Dive depth frequency of 23 adult male southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) from Marion Island and King George Island ...
Access to different environments may lead to inter-population behavioural changes within a species that allow populations to exploit their immediate environments. Elephant seals from Marion Island (MI) and King George Island (KGI) (Isla 25 de Mayo) forage in different oceanic environments and eviden...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
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PANGAEA
2012
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.785852 https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.785852 |
| Summary: | Access to different environments may lead to inter-population behavioural changes within a species that allow populations to exploit their immediate environments. Elephant seals from Marion Island (MI) and King George Island (KGI) (Isla 25 de Mayo) forage in different oceanic environments and evidently employ different foraging strategies. This study elucidates some of the factors influencing the diving behaviour of male southern elephant seals from these populations tracked between 1999 and 2002. Mixed-effects models were used to determine the influence of bathymetry, population of origin, body length (as a proxy for size) and individual variation on the diving behaviour of adult male elephant seals from the two populations. Males from KGI and MI showed differences in all dive parameters. MI males dived deeper and longer (median: 652.0 m and 34.00 min) than KGI males (median: 359.1 m and 25.50 min). KGI males appeared to forage both benthically and pelagically while MI males in this study rarely reached ... : Supplement to: James, Bridget C; McIntyre, Trevor; Tosh, Cheryl Ann; Bornemann, Horst; Plötz, Joachim; Bester, Marthán Nieuwoudt (2012): Inter-population differences in diving behaviour of adult male southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina). Polar Biology, 35(11), 1759-1766 ... |
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