Prey targeted by lactating Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) in Erebus Bay, Antarctica
Female Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) display a mixed capital-income breeding strategy, losing up to 40% of their body mass between birthing and weaning their pups. How and when they regain energy stores, however, remains to be fully explored. To better understand the foraging by lactating...
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Online Access: | https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5xj92486 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-024-03294-1 |
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ftcdlib:oai:escholarship.org:ark:/13030/qt5xj92486 2024-09-15T17:48:49+00:00 Prey targeted by lactating Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) in Erebus Bay, Antarctica Foster-Dyer, Rose TN Goetz, Kimberly T Iwata, Takashi Holser, Rachel R Michael, Sarah A Pritchard, Craig Childerhouse, Simon Costa, Daniel P Ainley, David G Pinkerton, Matthew H LaRue, Michelle A 2024-01-01 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5xj92486 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-024-03294-1 unknown eScholarship, University of California qt5xj92486 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5xj92486 doi:10.1007/s00300-024-03294-1 CC-BY Zoology Biological Sciences Antarctica Animal-borne video Bio-logging Foraging behaviour Leptonychotes weddellii Ross sea Weddell seal Marine Biology & Hydrobiology article 2024 ftcdlib https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-024-03294-1 2024-08-29T23:54:36Z Female Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) display a mixed capital-income breeding strategy, losing up to 40% of their body mass between birthing and weaning their pups. How and when they regain energy stores, however, remains to be fully explored. To better understand the foraging by lactating Weddell seals, we fitted time-depth recorders and head-mounted cameras on 26 seals in Erebus Bay, Ross Sea, for ~ 5days in November and December 2018 and 2019. We aimed to (1) identify prey species and foraging depth and (2) investigate relationships between seal physiology and demographics and probability of foraging. We recorded 2782 dives, 903 of which were > 50m, maximum depth was 449.3m and maximum duration was 31.1min. Pup age likely contributes to the probability of a lactating Weddell seal foraging (Est. = 1.21 (SD = 0.61), z = 1.97, p = 0.0484). Among 846 prey encounters, the most frequent prey items were crustaceans (46.2%) and Antarctic silverfish (Pleuragramma antarcticum, 19.0%); two encounters were observed with juvenile Antarctic toothfish (Dissostichus mawsoni, 0.2%). We identified substantial variability in foraging behaviour, individually and between locations, and found that lactating seals target many species and some may specialise on certain prey groups. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic silverfish Antarctic Toothfish Antarctica Ross Sea Weddell Seal Weddell Seals University of California: eScholarship Polar Biology |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of California: eScholarship |
op_collection_id |
ftcdlib |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Zoology Biological Sciences Antarctica Animal-borne video Bio-logging Foraging behaviour Leptonychotes weddellii Ross sea Weddell seal Marine Biology & Hydrobiology |
spellingShingle |
Zoology Biological Sciences Antarctica Animal-borne video Bio-logging Foraging behaviour Leptonychotes weddellii Ross sea Weddell seal Marine Biology & Hydrobiology Foster-Dyer, Rose TN Goetz, Kimberly T Iwata, Takashi Holser, Rachel R Michael, Sarah A Pritchard, Craig Childerhouse, Simon Costa, Daniel P Ainley, David G Pinkerton, Matthew H LaRue, Michelle A Prey targeted by lactating Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) in Erebus Bay, Antarctica |
topic_facet |
Zoology Biological Sciences Antarctica Animal-borne video Bio-logging Foraging behaviour Leptonychotes weddellii Ross sea Weddell seal Marine Biology & Hydrobiology |
description |
Female Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) display a mixed capital-income breeding strategy, losing up to 40% of their body mass between birthing and weaning their pups. How and when they regain energy stores, however, remains to be fully explored. To better understand the foraging by lactating Weddell seals, we fitted time-depth recorders and head-mounted cameras on 26 seals in Erebus Bay, Ross Sea, for ~ 5days in November and December 2018 and 2019. We aimed to (1) identify prey species and foraging depth and (2) investigate relationships between seal physiology and demographics and probability of foraging. We recorded 2782 dives, 903 of which were > 50m, maximum depth was 449.3m and maximum duration was 31.1min. Pup age likely contributes to the probability of a lactating Weddell seal foraging (Est. = 1.21 (SD = 0.61), z = 1.97, p = 0.0484). Among 846 prey encounters, the most frequent prey items were crustaceans (46.2%) and Antarctic silverfish (Pleuragramma antarcticum, 19.0%); two encounters were observed with juvenile Antarctic toothfish (Dissostichus mawsoni, 0.2%). We identified substantial variability in foraging behaviour, individually and between locations, and found that lactating seals target many species and some may specialise on certain prey groups. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Foster-Dyer, Rose TN Goetz, Kimberly T Iwata, Takashi Holser, Rachel R Michael, Sarah A Pritchard, Craig Childerhouse, Simon Costa, Daniel P Ainley, David G Pinkerton, Matthew H LaRue, Michelle A |
author_facet |
Foster-Dyer, Rose TN Goetz, Kimberly T Iwata, Takashi Holser, Rachel R Michael, Sarah A Pritchard, Craig Childerhouse, Simon Costa, Daniel P Ainley, David G Pinkerton, Matthew H LaRue, Michelle A |
author_sort |
Foster-Dyer, Rose TN |
title |
Prey targeted by lactating Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) in Erebus Bay, Antarctica |
title_short |
Prey targeted by lactating Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) in Erebus Bay, Antarctica |
title_full |
Prey targeted by lactating Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) in Erebus Bay, Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Prey targeted by lactating Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) in Erebus Bay, Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Prey targeted by lactating Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) in Erebus Bay, Antarctica |
title_sort |
prey targeted by lactating weddell seals (leptonychotes weddellii) in erebus bay, antarctica |
publisher |
eScholarship, University of California |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5xj92486 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-024-03294-1 |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic silverfish Antarctic Toothfish Antarctica Ross Sea Weddell Seal Weddell Seals |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic silverfish Antarctic Toothfish Antarctica Ross Sea Weddell Seal Weddell Seals |
op_relation |
qt5xj92486 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5xj92486 doi:10.1007/s00300-024-03294-1 |
op_rights |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-024-03294-1 |
container_title |
Polar Biology |
_version_ |
1810290349077168128 |