Animals often need to search for food, especially in the ocean were food can be patchy and can move based on the ocean currents. This study related the base of the food web (phytoplankton), Antarctic krill to the locations of GPS radio-tagged penguins. Using the data allowed the team document how the small-scale flows structured the food webs. The team the maps of currents, measured by shore-based radars, to predict the feeding hot spots by defining Lagrangian Coherent Structure features (to what degree is water coverging, diverging). These approaches will help us understand biological hot spots in the ocean.
Read about it: Veatch, J. M., M. J. Oliver, E. Fredj, H. Statscewich, K. Bernard, A. M. Hann, G. Voirol, H. L. Fuchs, W. R. Fraser and J. T. Kohut (2025). Lagrangian coherent structures influence the spatial structure of marine food webs. Commun Earth Environ 6, 127 (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s43247-025-02101-x
Figure derived maps derived small scales flows in Antarctica. The dark the lines indicate regions of attracting ocean that will potentially collect food for penguins.
