Environmental Perturbations, Behavioral Change, and Population Response in a Long-Term Northern Elephant Seal Study

• Main Author: Costa, Daniel P
• Other Authors: CALIFORNIA UNIV SANTA CRUZ
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: Biology; Ecology; Biological Oceanography; Acoustics; *NOISE(SOUND); *SEALS(MAMMALS); BEHAVIOR; NAVY; OCEAN ENVIRONMENTS; POPULATION; SURVIVAL(GENERAL); ENVIRONMENTAL PERTURBATIONS; BEHAVIORAL CHANGE; POPULATION RESPONSE; NORTHERN ELEPHANT SEALS; *PCAD(POPULATION CONSEQUENCES OF ACOUSTIC DISTURBANCE); *NAVY SOUND SOURCES; FORAGING; FECUNDITY; ENSO(EL NINO SOUTHERN OSCILLATION); Elephant Seal; Elephant Seals
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA617695; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA617695

A major challenge in marine mammal conservation and management is to understand how behavioral responses affect populations. To address this challenge, the National Research Council established the Committee on Characterizing Biologically Significant Marine Mammal Behavior. This committee developed a framework for analyzing the population consequences of acoustic disturbance, or PCAD (NRC 2005). The PCAD framework defines a series of transfer functions which describe how behavioral responses to sound affect life functions, how life functions are linked to vital population rates, and how changes in vital rates cause population change (Fig. 1). The U.S. Navy included the PCAD framework in the U.S. Navy Living Marine Resource Sound Research Requirements, specifically within the Response to Naval Sounds requirement #5: Determine biologically significant behavioral responses from Navy sound sources on individuals representing marine mammal species of concern with respect to . determining long-term effects of behavioral responses and how individual vital rates may affect the population. This requirement was given the highest priority under the Navy's requirements.