Winter use of sea ice and ocean water-mass habitat by southern elephant seals: The length and breadth of the mystery
Understanding the responses of animals to the environment is crucial for identifying critical foraging habitat. Elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) from the Kerguelen Islands (49° 20’ S, 70° 20’ E) have several different foraging strategies. Why some individuals undertake long trips to the Antarctic c...
Published in: | Progress in Oceanography |
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ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:511046 2023-05-15T13:49:32+02:00 Winter use of sea ice and ocean water-mass habitat by southern elephant seals: The length and breadth of the mystery Labrousse, Sara Vacquié-Garcia, Jade Heerah, Karine Guinet, Christophe Sallee, Jean-Baptiste Authier, Matthieu Picard, Baptiste Roquet, Fabien Bailleul, Frédéric Hindell, Mark Charrassin, Jean-Benoit 2015-09 text http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/511046/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/511046/1/Winter%20use%20of%20sea%20ice%20and%20ocean%20water-mass%20habitat%20by%20southern%20elephant%20seals%20AAM.pdf https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2015.05.023 en eng Elsevier https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/511046/1/Winter%20use%20of%20sea%20ice%20and%20ocean%20water-mass%20habitat%20by%20southern%20elephant%20seals%20AAM.pdf Labrousse, Sara; Vacquié-Garcia, Jade; Heerah, Karine; Guinet, Christophe; Sallee, Jean-Baptiste; Authier, Matthieu; Picard, Baptiste; Roquet, Fabien; Bailleul, Frédéric; Hindell, Mark; Charrassin, Jean-Benoit. 2015 Winter use of sea ice and ocean water-mass habitat by southern elephant seals: The length and breadth of the mystery. Progress in Oceanography, 137 (A). 52-68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2015.05.023 <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2015.05.023> Publication - Article PeerReviewed 2015 ftnerc https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2015.05.023 2023-02-04T19:41:42Z Understanding the responses of animals to the environment is crucial for identifying critical foraging habitat. Elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) from the Kerguelen Islands (49° 20’ S, 70° 20’ E) have several different foraging strategies. Why some individuals undertake long trips to the Antarctic continent while others utilise the relatively close frontal zones is poorly understood. Here, we investigate how physical properties within the sea ice zone are linked to foraging activities of southern elephant seals (SES). To do this, we first developed a new approach using indices of foraging derived from high temporal resolution dive and accelerometry data to predict foraging behaviour in an extensive, low resolution dataset from CTD-Satellite Relay Data Loggers (CTD-SRDLs). A sample of 37 post-breeding SES females were used to construct a predictive model applied to demersal and pelagic dive strategies relating prey encounter events (PEE) to dive parameters (dive duration, bottom duration, hunting-time, maximum depth, ascent speed, descent speed, sinuosity, and horizontal speed) for each strategy. We applied these models to a second sample of 35 seals, 20 males and 15 females, during the post-moult foraging trip to the Antarctic continental shelf between 2004 and 2013, which did not have fine-scale behavioural data. The females were widely distributed with important foraging activity south of the Southern Boundary Front, while males predominately travelled to the south-eastern part of the East Antarctica region. Combining our predictions of PEE with environmental features (sea ice concentration, water masses at the bottom phase of dives, bathymetry and slope index) we found higher foraging activity for females over shallower seabed depths and at the boundary between the overlying Antarctic Surface Water (AASW) and the underlying Modified Circumpolar Deep Water (MCDW). Increased biological activity associated with the upper boundary of MCDW, may provide overwintering areas for SES prey. Male foraging activity was ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Elephant Seals Kerguelen Islands Mirounga leonina Sea ice Southern Elephant Seals Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive Antarctic The Antarctic East Antarctica Kerguelen Kerguelen Islands Progress in Oceanography 137 52 68 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftnerc |
language |
English |
description |
