Use of Chemical Cues in Navigation and Foraging by Marine Top Predators: What we Can Learn from Seabirds and Fishes?

Many species of marine top predators navigate over vast expanses of open ocean in search of patchily distributed prey. Using a constellation of technologies, my lab has been investigating how chemical and other sensory cues guide these long-ranging movements. Dimethyl sulfide (DMS) has been studied in the context of global climate regulation and is an established foraging cue in the marine environment. Our lab has shown that pelagic seabird species as well as coral reef fishes use DMS and its precursor, dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) as a signal molecule to locate productive areas for foraging.  We have further shown that their contribution of beneficial trace nutrients to marine phytoplankton via excretion suggests a chemically-mediated link between marine top predators and oceanic primary production.  Although much of our recent work has focused on seabirds, these results are pertinent to fisheries conservation, suggesting parallels need to be explored.