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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2016
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Online Access: | http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513727/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513727/1/Boehme.pdf https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0155817 |
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ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:513727 2023-05-15T18:43:16+02:00 Bimodal winter haul-out patterns of adult Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) in the southern Weddell Sea Boehme, Lars Baker, Amy Fedak, Mike Arthun, Marius Nicholls, Keith Robinson, Patrick Costa, Dan Biuw, Martin Photopoulou, Theoni 2016-05-19 text http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513727/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513727/1/Boehme.pdf https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0155817 en eng Public Library of Science https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513727/1/Boehme.pdf Boehme, Lars; Baker, Amy; Fedak, Mike; Arthun, Marius; Nicholls, Keith orcid:0000-0002-2188-4509 Robinson, Patrick; Costa, Dan; Biuw, Martin; Photopoulou, Theoni. 2016 Bimodal winter haul-out patterns of adult Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) in the southern Weddell Sea. PLoS ONE, 11 (5), e0155817. e0155817. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0155817 <https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0155817> cc_by CC-BY Publication - Article PeerReviewed 2016 ftnerc https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0155817 2023-02-04T19:43:06Z 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 Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive Weddell Sea Austral Weddell PLOS ONE 11 5 e0155817 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftnerc |
language |
English |
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 |
Boehme, Lars Baker, Amy Fedak, Mike Arthun, Marius Nicholls, Keith Robinson, Patrick Costa, Dan Biuw, Martin Photopoulou, Theoni |
spellingShingle |
Boehme, Lars Baker, Amy Fedak, Mike Arthun, Marius Nicholls, Keith Robinson, Patrick Costa, Dan Biuw, Martin Photopoulou, Theoni Bimodal winter haul-out patterns of adult Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) in the southern Weddell Sea |
author_facet |
Boehme, Lars Baker, Amy Fedak, Mike Arthun, Marius Nicholls, Keith Robinson, Patrick Costa, Dan Biuw, Martin Photopoulou, Theoni |
author_sort |
Boehme, Lars |
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 |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513727/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513727/1/Boehme.pdf https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0155817 |
geographic |
Weddell Sea Austral Weddell |
geographic_facet |
Weddell Sea Austral Weddell |
genre |
Weddell Sea Weddell Seals |
genre_facet |
Weddell Sea Weddell Seals |
op_relation |
https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513727/1/Boehme.pdf Boehme, Lars; Baker, Amy; Fedak, Mike; Arthun, Marius; Nicholls, Keith orcid:0000-0002-2188-4509 Robinson, Patrick; Costa, Dan; Biuw, Martin; Photopoulou, Theoni. 2016 Bimodal winter haul-out patterns of adult Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) in the southern Weddell Sea. PLoS ONE, 11 (5), e0155817. e0155817. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0155817 <https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0155817> |
op_rights |
cc_by |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
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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1766233534907809792 |