Understanding the responses of animals to the environment is crucial for identifying critical foraging habitat. Elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) from the Kerguelen Islands (49° 20’ S, 70° 20’ E) have several different foraging strategies. Why some individuals undertake long trips to the Antarctic continent while others utilise the relatively close frontal zones is poorly understood. Here, we investigate how physical properties within the sea ice zone are linked to foraging activities of southern elephant seals (SES). To do this, we first developed a new approach using indices of foraging derived from high temporal resolution dive and accelerometry data to predict foraging behaviour in an extensive, low resolution dataset from CTD-Satellite Relay Data Loggers (CTD-SRDLs). A sample of 37 post-breeding SES females were used to construct a predictive model applied to demersal and pelagic dive strategies relating prey encounter events (PEE) to dive parameters (dive duration, bottom duration, hunting-time, maximum depth, ascent speed, descent speed, sinuosity, and horizontal speed) for each strategy. We applied these models to a second sample of 35 seals, 20 males and 15 females, during the post-moult foraging trip to the Antarctic continental shelf between 2004 and 2013, which did not have fine-scale behavioural data. The females were widely distributed with important foraging activity south of the Southern Boundary Front, while males predominately travelled to the south-eastern part of the East Antarctica region. Combining our predictions of PEE with environmental features (sea ice concentration, water masses at the bottom phase of dives, bathymetry and slope index) we found higher foraging activity for females over shallower seabed depths and at the boundary between the overlying Antarctic Surface Water (AASW) and the underlying Modified Circumpolar Deep Water (MCDW). Increased biological activity associated with the upper boundary of MCDW, may provide overwintering areas for SES prey. Male foraging activity was ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Labrousse, Sara Vacquié-Garcia, Jade Heerah, Karine Guinet, Christophe Sallee, Jean-Baptiste Authier, Matthieu Picard, Baptiste Roquet, Fabien Bailleul, Frédéric Hindell, Mark Charrassin, Jean-Benoit |
spellingShingle |
Labrousse, Sara Vacquié-Garcia, Jade Heerah, Karine Guinet, Christophe Sallee, Jean-Baptiste Authier, Matthieu Picard, Baptiste Roquet, Fabien Bailleul, Frédéric Hindell, Mark Charrassin, Jean-Benoit Winter use of sea ice and ocean water-mass habitat by southern elephant seals: The length and breadth of the mystery |
author_facet |
Labrousse, Sara Vacquié-Garcia, Jade Heerah, Karine Guinet, Christophe Sallee, Jean-Baptiste Authier, Matthieu Picard, Baptiste Roquet, Fabien Bailleul, Frédéric Hindell, Mark Charrassin, Jean-Benoit |
author_sort |
Labrousse, Sara |
title |
Winter use of sea ice and ocean water-mass habitat by southern elephant seals: The length and breadth of the mystery |
title_short |
Winter use of sea ice and ocean water-mass habitat by southern elephant seals: The length and breadth of the mystery |
title_full |
Winter use of sea ice and ocean water-mass habitat by southern elephant seals: The length and breadth of the mystery |
title_fullStr |
Winter use of sea ice and ocean water-mass habitat by southern elephant seals: The length and breadth of the mystery |
title_full_unstemmed |
Winter use of sea ice and ocean water-mass habitat by southern elephant seals: The length and breadth of the mystery |
title_sort |
winter use of sea ice and ocean water-mass habitat by southern elephant seals: the length and breadth of the mystery |
publisher |
Elsevier |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/511046/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/511046/1/Winter%20use%20of%20sea%20ice%20and%20ocean%20water-mass%20habitat%20by%20southern%20elephant%20seals%20AAM.pdf https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2015.05.023 |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic East Antarctica Kerguelen Kerguelen Islands |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic East Antarctica Kerguelen Kerguelen Islands |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Elephant Seals Kerguelen Islands Mirounga leonina Sea ice Southern Elephant Seals |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Elephant Seals Kerguelen Islands Mirounga leonina Sea ice Southern Elephant Seals |
op_relation |
https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/511046/1/Winter%20use%20of%20sea%20ice%20and%20ocean%20water-mass%20habitat%20by%20southern%20elephant%20seals%20AAM.pdf Labrousse, Sara; Vacquié-Garcia, Jade; Heerah, Karine; Guinet, Christophe; Sallee, Jean-Baptiste; Authier, Matthieu; Picard, Baptiste; Roquet, Fabien; Bailleul, Frédéric; Hindell, Mark; Charrassin, Jean-Benoit. 2015 Winter use of sea ice and ocean water-mass habitat by southern elephant seals: The length and breadth of the mystery. Progress in Oceanography, 137 (A). 52-68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2015.05.023 <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2015.05.023> |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2015.05.023 |
container_title |
Progress in Oceanography |
container_volume |
137 |
container_start_page |
52 |
op_container_end_page |
68 |
_version_ |
1766251497907027968 |