Resource acquisition strategies and cost of transport in southern elephant seal

• Main Author: Jouma'A, Joffrey
• Other Authors: Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé - UMR 7372 (CEBC), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Université de La Rochelle (ULR), Université de La Rochelle, Christophe Guinet, Patrick Miller
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: French
• Published: HAL CCSD 2016
• Subjects: Aerobic dive limit; Energy expenditure; Body condition; Swimming effort; Hunting strategy; Foraging behaviour; Diving behaviour; Dépense énergétique; Condition corporelle; Effort de nage; Limite de plongées aérobie; Stratégie de chasse; Comportement d’alimentation; Comportement de plongée; Mirounga leonina; [SDV.SA]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Agricultural sciences; Austral; Southern Ocean; Elephant Seal; Elephant Seals; Southern Elephant Seal
• Online Access: https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01661341; https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01661341/document; https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01661341/file/2016Joumaa94282.pdf

The Southern Ocean is a fragile ecosystem whose dynamics are influenced by climate change that will structure the spatio-temporal distribution of resources. The objective of this PhD was to investigate the foraging strategies used by the southern elephant seal, under energetic (cost of transport and costs of access to the resource) and temporal (time at the bottom of a dive and aerobic dive limit) constraints. Using a set of animal-borne data loggers allowed us to reconstruct their three-dimensional path underwater, but also to calculate their swimming effort, the number of prey encountered and their energy expenditure. At the dive level, our study shows that elephant seals adapt their path, but also the time spent at the bottom, depending on the number of prey encountered. For high local prey density, they spent more time at the bottom, and concentrated their foraging effort in areas restricted search, characterized by a decrease in speed and an increase in horizontal sinuosity. Beyond 550 m, the cost of access to resources becomes greater than the cost of acquisition they must therefore deal with a trade-off between prey accessibility and availability. While feeding, these seals increase their buoyancy, reducing furthermore their energy expenditure. This study also shows a spatio-temporal structure of the energy expenditure that appears to be related to feeding success and therefore to prey resources distribution. L’océan austral est un écosystème fragile dont la dynamique est influencée par des variations climatiques qui vont structurer la distribution spatio-temporelle des ressources. L’objectif de cette thèse était d’étudier les stratégies d’acquisition des ressources en proies mises en place par l’éléphant de mer austral face aux contraintes énergétiques (coûts du transport et coûts d’accès à la ressource) et temporelles (temps passé au fond d’une plongée et limite de plongée aérobie) auxquelles il est soumis. L’utilisation d’un ensemble d’enregistreurs de données déployés sur ces animaux a permis de ...