Comparative Diving Ecology Across Southern Ocean Marine Predators - Seals and Penguins

• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: Australian Ocean Data Network
• Subjects: oceans; biota; EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES > BIRDS > PENGUINS; BIOSPHERE > ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS > SPECIES/POPULATION INTERACTIONS > SPECIES PREDATION; MAMMALS > CARNIVORES > SEALS/SEA LIONS/WALRUSES; DIVING BEHAVIOUR; TIME-DEPTH RECORDERS; DATA LOGGER; NOT APPLICABLE; FIELD SURVEYS; AMD; AMD/AU; CEOS; GEOGRAPHIC REGION > POLAR; CONTINENT > ANTARCTICA > DAVIS STATION; OCEAN > SOUTHERN OCEAN; SOUTHERN OCEAN > HEARD AND MCDONALD ISLANDS; BECHERVAISE ISLAND; Antarctic; Southern Ocean; Weddell; Heard; McDonald Islands; Davis Station; Davis-Station; Antarc*; Antarctica; Elephant Seals; Emperor penguins; King Penguins; Southern Elephant Seals; Weddell Seals; walrus*
• Online Access: https://researchdata.edu.au/comparative-diving-ecology-seals-penguins/2821590

Progress Code: completed Statement: The data were collected by a variety of Time-Depth recorders; the sampling rates were not equal. Tags were deployed in different seasons. The tagged animals were often mainly females and were studied mainly during the breeding period. The data quality proper is good. Purpose The overarching aim of this thesis was to develop a more synthetic understanding of the diving behaviour of air-breathing marine predators. We describe the main analytical approaches to process this type of data and their usage for inferring about predators’ foraging behaviour and physiology. This study was carried out by Giulia Roncon as part of her PhD at IMAS. The study employed both archival and contemporary diving data, collected by six species of marine predators (three penguins and three seal species) from the Eastern Antarctic sector of the Southern Ocean, to clarify key questions, such as (i) are there differences and/or commonalities regarding the diving physiology and ecology of marine predators, and (ii) what are the main determinants and constrains that characterise the underwater behaviour of air-breathing vertebrates. This dataset is a compilation of data of several different studies carried out by different research teams in various locations and at various times. All TDRs were archival loggers that had to be retrieved to obtain the data. Thus, the animals had to be captured twice (deployment and retrieval). Details about the types of tags are listed in the dataset. Species used in the study were: Adelie Penguins Emperor Penguins King Penguins Fur Seals Southern Elephant Seals Weddell Seals