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), School of Biology University of St Andrews, University of St Andrews Scotland -University of St Andrews Scotland -Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), 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), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), 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-PSL), 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: body condition; oceanography; ocean observation; elephant seals; [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology; [SDE.ES]Environmental Sciences/Environment and Society; [SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes; Antarc*; Antarctic; Elephant Seals; Southern Elephant Seals; Southern Ocean
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-00265853; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0701121104

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.