Bottom-up regulation of a pole-ward migratory predator population
As the effects of regional climate change are most pronounced at polar latitudes, we might expect polar-ward migratory populations to respond as habitat suitability changes. The southern elephant seal ( Mirounga leonina L.) is a pole-ward migratory species whose populations have mostly stabilized or...
Published in: | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
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crroyalsociety:10.1098/rspb.2013.2842 2024-09-15T18:04:37+00:00 Bottom-up regulation of a pole-ward migratory predator population van den Hoff, John McMahon, Clive R. Simpkins, Graham R. Hindell, Mark A. Alderman, Rachael Burton, Harry R. 2014 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2013.2842 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2013.2842 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rspb.2013.2842 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences volume 281, issue 1782, page 20132842 ISSN 0962-8452 1471-2954 journal-article 2014 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2013.2842 2024-08-12T04:27:41Z As the effects of regional climate change are most pronounced at polar latitudes, we might expect polar-ward migratory populations to respond as habitat suitability changes. The southern elephant seal ( Mirounga leonina L.) is a pole-ward migratory species whose populations have mostly stabilized or increased in the past decade, the one exception being the Macquarie Island population which has decreased continuously over the past 50 years. To explore probable causes of this anomalous trend, we counted breeding female seals annually between 1988 and 2011 in order to relate annual rates of population change ( r ) to foraging habitat changes that have known connections with atmospheric variability. We found r (i) varied annually from −0.016 to 0.021 over the study period, (ii) was most effected by anomalous atmospheric variability after a 3 year time lag was introduced ( R = 0.51) and (iii) was associated with sea-ice duration (SID) within the seals’ foraging range at the same temporal lag. Negative r years may be extrapolated to explain, at least partially, the overall trend in seal abundance at Macquarie Island; specifically, increasing SID within the seals foraging range has a negative influence on their abundance at the island. Evidence is accruing that suggests southern elephant seal populations may respond positively to a reduced sea-ice field. Article in Journal/Newspaper Elephant Seal Macquarie Island Mirounga leonina Sea ice Southern Elephant Seal The Royal Society Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 281 1782 20132842 |
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Open Polar |
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The Royal Society |
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crroyalsociety |
language |
English |
description |
As the effects of regional climate change are most pronounced at polar latitudes, we might expect polar-ward migratory populations to respond as habitat suitability changes. The southern elephant seal ( Mirounga leonina L.) is a pole-ward migratory species whose populations have mostly stabilized or increased in the past decade, the one exception being the Macquarie Island population which has decreased continuously over the past 50 years. To explore probable causes of this anomalous trend, we counted breeding female seals annually between 1988 and 2011 in order to relate annual rates of population change ( r ) to foraging habitat changes that have known connections with atmospheric variability. We found r (i) varied annually from −0.016 to 0.021 over the study period, (ii) was most effected by anomalous atmospheric variability after a 3 year time lag was introduced ( R = 0.51) and (iii) was associated with sea-ice duration (SID) within the seals’ foraging range at the same temporal lag. Negative r years may be extrapolated to explain, at least partially, the overall trend in seal abundance at Macquarie Island; specifically, increasing SID within the seals foraging range has a negative influence on their abundance at the island. Evidence is accruing that suggests southern elephant seal populations may respond positively to a reduced sea-ice field. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
van den Hoff, John McMahon, Clive R. Simpkins, Graham R. Hindell, Mark A. Alderman, Rachael Burton, Harry R. |
spellingShingle |
van den Hoff, John McMahon, Clive R. Simpkins, Graham R. Hindell, Mark A. Alderman, Rachael Burton, Harry R. Bottom-up regulation of a pole-ward migratory predator population |
author_facet |
van den Hoff, John McMahon, Clive R. Simpkins, Graham R. Hindell, Mark A. Alderman, Rachael Burton, Harry R. |
author_sort |
van den Hoff, John |
title |
Bottom-up regulation of a pole-ward migratory predator population |
title_short |
Bottom-up regulation of a pole-ward migratory predator population |
title_full |
Bottom-up regulation of a pole-ward migratory predator population |
title_fullStr |
Bottom-up regulation of a pole-ward migratory predator population |
title_full_unstemmed |
Bottom-up regulation of a pole-ward migratory predator population |
title_sort |
bottom-up regulation of a pole-ward migratory predator population |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2013.2842 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2013.2842 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rspb.2013.2842 |
genre |
Elephant Seal Macquarie Island Mirounga leonina Sea ice Southern Elephant Seal |
genre_facet |
Elephant Seal Macquarie Island Mirounga leonina Sea ice Southern Elephant Seal |
op_source |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences volume 281, issue 1782, page 20132842 ISSN 0962-8452 1471-2954 |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2013.2842 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
container_volume |
281 |
container_issue |
1782 |
container_start_page |
20132842 |
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1810442241628438528 |