Patrick W. Robinson
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View article: Evaluating the Efficacy of Drone‐Based Thermal Images for Measuring Wildlife Abundance and Physiology
Evaluating the Efficacy of Drone‐Based Thermal Images for Measuring Wildlife Abundance and Physiology Open
Although drones are a promising alternative to traditional wildlife monitoring methods, validation efforts are needed to quantify the accuracy of abundance and distribution estimates obtained from using drones. We used drones equipped with…
View article: Reproductive success and offspring survival decline for female elephant seals past prime age
Reproductive success and offspring survival decline for female elephant seals past prime age Open
Maternal age can influence reproductive success and offspring fitness, but the timing, magnitude and direction of those impacts are not well understood. Evolutionary theory predicts that selection on fertility senescence is stronger than m…
View article: Inherent versus random variation in fitness of elephant seals: offspring quality and quantity
Inherent versus random variation in fitness of elephant seals: offspring quality and quantity Open
Variation in reproductive success is the basis of evolution and allows species to respond to the environment, but only when it is based on fixed individual variation that is heritable. Several recent studies suggest that observed variation…
View article: Individual variation in life-history timing: synchronous presence, asynchronous events and phenological compensation in a wild mammal
Individual variation in life-history timing: synchronous presence, asynchronous events and phenological compensation in a wild mammal Open
Many animals and plants have species-typical annual cycles, but individuals vary in their timing of life-history events. Individual variation in fur replacement (moult) timing is poorly understood in mammals due to the challenge of repeate…
View article: Biologging for the future: how biologgers can help solve fundamental questions, from individuals to ecosystems
Biologging for the future: how biologgers can help solve fundamental questions, from individuals to ecosystems Open
Archival instruments attached to animals (biologgers) have enabled exciting discoveries and have promoted effective conservation and management for decades. Recent research indicates that the field of biologging is poised to shift from pat…
View article: Genomics of post-bottleneck recovery in the northern elephant seal
Genomics of post-bottleneck recovery in the northern elephant seal Open
Populations and species are threatened by human pressure, but their fate is variable. Some depleted populations, such as that of the northern elephant seal ( Mirounga angustirostris ), recover rapidly even when the surviving population was…
View article: Contrasting offspring dependence periods and diving development rates in two closely related marine mammal species
Contrasting offspring dependence periods and diving development rates in two closely related marine mammal species Open
Understanding the ontogeny of diving behaviour in marine megafauna is crucial owing to its influence on foraging success, energy budgets, and mortality. We compared the ontogeny of diving behaviour in two closely related species—northern e…
View article: Coherent movement patterns of female northern elephant seals across the NE Pacific Ocean
Coherent movement patterns of female northern elephant seals across the NE Pacific Ocean Open
Northern elephant seals engage in large-scale foraging migrations traveling up to 15,000 Km over 8 months in the northeast Pacific. While traditionally considered solitary migrants, we demonstrate here that female seals migrate in a surpri…
View article: Physiological tipping points in the relationship between foraging success and lifetime fitness of a long‐lived mammal
Physiological tipping points in the relationship between foraging success and lifetime fitness of a long‐lived mammal Open
Although anthropogenic change is often gradual, the impacts on animal populations may be precipitous if physiological processes create tipping points between energy gain, reproduction or survival. We use 25 years of behavioural, diet and d…
View article: Seasonal habitat preference and foraging behaviour of post-moult Weddell seals in the western Ross Sea
Seasonal habitat preference and foraging behaviour of post-moult Weddell seals in the western Ross Sea Open
Weddell seals ( Leptonychotes weddellii ) are important predators in the Southern Ocean and are among the best-studied pinnipeds on Earth, yet much still needs to be learned about their year-round movements and foraging behaviour. Using bi…
View article: Foraging behavior of a mesopelagic predator, the northern elephant seal, in northeastern Pacific eddies
Foraging behavior of a mesopelagic predator, the northern elephant seal, in northeastern Pacific eddies Open
The role of mesoscale features in structuring trophic transfer in the mesopelagic zone is poorly understood. Deploying sensors on marine animals, or "biologging," is a powerful tool to infer the organism's behavior and simultaneously colle…
View article: Mismatches in scale between highly mobile marine megafauna and marine protected areas
Mismatches in scale between highly mobile marine megafauna and marine protected areas Open
Marine protected areas (MPAs), particularly large MPAs, are increasing in number and size around the globe in part to facilitate the conservation of marine megafauna under the assumption that large-scale MPAs better align with vagile life …
View article: Whiskers as hydrodynamic prey sensors in foraging seals
Whiskers as hydrodynamic prey sensors in foraging seals Open
The darkness of the deep ocean limits the vision of diving predators, except when prey emit bioluminescence. It is hypothesized that deep-diving seals rely on highly developed whiskers to locate their prey. However, if and how seals use th…
View article: Density-dependent effects on reproductive output in a capital breeding carnivore, the northern elephant seal (<i>Mirounga angustirostris</i>)
Density-dependent effects on reproductive output in a capital breeding carnivore, the northern elephant seal (<i>Mirounga angustirostris</i>) Open
All organisms face resource limitations that will ultimately restrict population growth, but the controlling mechanisms vary across ecosystems, taxa, and reproductive strategies. Using four decades of data, we examine how variation in the …
View article: Forced into an ecological corner: Round-the-clock deep foraging on small prey by elephant seals
Forced into an ecological corner: Round-the-clock deep foraging on small prey by elephant seals Open
It is not easy to get fat: Seals’ extreme foraging suggests evolutionary trade-off of large body size in marine mammals.
