Long term movements and activity patterns of an Antarctic marine apex predator: the Leopard Seal
Leopard seals are an important Antarctic apex predator that can affect marine ecosystems through local predation. Here we report on the successful use of micro geolocation logging sensor tags to track the movements, and activity, of four leopard seals for trips of between 142–446 days including one...
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ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:517938 2023-05-15T13:49:34+02:00 Long term movements and activity patterns of an Antarctic marine apex predator: the Leopard Seal Staniland, Iain Ratcliffe, Norman Trathan, Phil Forcada, Jaume 2018-06-05 text http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/517938/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/517938/1/journal.pone.0197767.pdf http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0197767 en eng Public Library of Science https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/517938/1/journal.pone.0197767.pdf Staniland, Iain orcid:0000-0003-2736-9134 Ratcliffe, Norman orcid:0000-0002-3375-2431 Trathan, Phil orcid:0000-0001-6673-9930 Forcada, Jaume orcid:0000-0002-2115-0150 . 2018 Long term movements and activity patterns of an Antarctic marine apex predator: the Leopard Seal. PLOS One, 13 (6), e0197767. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0197767 <https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0197767> cc_by_4 CC-BY Publication - Article PeerReviewed 2018 ftnerc https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0197767 2023-02-04T19:45:24Z Leopard seals are an important Antarctic apex predator that can affect marine ecosystems through local predation. Here we report on the successful use of micro geolocation logging sensor tags to track the movements, and activity, of four leopard seals for trips of between 142–446 days including one individual in two separate years. Whilst the sample size is small the results represent an advance in our limited knowledge of leopard seals. We show the longest periods of tracking of leopard seals’ migratory behaviour between the pack ice, close to the Antarctic continent, and the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia. It appears that these tracked animals migrate in a directed manner towards Bird Island and, during their residency, use this as a central place for foraging trips as well as exploiting the local penguin and seal populations. Movements to the South Orkney Islands were also recorded, similar to those observed in other predators in the region including the krill fishery. Analysis of habitat associations, taking into account location errors, indicated the tracked seals had an affinity for shallow shelf water and regions of sea ice. Wet and dry sensors revealed that seals hauled out for between 22 and 31% of the time with maximum of 74 hours and a median of between 9 and 11 hours. The longest period a seal remained in the water was between 13 and 25 days. Fitting GAMMs showed that haul out rates changed throughout the year with the highest values occurring during the summer which has implications for visual surveys. Peak haul out occurred around midday for the months between October and April but was more evenly spread across the day between May and September. The seals’ movements between, and behaviour within, areas important to breeding populations of birds and other seals, coupled with the dynamics of the region’s fisheries, shows an understanding of leopard seal ecology is vital in the management of the Southern Ocean resources. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Bird Island Leopard Seal Leopard Seals Sea ice South Orkney Islands Southern Ocean Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic South Orkney Islands ENVELOPE(-45.500,-45.500,-60.583,-60.583) Bird Island ENVELOPE(-38.060,-38.060,-54.004,-54.004) PLOS ONE 13 6 e0197767 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftnerc |
language |
English |
description |
Leopard seals are an important Antarctic apex predator that can affect marine ecosystems through local predation. Here we report on the successful use of micro geolocation logging sensor tags to track the movements, and activity, of four leopard seals for trips of between 142–446 days including one individual in two separate years. Whilst the sample size is small the results represent an advance in our limited knowledge of leopard seals. We show the longest periods of tracking of leopard seals’ migratory behaviour between the pack ice, close to the Antarctic continent, and the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia. It appears that these tracked animals migrate in a directed manner towards Bird Island and, during their residency, use this as a central place for foraging trips as well as exploiting the local penguin and seal populations. Movements to the South Orkney Islands were also recorded, similar to those observed in other predators in the region including the krill fishery. Analysis of habitat associations, taking into account location errors, indicated the tracked seals had an affinity for shallow shelf water and regions of sea ice. Wet and dry sensors revealed that seals hauled out for between 22 and 31% of the time with maximum of 74 hours and a median of between 9 and 11 hours. The longest period a seal remained in the water was between 13 and 25 days. Fitting GAMMs showed that haul out rates changed throughout the year with the highest values occurring during the summer which has implications for visual surveys. Peak haul out occurred around midday for the months between October and April but was more evenly spread across the day between May and September. The seals’ movements between, and behaviour within, areas important to breeding populations of birds and other seals, coupled with the dynamics of the region’s fisheries, shows an understanding of leopard seal ecology is vital in the management of the Southern Ocean resources. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Staniland, Iain Ratcliffe, Norman Trathan, Phil Forcada, Jaume |
spellingShingle |
Staniland, Iain Ratcliffe, Norman Trathan, Phil Forcada, Jaume Long term movements and activity patterns of an Antarctic marine apex predator: the Leopard Seal |
author_facet |
Staniland, Iain Ratcliffe, Norman Trathan, Phil Forcada, Jaume |
author_sort |
Staniland, Iain |
title |
Long term movements and activity patterns of an Antarctic marine apex predator: the Leopard Seal |
title_short |
Long term movements and activity patterns of an Antarctic marine apex predator: the Leopard Seal |
title_full |
Long term movements and activity patterns of an Antarctic marine apex predator: the Leopard Seal |
title_fullStr |
Long term movements and activity patterns of an Antarctic marine apex predator: the Leopard Seal |
title_full_unstemmed |
Long term movements and activity patterns of an Antarctic marine apex predator: the Leopard Seal |
title_sort |
long term movements and activity patterns of an antarctic marine apex predator: the leopard seal |
publisher |
Public Library of Science |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/517938/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/517938/1/journal.pone.0197767.pdf http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0197767 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-45.500,-45.500,-60.583,-60.583) ENVELOPE(-38.060,-38.060,-54.004,-54.004) |
geographic |
Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic South Orkney Islands Bird Island |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic South Orkney Islands Bird Island |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Bird Island Leopard Seal Leopard Seals Sea ice South Orkney Islands Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Bird Island Leopard Seal Leopard Seals Sea ice South Orkney Islands Southern Ocean |
op_relation |
https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/517938/1/journal.pone.0197767.pdf Staniland, Iain orcid:0000-0003-2736-9134 Ratcliffe, Norman orcid:0000-0002-3375-2431 Trathan, Phil orcid:0000-0001-6673-9930 Forcada, Jaume orcid:0000-0002-2115-0150 . 2018 Long term movements and activity patterns of an Antarctic marine apex predator: the Leopard Seal. PLOS One, 13 (6), e0197767. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0197767 <https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0197767> |
op_rights |
cc_by_4 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0197767 |
container_title |
PLOS ONE |
container_volume |
13 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
e0197767 |
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1766251697755127808 |