Looking at the unseen: combining animal bio‐logging and stable isotopes to reveal a shift in the ecological niche of a deep diving predator
Understanding how marine top predators exploit their environment is a central topic in marine ecology. Among all methodologies used to investigate this part of ecology, electronic devices are very useful to track animals' movements and foraging habitats, but they do not provide any dietary info...
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crwiley:10.1111/j.1600-0587.2009.06034.x 2023-12-03T10:14:05+01:00 Looking at the unseen: combining animal bio‐logging and stable isotopes to reveal a shift in the ecological niche of a deep diving predator Bailleul, Frédéric Authier, Matthieu Ducatez, Simon Roquet, Fabien Charrassin, Jean‐Benoît Cherel, Yves Guinet, Christophe 2010 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0587.2009.06034.x https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1600-0587.2009.06034.x https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1600-0587.2009.06034.x en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Ecography volume 33, issue 4, page 709-719 ISSN 0906-7590 1600-0587 Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics journal-article 2010 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0587.2009.06034.x 2023-11-09T14:20:23Z Understanding how marine top predators exploit their environment is a central topic in marine ecology. Among all methodologies used to investigate this part of ecology, electronic devices are very useful to track animals' movements and foraging habitats, but they do not provide any dietary information. Stable isotopes provide information on trophic levels but remain imprecise to identify small spatial‐scale habitats. In this study, we combined the two approaches to obtain a synoptic view of the foraging behaviour variability of southern elephant seals Mirounga leonina . Our results suggested marked differences in distribution, diving behaviour, foraging habitats, trophic levels, and dietary habits of elephant seals according to their sex and age. Thus, we characterized main foraging habitats over the Kerguelen‐Heard Plateau and the Antarctic shelf for juvenile males, while females foraged mainly in oceanic waters of the Polar Frontal Zone and the Antarctic Zone. In addition, we highlighted the ontogeny of niche partitioning in this sexually dimorphic species. While females did not exhibit a major dietary shift in relation to their age and their breeding status, a different picture emerged for males. Young males had a trophic level identical to that of all females. However, at 3–4 yr of age, males showed a progressive increase in trophic level. The inter‐annual combination of bio‐logging and stable isotopes could provide a powerful tool to investigate possible shifts in ecological niche between years according to environmental changes. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Elephant Seals Mirounga leonina Southern Elephant Seals Wiley Online Library (via Crossref) Antarctic Kerguelen The Antarctic Ecography 33 4 709 719 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Wiley Online Library (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crwiley |
language |
English |
topic |
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
spellingShingle |
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Bailleul, Frédéric Authier, Matthieu Ducatez, Simon Roquet, Fabien Charrassin, Jean‐Benoît Cherel, Yves Guinet, Christophe Looking at the unseen: combining animal bio‐logging and stable isotopes to reveal a shift in the ecological niche of a deep diving predator |
topic_facet |
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
description |
Understanding how marine top predators exploit their environment is a central topic in marine ecology. Among all methodologies used to investigate this part of ecology, electronic devices are very useful to track animals' movements and foraging habitats, but they do not provide any dietary information. Stable isotopes provide information on trophic levels but remain imprecise to identify small spatial‐scale habitats. In this study, we combined the two approaches to obtain a synoptic view of the foraging behaviour variability of southern elephant seals Mirounga leonina . Our results suggested marked differences in distribution, diving behaviour, foraging habitats, trophic levels, and dietary habits of elephant seals according to their sex and age. Thus, we characterized main foraging habitats over the Kerguelen‐Heard Plateau and the Antarctic shelf for juvenile males, while females foraged mainly in oceanic waters of the Polar Frontal Zone and the Antarctic Zone. In addition, we highlighted the ontogeny of niche partitioning in this sexually dimorphic species. While females did not exhibit a major dietary shift in relation to their age and their breeding status, a different picture emerged for males. Young males had a trophic level identical to that of all females. However, at 3–4 yr of age, males showed a progressive increase in trophic level. The inter‐annual combination of bio‐logging and stable isotopes could provide a powerful tool to investigate possible shifts in ecological niche between years according to environmental changes. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Bailleul, Frédéric Authier, Matthieu Ducatez, Simon Roquet, Fabien Charrassin, Jean‐Benoît Cherel, Yves Guinet, Christophe |
author_facet |
Bailleul, Frédéric Authier, Matthieu Ducatez, Simon Roquet, Fabien Charrassin, Jean‐Benoît Cherel, Yves Guinet, Christophe |
author_sort |
Bailleul, Frédéric |
title |
Looking at the unseen: combining animal bio‐logging and stable isotopes to reveal a shift in the ecological niche of a deep diving predator |
title_short |
Looking at the unseen: combining animal bio‐logging and stable isotopes to reveal a shift in the ecological niche of a deep diving predator |
title_full |
Looking at the unseen: combining animal bio‐logging and stable isotopes to reveal a shift in the ecological niche of a deep diving predator |
title_fullStr |
Looking at the unseen: combining animal bio‐logging and stable isotopes to reveal a shift in the ecological niche of a deep diving predator |
title_full_unstemmed |
Looking at the unseen: combining animal bio‐logging and stable isotopes to reveal a shift in the ecological niche of a deep diving predator |
title_sort |
looking at the unseen: combining animal bio‐logging and stable isotopes to reveal a shift in the ecological niche of a deep diving predator |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2010 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0587.2009.06034.x https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1600-0587.2009.06034.x https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1600-0587.2009.06034.x |
geographic |
Antarctic Kerguelen The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Kerguelen The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Elephant Seals Mirounga leonina Southern Elephant Seals |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Elephant Seals Mirounga leonina Southern Elephant Seals |
op_source |
Ecography volume 33, issue 4, page 709-719 ISSN 0906-7590 1600-0587 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0587.2009.06034.x |
container_title |
Ecography |
container_volume |
33 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
709 |
op_container_end_page |
719 |
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1784261156756520960 |