Stable isotopes document winter trophic ecology and maternal investment of adult female southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) breeding at the Kerguelen Islands
International audience Individual specialisation is widespread and can aVect a population's ecological and evolutionary dynamics. Whether intra-speciWc niche diVerences can inXuence reproductive investment was examined in a marine mammal, the southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina), whose fem...
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Online Access: | https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00320519 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-008-1039-3 |
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ftccsdartic:oai:HAL:hal-00320519v1 2023-05-15T16:05:14+02:00 Stable isotopes document winter trophic ecology and maternal investment of adult female southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) breeding at the Kerguelen Islands Ducatez, Simon Dalloyau, Sébastien Richard, Pierre Guinet, Christophe Cherel, Yves Centre d'études biologiques de Chizé (CEBC) Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) LIttoral ENvironnement et Sociétés - UMRi 7266 (LIENSs) Université de La Rochelle (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) 2008-09-11 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00320519 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-008-1039-3 en eng HAL CCSD Springer Verlag info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1007/s00227-008-1039-3 hal-00320519 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00320519 doi:10.1007/s00227-008-1039-3 ISSN: 0025-3162 EISSN: 1432-1793 Marine Biology https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00320519 Marine Biology, Springer Verlag, 2008, 155, pp.413-420. ⟨10.1007/s00227-008-1039-3⟩ [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology [SDE.ES]Environmental Sciences/Environmental and Society [SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes info:eu-repo/semantics/article Journal articles 2008 ftccsdartic https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-008-1039-3 2021-10-24T20:49:57Z International audience Individual specialisation is widespread and can aVect a population's ecological and evolutionary dynamics. Whether intra-speciWc niche diVerences can inXuence reproductive investment was examined in a marine mammal, the southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina), whose females were known to forage in two diVerent areas during the austral winter. The study was conducted at Kerguelen Islands (49°21S, 70°18E), southern Indian Ocean, in late winter–early spring 2006. Pups were used as proxies of their mothers' biology and combined information on their weaning mass (a proxy of females' foraging success and short-term Wtness) together with their blood 13C value (a proxy of female foraging zone). First, the use of isotopic signature of pups was validated to study the female foraging ecology during their pre-breeding trip by demonstrating that 13C and 15N values of pups and their mothers were positively and linearly correlated. Then, blood samples were taken from a large number of newly-weaned pups, which were also weighed, to provide information at the population level. Estimated 13C values of female seals encompassed a large range of values (from ¡23.7 to ¡19.1‰) with an unimodal frequency distribution, suggesting no contrasted foraging areas within the population. No signiWcant relationship was found between pup weaning mass and their carbon signature, indicating no link between female foraging areas and maternal foraging success and investment. Finally, blood 13C and 15N values gave new insights into southern elephant seal ecology, suggesting that females mainly foraged north of the Polar Front where they preyed upon myctophid Wsh in late winter. Article in Journal/Newspaper Elephant Seal Elephant Seals Kerguelen Islands Mirounga leonina Southern Elephant Seal Southern Elephant Seals Archive ouverte HAL (Hyper Article en Ligne, CCSD - Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe) Austral Kerguelen Kerguelen Islands Indian Marine Biology 155 4 413 420 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Archive ouverte HAL (Hyper Article en Ligne, CCSD - Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe) |
op_collection_id |
ftccsdartic |
language |
English |
topic |
[SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology [SDE.ES]Environmental Sciences/Environmental and Society [SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes |
spellingShingle |
[SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology [SDE.ES]Environmental Sciences/Environmental and Society [SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes Ducatez, Simon Dalloyau, Sébastien Richard, Pierre Guinet, Christophe Cherel, Yves Stable isotopes document winter trophic ecology and maternal investment of adult female southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) breeding at the Kerguelen Islands |
topic_facet |
[SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology [SDE.ES]Environmental Sciences/Environmental and Society [SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes |
description |
International audience Individual specialisation is widespread and can aVect a population's ecological and evolutionary dynamics. Whether intra-speciWc niche diVerences can inXuence reproductive investment was examined in a marine mammal, the southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina), whose females were known to forage in two diVerent areas during the austral winter. The study was conducted at Kerguelen Islands (49°21S, 70°18E), southern Indian Ocean, in late winter–early spring 2006. Pups were used as proxies of their mothers' biology and combined information on their weaning mass (a proxy of females' foraging success and short-term Wtness) together with their blood 13C value (a proxy of female foraging zone). First, the use of isotopic signature of pups was validated to study the female foraging ecology during their pre-breeding trip by demonstrating that 13C and 15N values of pups and their mothers were positively and linearly correlated. Then, blood samples were taken from a large number of newly-weaned pups, which were also weighed, to provide information at the population level. Estimated 13C values of female seals encompassed a large range of values (from ¡23.7 to ¡19.1‰) with an unimodal frequency distribution, suggesting no contrasted foraging areas within the population. No signiWcant relationship was found between pup weaning mass and their carbon signature, indicating no link between female foraging areas and maternal foraging success and investment. Finally, blood 13C and 15N values gave new insights into southern elephant seal ecology, suggesting that females mainly foraged north of the Polar Front where they preyed upon myctophid Wsh in late winter. |
author2 |
Centre d'études biologiques de Chizé (CEBC) Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) LIttoral ENvironnement et Sociétés - UMRi 7266 (LIENSs) Université de La Rochelle (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Ducatez, Simon Dalloyau, Sébastien Richard, Pierre Guinet, Christophe Cherel, Yves |
author_facet |
Ducatez, Simon Dalloyau, Sébastien Richard, Pierre Guinet, Christophe Cherel, Yves |
author_sort |
Ducatez, Simon |
title |
Stable isotopes document winter trophic ecology and maternal investment of adult female southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) breeding at the Kerguelen Islands |
title_short |
Stable isotopes document winter trophic ecology and maternal investment of adult female southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) breeding at the Kerguelen Islands |
title_full |
Stable isotopes document winter trophic ecology and maternal investment of adult female southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) breeding at the Kerguelen Islands |
title_fullStr |
Stable isotopes document winter trophic ecology and maternal investment of adult female southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) breeding at the Kerguelen Islands |
title_full_unstemmed |
Stable isotopes document winter trophic ecology and maternal investment of adult female southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) breeding at the Kerguelen Islands |
title_sort |
stable isotopes document winter trophic ecology and maternal investment of adult female southern elephant seals (mirounga leonina) breeding at the kerguelen islands |
publisher |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
2008 |
url |
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00320519 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-008-1039-3 |
geographic |
Austral Kerguelen Kerguelen Islands Indian |
geographic_facet |
Austral Kerguelen Kerguelen Islands Indian |
genre |
Elephant Seal Elephant Seals Kerguelen Islands Mirounga leonina Southern Elephant Seal Southern Elephant Seals |
genre_facet |
Elephant Seal Elephant Seals Kerguelen Islands Mirounga leonina Southern Elephant Seal Southern Elephant Seals |
op_source |
ISSN: 0025-3162 EISSN: 1432-1793 Marine Biology https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00320519 Marine Biology, Springer Verlag, 2008, 155, pp.413-420. ⟨10.1007/s00227-008-1039-3⟩ |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1007/s00227-008-1039-3 hal-00320519 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00320519 doi:10.1007/s00227-008-1039-3 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-008-1039-3 |
container_title |
Marine Biology |
container_volume |
155 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
413 |
op_container_end_page |
420 |
_version_ |
1766401148496904192 |