Seasonal changes in body mass and body composition of ringed seals ( Phoca hispida) on Svalbard
Seasonal changes in body mass and body composition of ringed seals (Phoca hispida) from the Svalbard Islands are described. The blubber content of adult females decreased from a high of about 50% at the beginning of the pupping season in March–April to a low of 31% during moulting in June. In adult...
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Language: | English |
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Canadian Science Publishing
1990
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z90-069 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z90-069 |
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crcansciencepubl:10.1139/z90-069 2024-10-06T13:52:11+00:00 Seasonal changes in body mass and body composition of ringed seals ( Phoca hispida) on Svalbard Ryg, Morten Smith, Thomas G. Øritsland, Nils Are 1990 http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z90-069 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z90-069 en eng Canadian Science Publishing http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining Canadian Journal of Zoology volume 68, issue 3, page 470-475 ISSN 0008-4301 1480-3283 journal-article 1990 crcansciencepubl https://doi.org/10.1139/z90-069 2024-09-19T04:09:49Z Seasonal changes in body mass and body composition of ringed seals (Phoca hispida) from the Svalbard Islands are described. The blubber content of adult females decreased from a high of about 50% at the beginning of the pupping season in March–April to a low of 31% during moulting in June. In adult males, the blubber content decreased from 41% in March to 29% in June. By estimating an individual seal's body mass by 1 April from its standard body length, we calculated an average daily loss of body mass of 160 g/day in adult females and 100 g/day in adult males from the start of lactation to the middle of moulting. The blubber content of sexually immature seals was less in June and July than in April, but the seasonal changes were smaller than in adult seals. We found no evidence of significant changes in core mass in adult seals, and suggest that the seasonal body mass changes are mostly due to changes in body fat content. Article in Journal/Newspaper Phoca hispida Svalbard Canadian Science Publishing Svalbard Canadian Journal of Zoology 68 3 470 475 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Canadian Science Publishing |
op_collection_id |
crcansciencepubl |
language |
English |
description |
Seasonal changes in body mass and body composition of ringed seals (Phoca hispida) from the Svalbard Islands are described. The blubber content of adult females decreased from a high of about 50% at the beginning of the pupping season in March–April to a low of 31% during moulting in June. In adult males, the blubber content decreased from 41% in March to 29% in June. By estimating an individual seal's body mass by 1 April from its standard body length, we calculated an average daily loss of body mass of 160 g/day in adult females and 100 g/day in adult males from the start of lactation to the middle of moulting. The blubber content of sexually immature seals was less in June and July than in April, but the seasonal changes were smaller than in adult seals. We found no evidence of significant changes in core mass in adult seals, and suggest that the seasonal body mass changes are mostly due to changes in body fat content. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Ryg, Morten Smith, Thomas G. Øritsland, Nils Are |
spellingShingle |
Ryg, Morten Smith, Thomas G. Øritsland, Nils Are Seasonal changes in body mass and body composition of ringed seals ( Phoca hispida) on Svalbard |
author_facet |
Ryg, Morten Smith, Thomas G. Øritsland, Nils Are |
author_sort |
Ryg, Morten |
title |
Seasonal changes in body mass and body composition of ringed seals ( Phoca hispida) on Svalbard |
title_short |
Seasonal changes in body mass and body composition of ringed seals ( Phoca hispida) on Svalbard |
title_full |
Seasonal changes in body mass and body composition of ringed seals ( Phoca hispida) on Svalbard |
title_fullStr |
Seasonal changes in body mass and body composition of ringed seals ( Phoca hispida) on Svalbard |
title_full_unstemmed |
Seasonal changes in body mass and body composition of ringed seals ( Phoca hispida) on Svalbard |
title_sort |
seasonal changes in body mass and body composition of ringed seals ( phoca hispida) on svalbard |
publisher |
Canadian Science Publishing |
publishDate |
1990 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z90-069 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z90-069 |
geographic |
Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Svalbard |
genre |
Phoca hispida Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Phoca hispida Svalbard |
op_source |
Canadian Journal of Zoology volume 68, issue 3, page 470-475 ISSN 0008-4301 1480-3283 |
op_rights |
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1139/z90-069 |
container_title |
Canadian Journal of Zoology |
container_volume |
68 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
470 |
op_container_end_page |
475 |
_version_ |
1812180529399726080 |