Satellite telemetry data used to determine habitat use of adult female Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) in Alaska, 2010-2016

• Main Authors: Lander, Michelle, Fadely, Brian, Gelatt, Thomas, Sterling, Jeremy
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Axiom Data Science 2021
• Subjects: Alaska; Aleutian Islands
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.24431/rw1k583; https://search.dataone.org/#view/10.24431/rw1k583

During fall months (October–November) from 2010–2015, satellite transmitters (SPLASH10-F-400 tags; Wildlife Computers, Redmond, WA, USA) were deployed on 16 adult female Steller sea lions (AFSSLs; Eumetopias jubatus) in three regions of Alaska (Southeast Alaska, central Aleutian Islands, and western Aleutian Islands) because there is limited information regarding the habitat use of this age class during winter and populations have yet to recover in western Alaska. All tags were programmed to acquire Fastloc-GPS positions every 15 min and conductivity (wet/dry) readings every 20 min. From 2010 to 2014, tags (n=13) were programmed to transmit dive depth histogram messages, whereas during 2015, tags (n=3) were programmed to transmit dive behavior messages. These datasets were used to examine the spatial distribution and diving behaviors (mean and maximum dive depths, dive frequency) of AFSSLs with respect to a combination of static (distance to shore, sea lion site, and continental shelf break, presence on/off the continental shelf, and bathymetric depth and slope), dynamic (proportion of daylight, fraction of lunar illumination, chlorophyll-a, wind speed, sea surface height, eddy kinetic energy, and sea surface temperature), and other (region, distinct population segment, and season) covariates. All data files are provided in csv format. Tag deployment metadata (e.g. tag type and identification, capture date and location, and individual morphometrics) are presented in "Lander_ATN Tag Deployment Metadata_foraging sea lions_3Mar21.csv." Filtered Fastloc-GPS data for all AFSSL tag deployment periods are compiled in "Lander et al Table 1 GPS Data.csv", and serve as the foundation for Tables 2 & 3. Modeled spatial positions configured for summarized dive depth histogram data collected for AFSSLs tagged during 2010-2014 are compiled in "Lander et al Table 2 Dive Histogram Data." Similarly, modeled spatially explicit positions of maximum dive depths for AFSSL tagged during 2015 are compiled in "Lander et al Table 3 Behavior Data."