Variations in behavior and condition of a Southern Ocean top predator in relation to in situ oceanographic conditions

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
• Main Authors: Biuw, Martin, Boehme, Lars, Guinet, Christophe, Hindell, Mark A., Costa, D., Charrassin, Jean-Benoit, Roquet, Fabien, Bailleul, Frédéric, Meredith, Michael P., Thorpe, S., Tremblay, Yann, Mc Donald, B., Park, Young-Hyang, Rintoul, Stephen R., Bindoff, Nathaniel, Goebel, Michael, Crocker, D., Lovell, Phil, Nicholson, J., Monks, F., Fedak, Michael A.
• Other Authors: Sea Mammal Research Unit University of St Andrews (SMRU), Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)-School of Biology University of St Andrews, University of St Andrews Scotland -University of St Andrews Scotland, Centre d'études biologiques de Chizé (CEBC), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Antarctic Wildlife Research Unit, Center for Ocean Health, Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS Paris), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS Paris), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), British Antarctic Survey (BAS), Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) (CSIRO), Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Antarctic Ecosystem Research Division, Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC), NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)-National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)-NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)-National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Valeport Ltd., Southern Elephant Seals as Oceanographic Samplers (SEaOS) program
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2007
• Subjects: elephant seals; ocean observation; oceanography; body condition; envir; geo; Antarctic; Indian; Pacific; Southern Ocean; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Elephant Seals; Southern Elephant Seals
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0701121104; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00265853

International audience Responses by marine top predators to environmental variability have previously been almost impossible to observe directly. By using animal-mounted instruments simultaneously recording movements, diving behavior, and in situ oceanographic properties, we studied the behavioral and physiological responses of southern elephant seals to spatial environmental variability throughout their circumpolar range. Improved body condition of seals in the Atlantic sector was associated with Circumpolar Deep Water upwelling regions within the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, whereas High-Salinity Shelf Waters or temperature/salinity gradients under winter pack ice were important in the Indian and Pacific sectors. Energetic consequences of these variations could help explain recently observed population trends, showing the usefulness of this approach in examining the sensitivity of top predators to global and regional-scale climate variability.