Sex, body size, and boldness shape the seasonal foraging habitat selection in southern elephant seals

• Published in: Ecology and Evolution
• Main Authors: Allegue, Hassen, Guinet, Christophe, Patrick, Samantha, Hindell, Mark, Mcmahon, Clive, Réale, Denis
• Other Authors: Département des Sciences Biologiques Montréal, Université du Québec à Montréal = University of Québec in Montréal (UQAM), Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé - UMR 7372 (CEBC), La Rochelle Université (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), School of Environmental Sciences Liverpool, University of Liverpool, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies Hobart (IMAS), University of Tasmania Hobart, Australia (UTAS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2022
• Subjects: benefit–cost trade-off; biologging; habitat selection; Mirounga leonina; personality; [SDE]Environmental Sciences; Antarctic; Kerguelen; Antarc*; Elephant Seals; Southern Elephant Seals
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-03563056; https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8457

International audience Selecting foraging habitat is a fundamental behavior in the life of organisms as it directly links resource acquisition to fitness. Differences in habitat selection among individuals may arise from several intrinsic and extrinsic factors, and yet, their interaction has been given little attention in the study of wild populations. We combine sex, body size, and boldness to explain individual differences in the seasonal foraging habitat selection of southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) from the Kerguelen Archipelago. We hypothesize that habitat selection is linked to the trade‐off between resource acquisition and risk, and that individuals differ in their position along this trade‐off because of differences in reproductive strategies, life stages, and metabolic requirements. Before the post‐molt foraging trip, we used a novel object approach test to quantify the boldness of 28 subadult and adult females and 42 subadult males and equipped them with data loggers to track their movements at sea. Subadult males selected neritic and oceanic habitats, whereas females mostly selected less productive oceanic habitats. Both sexes showed a seasonal shift from Antarctic habitats in the south in the summer to the free of ice subantarctic and subtropical habitats in the north in the winter. Males avoided oceanic habitats and selected more productive neritic and Antarctic habitats with body size mostly in the winter. Bolder males selected northern warmer waters in winter, while shyer ones selected the Kerguelen plateau and southern colder oceanic waters. Bolder females selected the Kerguelen plateau in the summer when prey profitability is assumed to be the highest. This study not only provides new insights into the spatiotemporal foraging ecology of elephant seals in relation to personality but also emphasizes the relevance of combining several intrinsic and extrinsic factors in understanding among‐individual variation in space use essential in wildlife management and conservation.