Body condition changes at sea: Onboard calculation and telemetry of body density in diving animals

• Published in: Methods in Ecology and Evolution
• Main Authors: Adachi, Taiki, Lovell, Philip, Turnbull, James, Fedak, Mike A., Picard, Baptiste, Guinet, Christophe, Biuw, Martin, Keates, Theresa R., Holser, Rachel R., Costa, Daniel P., Crocker, Daniel E., Miller, Patrick J. O.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: Elephant Seals
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3102736; https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.14089

The ability of marine mammals to accumulate sufficient lipid energy reserves is vital for mammals' survival and successful reproduction. However, long-term monitoring of at-sea changes in body condition, specifically lipid stores, has only been possible in elephant seals performing prolonged drift dives (low-density lipids alter the rates of depth change while drifting). This approach has limited applicability to other species. publishedVersion