Deep divers in even deeper seas: habitat use of male southern elephant seals from Marion Island
We describe the habitat use of 22 male southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) satellite tagged at Marion Island between 2004 and 2008. While a few areas of increased utilization appeared to be associated with areas of shallower bathymetry (such as sea-floor ridges and fracture zones), seals in o...
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2012
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Online Access: | https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/30982/ https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.40213 |
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ftawi:oai:epic.awi.de:30982 2024-09-15T17:49:06+00:00 Deep divers in even deeper seas: habitat use of male southern elephant seals from Marion Island McIntyre, Trevor Bornemann, Horst Plötz, Joachim Tosh, C. A. Bester, M. N. 2012 https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/30982/ https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.40213 unknown CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS McIntyre, T. , Bornemann, H. , Plötz, J. , Tosh, C. A. and Bester, M. N. (2012) Deep divers in even deeper seas: habitat use of male southern elephant seals from Marion Island , Antarctic Science, 24 (6), pp. 561-570 . doi:10.1017/S0954102012000570 <https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954102012000570> , hdl:10013/epic.40213 EPIC3Antarctic Science, CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS, 24(6), pp. 561-570, ISSN: 0954-1020 Article isiRev 2012 ftawi https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954102012000570 2024-06-24T04:05:07Z We describe the habitat use of 22 male southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) satellite tagged at Marion Island between 2004 and 2008. While a few areas of increased utilization appeared to be associated with areas of shallower bathymetry (such as sea-floor ridges and fracture zones), seals in our study did not target other areas of shallow bathymetry within close proximity to Marion Island. Rather, most elephant seals foraged pelagically over very deep water where much variation was evident in diel vertical migration strategies. These strategies resulted in generally deeper and longer dives than what has been reported for male elephant seals from other colonies. No significant differences were recorded for dive durations or dive depths between adults and sub-adults. However, younger animals displayed a positive relationship between dive durations and age, as well as between dive depths and age, while these relationships became negative for older animals. Mixed model outputs suggested that seals increased their aerobic fitness as migrations progressed, enabling them to undertake longer dives. We conclude that Marion Island male elephant seals exhibit much variability in dive strategy and are seemingly capable of exploiting a range of different prey types occurring in various depth layers. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarctic Science Elephant Seals Marion Island Mirounga leonina Southern Elephant Seals Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar- and Marine Research (AWI): ePIC (electronic Publication Information Center) Antarctic Science 24 6 561 570 |
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Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar- and Marine Research (AWI): ePIC (electronic Publication Information Center) |
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ftawi |
language |
unknown |
description |
We describe the habitat use of 22 male southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) satellite tagged at Marion Island between 2004 and 2008. While a few areas of increased utilization appeared to be associated with areas of shallower bathymetry (such as sea-floor ridges and fracture zones), seals in our study did not target other areas of shallow bathymetry within close proximity to Marion Island. Rather, most elephant seals foraged pelagically over very deep water where much variation was evident in diel vertical migration strategies. These strategies resulted in generally deeper and longer dives than what has been reported for male elephant seals from other colonies. No significant differences were recorded for dive durations or dive depths between adults and sub-adults. However, younger animals displayed a positive relationship between dive durations and age, as well as between dive depths and age, while these relationships became negative for older animals. Mixed model outputs suggested that seals increased their aerobic fitness as migrations progressed, enabling them to undertake longer dives. We conclude that Marion Island male elephant seals exhibit much variability in dive strategy and are seemingly capable of exploiting a range of different prey types occurring in various depth layers. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
McIntyre, Trevor Bornemann, Horst Plötz, Joachim Tosh, C. A. Bester, M. N. |
spellingShingle |
McIntyre, Trevor Bornemann, Horst Plötz, Joachim Tosh, C. A. Bester, M. N. Deep divers in even deeper seas: habitat use of male southern elephant seals from Marion Island |
author_facet |
McIntyre, Trevor Bornemann, Horst Plötz, Joachim Tosh, C. A. Bester, M. N. |
author_sort |
McIntyre, Trevor |
title |
Deep divers in even deeper seas: habitat use of male southern elephant seals from Marion Island |
title_short |
Deep divers in even deeper seas: habitat use of male southern elephant seals from Marion Island |
title_full |
Deep divers in even deeper seas: habitat use of male southern elephant seals from Marion Island |
title_fullStr |
Deep divers in even deeper seas: habitat use of male southern elephant seals from Marion Island |
title_full_unstemmed |
Deep divers in even deeper seas: habitat use of male southern elephant seals from Marion Island |
title_sort |
deep divers in even deeper seas: habitat use of male southern elephant seals from marion island |
publisher |
CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/30982/ https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.40213 |
genre |
Antarctic Science Elephant Seals Marion Island Mirounga leonina Southern Elephant Seals |
genre_facet |
Antarctic Science Elephant Seals Marion Island Mirounga leonina Southern Elephant Seals |
op_source |
EPIC3Antarctic Science, CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS, 24(6), pp. 561-570, ISSN: 0954-1020 |
op_relation |
McIntyre, T. , Bornemann, H. , Plötz, J. , Tosh, C. A. and Bester, M. N. (2012) Deep divers in even deeper seas: habitat use of male southern elephant seals from Marion Island , Antarctic Science, 24 (6), pp. 561-570 . doi:10.1017/S0954102012000570 <https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954102012000570> , hdl:10013/epic.40213 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954102012000570 |
container_title |
Antarctic Science |
container_volume |
24 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
561 |
op_container_end_page |
570 |
_version_ |
1810290803164053504 |