Determinants of moult haulout phenology and duration in southern elephant seals
Phenological shifts are among the most obvious biological responses to environmental change, yet documented responses for Southern Ocean marine mammals are extremely rare. Marine mammals can respond to environmental changes through phenological fexibility of their life-history events such as breedin...
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ftunivpretoria:oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/85878 2023-05-15T16:05:36+02:00 Determinants of moult haulout phenology and duration in southern elephant seals De Kock, Leandri Oosthuizen, Wessel Christiaan Beltran, Roxanne S. Bester, Marthan Nieuwoudt De Bruyn, P.J. Nico 2021-06 https://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/85878 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-92635-9 en eng Nature Research https://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/85878 De Kock, L., Oosthuizen, W.C., Beltran, R.S. et al. Determinants of moult haulout phenology and duration in southern elephant seals. Scientific Reports 11, 13331 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-92635-9. 2045-2322 (online) doi:10.1038/s41598-021-92635-9 © The Author(s) 2021, corrected publication 2021. This is an Open Access article licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. CC-BY Climate change Marine mammals Mirounga leonina Moult Hauling-out Article 2021 ftunivpretoria https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-92635-9 2022-06-28T00:16:00Z Phenological shifts are among the most obvious biological responses to environmental change, yet documented responses for Southern Ocean marine mammals are extremely rare. Marine mammals can respond to environmental changes through phenological fexibility of their life-history events such as breeding and moulting. Southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) undergo an obligatory annual moult which involves the rapid shedding of epidermal skin and hair while seals fast ashore. We quantifed the timing (phenology) and duration (the time from arrival ashore to departure) of the moult haulout of 4612 female elephant seals at Marion Island over 32 years. Using linear mixedefects models, we investigated age, breeding state and environmental drivers of moult timing and haulout duration. We found no clear evidence for a temporal shift in moult phenology or its duration. Annual variation in moult arrival date and haulout duration was small relative to age and breeding efects, which explained more than 90% of the variance in moult arrival date and 25% in moult haulout duration. All environmental covariates we tested explained minimal variation in the data. Female elephant seals moulted progressively later as juveniles, but adults age 4 and older had similar moult start dates that depended on the breeding state of the female. In contrast, moult haulout duration was not constant with age among adults, but instead became shorter with increasing age. Moulting is energetically expensive and diferences in the moult haulout duration are possibly due to individual variation in body mass and associated metabolizable energy reserves, although other drivers (e.g. hormones) may also be present. Individual-based data on moult arrival dates and haulout duration can be used as auxiliary data in demographic modelling and may be useful proxies of other important biological parameters such as body condition and breeding history. National Research Foundation (NRF) http://www.nature.com/srep/index.html pm2022 Mammal Research Institute ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Elephant Seals Marion Island Mirounga leonina Southern Elephant Seals Southern Ocean University of Pretoria: UPSpace Southern Ocean Scientific Reports 11 1 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Pretoria: UPSpace |
op_collection_id |
ftunivpretoria |
language |
English |
topic |
Climate change Marine mammals Mirounga leonina Moult Hauling-out |
spellingShingle |
Climate change Marine mammals Mirounga leonina Moult Hauling-out De Kock, Leandri Oosthuizen, Wessel Christiaan Beltran, Roxanne S. Bester, Marthan Nieuwoudt De Bruyn, P.J. Nico Determinants of moult haulout phenology and duration in southern elephant seals |
topic_facet |
Climate change Marine mammals Mirounga leonina Moult Hauling-out |
description |
Phenological shifts are among the most obvious biological responses to environmental change, yet documented responses for Southern Ocean marine mammals are extremely rare. Marine mammals can respond to environmental changes through phenological fexibility of their life-history events such as breeding and moulting. Southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) undergo an obligatory annual moult which involves the rapid shedding of epidermal skin and hair while seals fast ashore. We quantifed the timing (phenology) and duration (the time from arrival ashore to departure) of the moult haulout of 4612 female elephant seals at Marion Island over 32 years. Using linear mixedefects models, we investigated age, breeding state and environmental drivers of moult timing and haulout duration. We found no clear evidence for a temporal shift in moult phenology or its duration. Annual variation in moult arrival date and haulout duration was small relative to age and breeding efects, which explained more than 90% of the variance in moult arrival date and 25% in moult haulout duration. All environmental covariates we tested explained minimal variation in the data. Female elephant seals moulted progressively later as juveniles, but adults age 4 and older had similar moult start dates that depended on the breeding state of the female. In contrast, moult haulout duration was not constant with age among adults, but instead became shorter with increasing age. Moulting is energetically expensive and diferences in the moult haulout duration are possibly due to individual variation in body mass and associated metabolizable energy reserves, although other drivers (e.g. hormones) may also be present. Individual-based data on moult arrival dates and haulout duration can be used as auxiliary data in demographic modelling and may be useful proxies of other important biological parameters such as body condition and breeding history. National Research Foundation (NRF) http://www.nature.com/srep/index.html pm2022 Mammal Research Institute ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
De Kock, Leandri Oosthuizen, Wessel Christiaan Beltran, Roxanne S. Bester, Marthan Nieuwoudt De Bruyn, P.J. Nico |
author_facet |
De Kock, Leandri Oosthuizen, Wessel Christiaan Beltran, Roxanne S. Bester, Marthan Nieuwoudt De Bruyn, P.J. Nico |
author_sort |
De Kock, Leandri |
title |
Determinants of moult haulout phenology and duration in southern elephant seals |
title_short |
Determinants of moult haulout phenology and duration in southern elephant seals |
title_full |
Determinants of moult haulout phenology and duration in southern elephant seals |
title_fullStr |
Determinants of moult haulout phenology and duration in southern elephant seals |
title_full_unstemmed |
Determinants of moult haulout phenology and duration in southern elephant seals |
title_sort |
determinants of moult haulout phenology and duration in southern elephant seals |
publisher |
Nature Research |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/85878 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-92635-9 |
geographic |
Southern Ocean |
geographic_facet |
Southern Ocean |
genre |
Elephant Seals Marion Island Mirounga leonina Southern Elephant Seals Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Elephant Seals Marion Island Mirounga leonina Southern Elephant Seals Southern Ocean |
op_relation |
https://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/85878 De Kock, L., Oosthuizen, W.C., Beltran, R.S. et al. Determinants of moult haulout phenology and duration in southern elephant seals. Scientific Reports 11, 13331 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-92635-9. 2045-2322 (online) doi:10.1038/s41598-021-92635-9 |
op_rights |
© The Author(s) 2021, corrected publication 2021. This is an Open Access article licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-92635-9 |
container_title |
Scientific Reports |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
1 |
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1766401498237894656 |