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Comment
. 2019 Mar 19;116(12):5217-5219.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.1901803116. Epub 2019 Feb 25.

Migrating whales depend on memory to exploit reliable resources

William F Fagan  1
Affiliations
Comment

Migrating whales depend on memory to exploit reliable resources

William F Fagan. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .
No abstract available

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Conflict of interest statement

The author declares no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Contrasting predictions for whale phenology and spatial distribution from a perception-based green wave gradient-following strategy and a memory-based strategy. In a green wave framework, migratory animals attempt to spatially track transient peaks in resource availability. In a memory strategy, animals rely on a record of past experiences to position themselves in areas where resources will be most reliably available, despite year-to-year and seasonal variation. A memory strategy may also allow migratory animals to avoid being trapped by a local peak in the resource distribution (year 2, seasonal snapshot D). Rectangles are the identical spatial region, portraying interyear variation (vertical sequences) and intrayear variation (horizontal sequences). Density of the green shading is proportional to resource availability. Neither the historical basis for the memory strategy nor any interyear updating of memories is represented. Image of blue whale silhouette courtesy of Pixabay/OpenClipart-Vectors.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment on

  • Memory and resource tracking drive blue whale migrations.
    Abrahms B, Hazen EL, Aikens EO, Savoca MS, Goldbogen JA, Bograd SJ, Jacox MG, Irvine LM, Palacios DM, Mate BR. Abrahms B, et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019 Mar 19;116(12):5582-5587. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1819031116. Epub 2019 Feb 25. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019. PMID: 30804188 Free PMC article.

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