APIS - Antarctic Pack Ice Seals 1994-1999, plus historical data from the 1980's

• Other Authors: Australian Antarctic Division (isOwnedBy)
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: data.gov.au
• Subjects: ADELIE PENGUIN; AGE; AMD; ANTABIF; APNOEA; APPROACH; AROUSAL LEVEL; BLOOD; BLUBBER; CEOS; CRABEATER SEAL; DATE; DISTANCE; DRUGS; EMPEROR PENGUIN; GIRTH; GROUP; HAIR; HEART RATE; LATITUDE; LENGTH; LEOPARD SEAL; LONGITUDE; MINKE WHALE; MOVEMENT; NASAL SWAB; NUMBER; ORCA WHALE; PACK ICE; PENGUIN; RESPIRATION RATE; ROSS SEAL; SCAT; SEALS; SEDATION LEVEL; SEX; SHIPS; SKIN; SOUTHERN ELEPHANT SEAL; SOUTHERN OCEAN; SPECIES; TIME; TIME AT DEPTH; TOOTH; WCID; WEDDELL SEAL; WEIGHT; WHALE; WIDTH; WILDLIFE COMPUTERS IDENTIFICATION NUMBER; Antarctic; Southern Ocean; Weddell; Adelie penguin; Antarc*; Antarctica; Crabeater Seal; Elephant Seal; Leopard Seal; Lobodon carcinophagus; minke whale; Orca; Ross Seal; SCAR; Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research; Southern Elephant Seal; Weddell Seal
• Online Access: https://researchdata.edu.au/apis-antarctic-pack-historical-1980s/1931811; http://data.gov.au/dataset/4b0c882e-02d6-4d7b-a9f7-93a87031360b

APIS data were collected between 1994 and 1999. This dataset also includes some historical data collected between 1985 and 1987. Both aerial and ship-board surveys were conducted. Studies on the behaviour of Pack-ice or Crabeater Seal (Lobodon carcinophagus) in the Southern Ocean and in the Australian Sector of Antarctica were also conducted as part of this study. Satellite tracking was used to determine their movement, durations on land and at sea, dive depths and dive duration etc. The four species of Antarctic pack ice seals (crabeater, leopard, Weddell, and Ross seals) are thought to comprise up to 50% or more of the world's total biomass of seals. As long-lived, top level predators in Southern Ocean ecosystems, pack ice seals are scientifically interesting because they can assist in monitoring shifts in ecosystem structure and function, especially changes that occur in sensitive polar areas in response to global climate changes. \n \nThe APIS Program focuses on the ecological importance of pack ice seals and their interactions with physical and biotic features of their environment. This program is a collaborative, multi-disciplinary research initiative whose planning and implementation has involved scientists from more than a dozen countries. It is being developed and coordinated by the Group of Specialists on Seals of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), and represents an important contribution to SCAR's Antarctic Global Change Program. Australian researchers have undertaken an ambitious science program studying the distribution and abundance of pack ice seals in support of the APIS Program. An excellent overview of this work is provided at the Australian Antarctic Division's web site. The following paragraphs provide a brief progress report of some of that work through 1998. --- \n \nFour years of developmental work have now been completed in preparation for the Australian contribution to the circumpolar survey that will take place in December 1998. Until recently the main effort has ...