The role of eddies in the diving behaviour of female southern elephant seals
As the Antarctic Circumpolar Current crosses the South-West Indian Ocean Ridge, it creates an extensive eddy field characterised by high sea level anomaly variability. We investigated the diving behaviour of female southern elephant seals from Marion Island during their post-moult migrations in rela...
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ftawi:oai:epic.awi.de:38653 2024-09-15T17:47:05+00:00 The role of eddies in the diving behaviour of female southern elephant seals Massie, Philip P. McIntyre, Trevor Ryan, Peter G. Bester, Marthán N. Bornemann, Horst Ansorge, Isabelle J. 2016 application/pdf https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/38653/ https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/38653/1/Massie-etal_2015.pdf https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-015-1782-0 https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.45964 https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.45964.d001 unknown https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/38653/1/Massie-etal_2015.pdf https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.45964.d001 Massie, P. P. , McIntyre, T. , Ryan, P. G. , Bester, M. N. , Bornemann, H. and Ansorge, I. J. (2016) The role of eddies in the diving behaviour of female southern elephant seals , Polar Biology, 39 (2), pp. 297-307 . doi:10.1007/s00300-015-1782-0 <https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-015-1782-0> , hdl:10013/epic.45964 EPIC3Polar Biology, 39(2), pp. 297-307, ISSN: 0722-4060 Article isiRev 2016 ftawi https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-015-1782-0 2024-06-24T04:12:21Z As the Antarctic Circumpolar Current crosses the South-West Indian Ocean Ridge, it creates an extensive eddy field characterised by high sea level anomaly variability. We investigated the diving behaviour of female southern elephant seals from Marion Island during their post-moult migrations in relation to this eddy field in order to determine its role in the animals’ at-sea dispersal. Most seals dived within the region significantly more often than predicted by chance, and these dives were generally shallower and shorter than dives outside the eddy field. Mixed effects models estimated reductions of 44.33 ± 3.00 m (maximum depth) and 6.37 ± 0.10 min (dive duration) as a result of diving within the region, along with low between-seal variability (maximum depth: 5.5 % and dive duration: 8.4 %). U-shaped dives increased in frequency inside the eddy field, whereas W-shaped dives with multiple vertical movements decreased. Results suggest that Marion Island’s adult female elephant seals’ dives are characterised by lowered cost-of-transport when they encounter the eddy field during the start and end of their post-moult migrations. This might result from changes in buoyancy associated with varying body condition upon leaving and returning to the island. Our results do not suggest that the eddy field is a vital foraging ground for Marion Island’s southern elephant seals. However, because seals preferentially travel through this area and likely forage opportunistically while minimising transport costs, we hypothesise that climate-mediated changes in the nature or position of this region may alter the seals’ at-sea dispersal patterns. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Elephant Seals Marion Island Polar Biology Southern Elephant Seals Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar- and Marine Research (AWI): ePIC (electronic Publication Information Center) Polar Biology 39 2 297 307 |
institution |
Open Polar |
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Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar- and Marine Research (AWI): ePIC (electronic Publication Information Center) |
op_collection_id |
ftawi |
language |
unknown |
description |
As the Antarctic Circumpolar Current crosses the South-West Indian Ocean Ridge, it creates an extensive eddy field characterised by high sea level anomaly variability. We investigated the diving behaviour of female southern elephant seals from Marion Island during their post-moult migrations in relation to this eddy field in order to determine its role in the animals’ at-sea dispersal. Most seals dived within the region significantly more often than predicted by chance, and these dives were generally shallower and shorter than dives outside the eddy field. Mixed effects models estimated reductions of 44.33 ± 3.00 m (maximum depth) and 6.37 ± 0.10 min (dive duration) as a result of diving within the region, along with low between-seal variability (maximum depth: 5.5 % and dive duration: 8.4 %). U-shaped dives increased in frequency inside the eddy field, whereas W-shaped dives with multiple vertical movements decreased. Results suggest that Marion Island’s adult female elephant seals’ dives are characterised by lowered cost-of-transport when they encounter the eddy field during the start and end of their post-moult migrations. This might result from changes in buoyancy associated with varying body condition upon leaving and returning to the island. Our results do not suggest that the eddy field is a vital foraging ground for Marion Island’s southern elephant seals. However, because seals preferentially travel through this area and likely forage opportunistically while minimising transport costs, we hypothesise that climate-mediated changes in the nature or position of this region may alter the seals’ at-sea dispersal patterns. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Massie, Philip P. McIntyre, Trevor Ryan, Peter G. Bester, Marthán N. Bornemann, Horst Ansorge, Isabelle J. |
spellingShingle |
Massie, Philip P. McIntyre, Trevor Ryan, Peter G. Bester, Marthán N. Bornemann, Horst Ansorge, Isabelle J. The role of eddies in the diving behaviour of female southern elephant seals |
author_facet |
Massie, Philip P. McIntyre, Trevor Ryan, Peter G. Bester, Marthán N. Bornemann, Horst Ansorge, Isabelle J. |
author_sort |
Massie, Philip P. |
title |
The role of eddies in the diving behaviour of female southern elephant seals |
title_short |
The role of eddies in the diving behaviour of female southern elephant seals |
title_full |
The role of eddies in the diving behaviour of female southern elephant seals |
title_fullStr |
The role of eddies in the diving behaviour of female southern elephant seals |
title_full_unstemmed |
The role of eddies in the diving behaviour of female southern elephant seals |
title_sort |
role of eddies in the diving behaviour of female southern elephant seals |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/38653/ https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/38653/1/Massie-etal_2015.pdf https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-015-1782-0 https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.45964 https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.45964.d001 |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Elephant Seals Marion Island Polar Biology Southern Elephant Seals |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Elephant Seals Marion Island Polar Biology Southern Elephant Seals |
op_source |
EPIC3Polar Biology, 39(2), pp. 297-307, ISSN: 0722-4060 |
op_relation |
https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/38653/1/Massie-etal_2015.pdf https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.45964.d001 Massie, P. P. , McIntyre, T. , Ryan, P. G. , Bester, M. N. , Bornemann, H. and Ansorge, I. J. (2016) The role of eddies in the diving behaviour of female southern elephant seals , Polar Biology, 39 (2), pp. 297-307 . doi:10.1007/s00300-015-1782-0 <https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-015-1782-0> , hdl:10013/epic.45964 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-015-1782-0 |
container_title |
Polar Biology |
container_volume |
39 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
297 |
op_container_end_page |
307 |
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1810495699853246464 |