Elephant seal foraging success is enhanced in Antarctic coastal polynyas
International audience Antarctic polynyas are persistent open water areas which enable early and large seasonal phytoplankton blooms. This high primary productivity, boosted by iron supply from coastal glaciers, attracts organisms from all trophic levels to form a rich and diverse community. How the...
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Online Access: | https://hal.science/hal-03563073 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.2452 |
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ftccsdartic:oai:HAL:hal-03563073v1 2024-02-27T08:33:47+00:00 Elephant seal foraging success is enhanced in Antarctic coastal polynyas Arce, Fernando Hindell, Mark Mcmahon, Clive Wotherspoon, Simon Guinet, Christophe Harcourt, Robert Bestley, Sophie Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS, Australia Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé - UMR 7372 (CEBC) La Rochelle Université (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE) Department of Biological Sciences Australia Macquarie University 2022-01-26 https://hal.science/hal-03563073 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.2452 en eng HAL CCSD Royal Society, The info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1098/rspb.2021.2452 hal-03563073 https://hal.science/hal-03563073 doi:10.1098/rspb.2021.2452 PUBMEDCENTRAL: PMC8790345 ISSN: 0962-8452 EISSN: 1471-2954 Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences https://hal.science/hal-03563073 Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2022, 289 (1967), ⟨10.1098/rspb.2021.2452⟩ Mirounga leonina body condition drift rates Southern Ocean post-polynyas foraging behaviour [SDE]Environmental Sciences info:eu-repo/semantics/article Journal articles 2022 ftccsdartic https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.2452 2024-01-28T01:30:16Z International audience Antarctic polynyas are persistent open water areas which enable early and large seasonal phytoplankton blooms. This high primary productivity, boosted by iron supply from coastal glaciers, attracts organisms from all trophic levels to form a rich and diverse community. How the ecological benefit of polynya productivity is translated to the highest trophic levels remains poorly resolved. We studied 119 southern elephant seals feeding over the Antarctic shelf and demonstrated that: (i) 96% of seals foraging here used polynyas, with individuals spending on average 62% of their time there; (ii) the seals exhibited more area-restricted search behaviour when in polynyas; and (iii) these seals gained more energy (indicated by increased buoyancy from greater fat stores) when inside polynyas. This higher-quality foraging existed even when ice was not present in the study area, indicating that these are important and predictable foraging grounds year-round. Despite these energetic advantages from using polynyas, not all the seals used them extensively. Factors other than food supply may influence an individual's choice in their use of feeding grounds, such as exposure to predation or the probability of being able to return to distant sub-Antarctic breeding sites. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Elephant Seal Elephant Seals Mirounga leonina Southern Elephant Seals Southern Ocean Archive ouverte HAL (Hyper Article en Ligne, CCSD - Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe) Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 289 1967 |
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 |
Mirounga leonina body condition drift rates Southern Ocean post-polynyas foraging behaviour [SDE]Environmental Sciences |
spellingShingle |
Mirounga leonina body condition drift rates Southern Ocean post-polynyas foraging behaviour [SDE]Environmental Sciences Arce, Fernando Hindell, Mark Mcmahon, Clive Wotherspoon, Simon Guinet, Christophe Harcourt, Robert Bestley, Sophie Elephant seal foraging success is enhanced in Antarctic coastal polynyas |
topic_facet |
Mirounga leonina body condition drift rates Southern Ocean post-polynyas foraging behaviour [SDE]Environmental Sciences |
description |
International audience Antarctic polynyas are persistent open water areas which enable early and large seasonal phytoplankton blooms. This high primary productivity, boosted by iron supply from coastal glaciers, attracts organisms from all trophic levels to form a rich and diverse community. How the ecological benefit of polynya productivity is translated to the highest trophic levels remains poorly resolved. We studied 119 southern elephant seals feeding over the Antarctic shelf and demonstrated that: (i) 96% of seals foraging here used polynyas, with individuals spending on average 62% of their time there; (ii) the seals exhibited more area-restricted search behaviour when in polynyas; and (iii) these seals gained more energy (indicated by increased buoyancy from greater fat stores) when inside polynyas. This higher-quality foraging existed even when ice was not present in the study area, indicating that these are important and predictable foraging grounds year-round. Despite these energetic advantages from using polynyas, not all the seals used them extensively. Factors other than food supply may influence an individual's choice in their use of feeding grounds, such as exposure to predation or the probability of being able to return to distant sub-Antarctic breeding sites. |
author2 |
Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS, Australia Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé - UMR 7372 (CEBC) La Rochelle Université (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE) Department of Biological Sciences Australia Macquarie University |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Arce, Fernando Hindell, Mark Mcmahon, Clive Wotherspoon, Simon Guinet, Christophe Harcourt, Robert Bestley, Sophie |
author_facet |
Arce, Fernando Hindell, Mark Mcmahon, Clive Wotherspoon, Simon Guinet, Christophe Harcourt, Robert Bestley, Sophie |
author_sort |
Arce, Fernando |
title |
Elephant seal foraging success is enhanced in Antarctic coastal polynyas |
title_short |
Elephant seal foraging success is enhanced in Antarctic coastal polynyas |
title_full |
Elephant seal foraging success is enhanced in Antarctic coastal polynyas |
title_fullStr |
Elephant seal foraging success is enhanced in Antarctic coastal polynyas |
title_full_unstemmed |
Elephant seal foraging success is enhanced in Antarctic coastal polynyas |
title_sort |
elephant seal foraging success is enhanced in antarctic coastal polynyas |
publisher |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://hal.science/hal-03563073 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.2452 |
geographic |
Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Elephant Seal Elephant Seals Mirounga leonina Southern Elephant Seals Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Elephant Seal Elephant Seals Mirounga leonina Southern Elephant Seals Southern Ocean |
op_source |
ISSN: 0962-8452 EISSN: 1471-2954 Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences https://hal.science/hal-03563073 Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2022, 289 (1967), ⟨10.1098/rspb.2021.2452⟩ |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1098/rspb.2021.2452 hal-03563073 https://hal.science/hal-03563073 doi:10.1098/rspb.2021.2452 PUBMEDCENTRAL: PMC8790345 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.2452 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
container_volume |
289 |
container_issue |
1967 |
_version_ |
1792047919070707712 |