RESEARCH/REVIEW ARTICLE Instrumentation and handling effects on Antarctic fur seals (Arctocephalus gazella)

• Main Authors: Bjørn A. Krafft, Kit M. Kovacs, Effects Srdls Tdrs Vhfs
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: biologging; instrument; Antarctic; Bouvetøya; Antarc*; Antarctic Fur Seals; Arctocephalus gazella
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.636.9434; http://www.polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/download/21630/pdf_1/

The use of biologging instruments has greatly improved our understanding of the behaviour, physiology and ecology of free-ranging marine mammals. However, handling wild animals and attaching instruments to streamlined bodies can cause stress and potentially influence behaviour and swimming/ diving energetics. The goals of this study, undertaken on Bouvetøya, were (1) to determine if the first trip to sea after instrumentation is representative of subsequent trips in lactating Antarctic fur seals, to explore potential handling effects and assess possible biases in having multiple short-duration deploy-ments (inflating N, using a limited number of tags) and (2) to evaluate potential effects of two different instrument combinations (SMRU satellite data relay loggers and very high frequency radio transmitters versus Wildlife Computers timedepth recorders and very high frequency radio transmitters) on trip durations, dive parameters, female body condition and pup growth. Handling did not appear to have any effects on the parameters studied; data