在社会性和合作性的进化优势上。在这个研究方案中，我们讨论了需要进一步研究的群体狩猎行为的两个基本方面：i)个体捕食者如何在时间和空间上相互作用，以及如何与猎物相互作用，以最大化他们的捕获效率；以及(Ii)物理限制如何决定和解释捕食者所使用的狩猎策略的变化。传统上，文献中对群体狩猎的描述都是非常定性的。然而，如今在野外收集的动物运动数据的时间和空间分辨率与许多实验室环境中的数据一样高。因此，遥感技术的最新优势允许将集体行为方法应用于野生捕食事件。将集体行为方法论引入该领域不仅允许研究人员以更现实的方式回答现有的生态和进化问题，而且还通过允许解决以前无法在实验室测试的系统的新问题来推动该领域的发展。我们的项目将使用最先进的方法来量化一个独特的研究系统的捕食者-猎物动态；墨西哥下加利福尼亚州海岸附近的条纹马林鱼(Kajikia Audax)狩猎群体的沙丁鱼、Sardinopsagax和Mackerel、Scomber Japan onicus。因为它是一个开放的海洋系统，我们可以研究(A)功能，(B)机制，和(C)在传统上侧重于陆地系统的文献中不常见的形态特征。开阔海域的捕食者-猎物关系的特点是捕食者和猎物之间的相对大小差异很大，缺乏动物藏身的环境结构，捕食者经常使用身体部位一次攻击多个猎物。我们为群体狩猎研究提出的目标和我们旨在取得的进展是可能的，因为我们的研究系统在狩猎的不同阶段和多个空间尺度上具有独特的可控性。我们的主要目标是：a)功能：测量个体识别的捕食者的攻击率和捕获率如何受捕食者和猎物群体大小的影响。机制：确定狩猎不同阶段的攻击模式，即追捕和猎物被包围时的攻击模式。(C)形态：研究形态特征(喙的显著特征)如何影响枪鱼的个体和群体行为。了解多个捕食者和它们的成群猎物之间的相互作用如何影响攻击力度和捕获效率，因此与同种生物合作的潜在好处将极大地促进我们对群体狩猎和动物社会性进化的理解。

Group hunting has been a key topic in the field of behavioural ecology for decades and concentrates on the evolutionary advantages of sociality and cooperation. In this research proposal we address two fundamental aspects of group hunting behaviour which need further investigation: i) how do individual predators interact in time and space with each other and with their prey to maximise their capture efficiency, and (ii) how do physical constraints determine and explain variation in hunting strategies used by predators. Descriptions of group hunts in the literature have traditionally been very qualitative. However, nowadays the temporal and spatial resolutions of animal movement data collected in the wild are as high as those achieved in many laboratory settings. Thus, recent advantages in remote sensing technology allow for the application of collective behaviour methodology to wild predation events. Bringing collective behaviour methodology into the field not only allows researchers to answer existing ecological and evolutionary questions with greater realism, it advances the field by allowing new questions on systems previously untestable in the laboratory to be addressed. Our project will use state-of-the-art methodology to quantify the predator-prey dynamics of a unique study system; groups of striped marlin (Kajikia audax) hunting schools of sardine, Sardinops sagax, and mackerel, Scomber japonicus off the coast of Baja California, Mexico. Because it is an open ocean system, we can investigate (A) functions, (B) mechanisms, and (C) morphological characteristics that are not commonly addressed in the literature which is traditionally focused on terrestrial systems. Predator-prey relationships in the open ocean are characterised by large relative size differences between predator and prey, a lack of environmental structure for animals to hide and predators often use body parts to strike multiple prey at once. The objectives we propose and the advances we aim to make for group hunting research are only possible as our study system is uniquely tractable across different stages of the hunt and at multiple spatial scales. Our main objectives are:A.) Functions: Measure how attack rate and capture rate of individually identified predators are affected by predator and prey group size.B.) Mechanisms: Identify the attack patterns for different stages of the hunt, i.e. the chase and when prey are surrounded. C.) Morphology: Investigate how morphological traits (notably characteristics of the bill) affect individual and group behaviour of marlin.Understanding how interactions between multiple predators and their schooling prey affect attack dynamics and capture efficiencies and therefore the potential benefits of cooperating with conspecifics will greatly advance our understanding of the evolution of group hunting and animal sociality.