View article: Northern elephant seals post-molting 2014 (aggregated per 1-degree cell)
Northern elephant seals post-molting 2014 (aggregated per 1-degree cell) Open
Original provider: Dan Costa Dataset credits: Data provider: Costa Lab Mammals; Originating data center: Satellite Tracking and Analysis Tool (STAT); Project sponsor or sponsor description: Dan Costa This dataset is a summarized representa…
View article: Northern elephant seals post-molting 2018 (aggregated per 1-degree cell)
Northern elephant seals post-molting 2018 (aggregated per 1-degree cell) Open
Original provider: Costa Lab, UC Santa Cruz Dataset credits: Data provider: Costa Lab Mammals; Originating data center: Satellite Tracking and Analysis Tool (STAT); Project sponsor or sponsor description: Costa Lab, UC Santa Cruz This data…
View article: Northern Elephant Seals Post-Breeding 2016 (aggregated per 1-degree cell)
Northern Elephant Seals Post-Breeding 2016 (aggregated per 1-degree cell) Open
Original provider: Dan Costa, UC Santa Cruz Dataset credits: Data provider Costa Lab Mammals Originating data center Satellite Tracking and Analysis Tool (STAT) Abstract: Studying the at-sea foraging behavior of northern elephant seals fro…
View article: Seasonal resource pulses and the foraging depth of a Southern Ocean top predator
Seasonal resource pulses and the foraging depth of a Southern Ocean top predator Open
Seasonal resource pulses can have enormous impacts on species interactions. In marine ecosystems, air-breathing predators often drive their prey to deeper waters. However, it is unclear how ephemeral resource pulses such as near-surface ph…
View article: Lightscapes of fear: How mesopredators balance starvation and predation in the open ocean
Lightscapes of fear: How mesopredators balance starvation and predation in the open ocean Open
Lightscapes affect life and death of elephant seals during oceanic migrations.
View article: Accuracy and precision of citizen scientist animal counts from drone imagery
Accuracy and precision of citizen scientist animal counts from drone imagery Open
Repeated counts of animal abundance can reveal changes in local ecosystem health and inform conservation strategies. Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), also known as drones, are commonly used to photograph animals in remote locations; howeve…
View article: Accuracy and precision of citizen scientist animal counts from drone imagery
Accuracy and precision of citizen scientist animal counts from drone imagery Open
Repeated counts of animal abundance can reveal changes in local ecosystem health and inform conservation strategies. Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) such as drones are commonly used to photograph animals in remote locations; however, count…
View article: Birth timing after the long feeding migration in elephant seals
Birth timing after the long feeding migration in elephant seals Open
Northern elephant seals migrate long distances from feeding grounds to raise pups during a brief period on breeding beaches. Since gestation sets a parturition date months in advance, timing of the arrival must be precise. We used satellit…
View article: Acceleration-triggered animal-borne videos show a dominance of fish in the diet of female northern elephant seals
Acceleration-triggered animal-borne videos show a dominance of fish in the diet of female northern elephant seals Open
Knowledge of the diet of marine mammals is fundamental to understanding their role in marine ecosystems and response to environmental change. Recently, animal-borne video cameras have revealed the diet of marine mammals that make short for…
View article: Best practice recommendations for the use of external telemetry devices on pinnipeds
Best practice recommendations for the use of external telemetry devices on pinnipeds Open
Pinnipeds spend large portions of their lives at sea, submerged, or hauled-out on land, often on remote off-shore islands. This fundamentally limits access by researchers to critical parts of pinniped life history and has spurred the devel…
View article: MOESM1 of Best practice recommendations for the use of external telemetry devices on pinnipeds
MOESM1 of Best practice recommendations for the use of external telemetry devices on pinnipeds Open
Additional file 1. Initial list of 100 recommendations compiled by the authors before the elimination of redundant entries. Similar recommendations are grouped into related classes.
View article: Modeling the functional link between movement, feeding activity, and condition in a marine predator
Modeling the functional link between movement, feeding activity, and condition in a marine predator Open
The ability to quantify animals’ feeding activity and the resulting changes in their body condition as they move in the environment is fundamental to our understanding of a population’s ecology. We use satellite tracking data from northern…
View article: Mesoscale activity facilitates energy gain in a top predator
Mesoscale activity facilitates energy gain in a top predator Open
How animal movement decisions interact with the distribution of resources to shape individual performance is a key question in ecology. However, links between spatial and behavioural ecology and fitness consequences are poorly understood b…