Ecological drivers of movement for two sympatric marine predators in the California current large marine ecosystem

We demonstrated that low move persistence is indicative of increased feeding behavior for both blue and fin whales. The environmental drivers of low move persistence were similar to those previously identified for survey-based species distribution models, linking environmental metrics to subsurface behavior. Occupancy and movement behavior patterns across bioregions indicate both species moved to exploit seasonal and spatial variability in productivity, with blue whales especially focusing on the bioregion of highest productivity during late summer and fall.