Responses and adaptations by two seal species to variability in the Southern Ocean ecosystem

• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: Australian Ocean Data Network
• Subjects: biota; environment; oceans; EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES > MAMMALS > CARNIVORES > SEALS/SEA LIONS/WALRUSES; BIOSPHERE > ECOSYSTEMS > AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS; MARINE ECOSYSTEMS > COASTAL; PELAGIC; MARINE ECOSYSTEMS; ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS > ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONS; Weddell Seals; Elephant Seals; Tagging; Climate Change; FIELD SURVEYS; FIELD INVESTIGATION; AMD/AU; CEOS; AMD; CONTINENT > ANTARCTICA; GEOGRAPHIC REGION > POLAR; Antarctic; Southern Ocean; The Antarctic; Weddell; Browning; Browning Peninsula; Antarc*; Antarctica; Elephant Seal; Mirounga leonina; Sea ice; Southern Elephant Seals; Weddell Seal; walrus*
• Online Access: https://researchdata.edu.au/responses-adaptations-seal-ocean-ecosystem/2817105

Progress Code: completed Statement: The values provided in temporal and spatial coverage are approximate only. Taken from the 2008-2009 Progress Report: Field work: Tagging Leptonychotes weddellii throughout the Casey region. Tagging: 46 sub-adult male Mirounga leonina in Browning Peninsula region. Aerial survey of the Casey fast-ice conducted on 30/1/2009 Taken from the 2009-2010 Progress Report: Field work: Tagged Weddell seals were observed at Davis and elephant seal numbers collated. No work was undertaken at Casey this season. The tag resight data collected will be entered into the AADC data bases by Sept 2010. Metadata record for data from ASAC Project 2753 See the link below for public details on this project. Public Weddell and southern elephant seals are high-order predators living in the Antarctic marine ecosystem. Their place in that ecosystem is the result of a long history of evolutionary adaptation to a challenging and changing environment. The objective of this study is to understand how Weddell and elephant seals have adapted and are responding to today's rapidly changing Antarctic environment. This study will use current and innovative approaches in demographic (population) analyses and diet techniques to analyse changes in the seals' demographic parameters and historical aspects of their ecology. Project objectives: Objective 1. Seek a greater understanding of the links between climate based environmental parameters and Weddell seal demographic performance. Objective 2. Test the hypothesis that the foraging ecology and presence of male southern elephant seals hauling out along the Antarctic coast are regulated by variation in the extent and concentration of coastal sea-ice. Objective 3. Examine contemporary and historical dietary shifts in an Antarctic marine predator by using a non-invasive technique, stable isotope analyses. Objective 4. Construct models of potential population performance for Weddell and southern elephant seals with predicted climate change Taken from the 2008-2009 ...