Inter and intra specific interactions in marine habitat selection of two sympatric seal species in Northeast Atlantic

• Main Author: Huon, Mathilde
• Other Authors: Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé - UMR 7372 (CEBC), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-La Rochelle Université (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université de La Rochelle, Florence Caurant, Cécile Vincent
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2017
• Subjects: Grey seal; Halichoerus grypus; Harbour seal; Phoca vitulina; Sympatric species; Habitat selection; Behavioural plasticity; Intra and inter-specific interactions; Phoque gris; Phoque veau marin; Espèces sympatriques; