A shoal of sardines comes under attack from all sides as some of the ocean's most spectacular predators converge to take their fill.
But which species do best and how do they interact with their competitors? How can scientists even study such a dynamic and ephemeral event? Alicia Burns joins us to talk about the challenges and rewards of getting up close and personal with feeding aggregations in the clear waters off Baja California, Mexico.
The purpose of this exciting research is to understand the hunting success of individuals, specifically, of blue marlin and sea lions and other predators in open ocean multi-predator aggregations. Learning how resources are shared helps understand this extremely productive ecosystem and the threats it faces through exploitation and climate change.
Alicia is a behavioural biologist whose research interests include the mechanisms driving animals' social organization. She is part of an international and multi-disciplinary collaboration with scientsist from Departamento de Pesquerías y Biología Marina, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marinas (CICIMAR-IPN), La Paz, Baja California Sur, 23096, Mexico led by Jens Krause, Head of the department of Fish Biology, Fisheries and Aquaculture at Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and
Inland Fisheries (IGB).

Thanks for listening!
If you have any questions you can contact us at the Marine Biological Association here.
Follow us on social: @thembauk