Bimodal Winter Haul-Out Patterns of Adult Weddell Seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) in the Southern Weddell Sea.
Hauling out is an essential component of pinniped life-history. Haul-out behaviour may be affected by biological (e.g. sex, age and condition) and physical factors (e.g. food availability and environmental conditions), and identifying these factors may help explain the spatio-temporal distribution a...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:df5dad221bb24eaa97ef8e6a3c2d10dd 2023-05-15T18:43:16+02:00 Bimodal Winter Haul-Out Patterns of Adult Weddell Seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) in the Southern Weddell Sea. Lars Boehme Amy Baker Mike Fedak Marius Årthun Keith Nicholls Patrick Robinson Dan Costa Martin Biuw Theoni Photopoulou 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0155817 https://doaj.org/article/df5dad221bb24eaa97ef8e6a3c2d10dd EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4873014?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0155817 https://doaj.org/article/df5dad221bb24eaa97ef8e6a3c2d10dd PLoS ONE, Vol 11, Iss 5, p e0155817 (2016) Medicine R Science Q article 2016 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0155817 2022-12-31T04:29:32Z Hauling out is an essential component of pinniped life-history. Haul-out behaviour may be affected by biological (e.g. sex, age and condition) and physical factors (e.g. food availability and environmental conditions), and identifying these factors may help explain the spatio-temporal distribution and habitat use of pinnipeds. The aim of this study is to describe observed winter haul-out patterns of adult Weddell seals in the Weddell Sea and investigate the role of potential predictors to gain insight into the way these animals interact with the physical environment in this region. We examined the haul-out behaviour in relation to available biological (i.e., diving effort, sex) and physical information (i.e., sun angle). Thirty-three satellite telemetry tags were deployed on adult Weddell seals in the southern Weddell Sea during February 2007, 2009 and 2011, following their annual moult recording information on the behavioural mode of the animal: at surface, hauled out or diving. At the end of the austral summer Weddell seals spent, on average, more than 40% of their time hauled out on the ice. Under constant light conditions, it appears that physiological factors drive sex differences in the timing and duration of haul-out behaviour, with females spending on average more time hauled out than males during daylight hours. This time spent hauled-out declined to around 15% in both sexes by the beginning of autumn and remained at this level with a clear nocturnal haul-out pattern during the winter. The time spent diving increased during this period, indicating an increase in foraging effort during the winter months, and led to a common haul-out pattern in both sexes over winter. We found a positive relationship between haul-out duration and the percentage of time spent diving prior to a haul-out in both sexes, with the exception of female daytime haul-outs early in the year. Article in Journal/Newspaper Weddell Sea Weddell Seals Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Austral Weddell Weddell Sea PLOS ONE 11 5 e0155817 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Medicine R Science Q |
spellingShingle |
Medicine R Science Q Lars Boehme Amy Baker Mike Fedak Marius Årthun Keith Nicholls Patrick Robinson Dan Costa Martin Biuw Theoni Photopoulou Bimodal Winter Haul-Out Patterns of Adult Weddell Seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) in the Southern Weddell Sea. |
topic_facet |
Medicine R Science Q |
description |
Hauling out is an essential component of pinniped life-history. Haul-out behaviour may be affected by biological (e.g. sex, age and condition) and physical factors (e.g. food availability and environmental conditions), and identifying these factors may help explain the spatio-temporal distribution and habitat use of pinnipeds. The aim of this study is to describe observed winter haul-out patterns of adult Weddell seals in the Weddell Sea and investigate the role of potential predictors to gain insight into the way these animals interact with the physical environment in this region. We examined the haul-out behaviour in relation to available biological (i.e., diving effort, sex) and physical information (i.e., sun angle). Thirty-three satellite telemetry tags were deployed on adult Weddell seals in the southern Weddell Sea during February 2007, 2009 and 2011, following their annual moult recording information on the behavioural mode of the animal: at surface, hauled out or diving. At the end of the austral summer Weddell seals spent, on average, more than 40% of their time hauled out on the ice. Under constant light conditions, it appears that physiological factors drive sex differences in the timing and duration of haul-out behaviour, with females spending on average more time hauled out than males during daylight hours. This time spent hauled-out declined to around 15% in both sexes by the beginning of autumn and remained at this level with a clear nocturnal haul-out pattern during the winter. The time spent diving increased during this period, indicating an increase in foraging effort during the winter months, and led to a common haul-out pattern in both sexes over winter. We found a positive relationship between haul-out duration and the percentage of time spent diving prior to a haul-out in both sexes, with the exception of female daytime haul-outs early in the year. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Lars Boehme Amy Baker Mike Fedak Marius Årthun Keith Nicholls Patrick Robinson Dan Costa Martin Biuw Theoni Photopoulou |
author_facet |
Lars Boehme Amy Baker Mike Fedak Marius Årthun Keith Nicholls Patrick Robinson Dan Costa Martin Biuw Theoni Photopoulou |
author_sort |
Lars Boehme |
title |
Bimodal Winter Haul-Out Patterns of Adult Weddell Seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) in the Southern Weddell Sea. |
title_short |
Bimodal Winter Haul-Out Patterns of Adult Weddell Seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) in the Southern Weddell Sea. |
title_full |
Bimodal Winter Haul-Out Patterns of Adult Weddell Seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) in the Southern Weddell Sea. |
title_fullStr |
Bimodal Winter Haul-Out Patterns of Adult Weddell Seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) in the Southern Weddell Sea. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Bimodal Winter Haul-Out Patterns of Adult Weddell Seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) in the Southern Weddell Sea. |
title_sort |
bimodal winter haul-out patterns of adult weddell seals (leptonychotes weddellii) in the southern weddell sea. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0155817 https://doaj.org/article/df5dad221bb24eaa97ef8e6a3c2d10dd |
geographic |
Austral Weddell Weddell Sea |
geographic_facet |
Austral Weddell Weddell Sea |
genre |
Weddell Sea Weddell Seals |
genre_facet |
Weddell Sea Weddell Seals |
op_source |
PLoS ONE, Vol 11, Iss 5, p e0155817 (2016) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4873014?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0155817 https://doaj.org/article/df5dad221bb24eaa97ef8e6a3c2d10dd |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0155817 |
container_title |
PLOS ONE |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
e0155817 |
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1766233534497816576 |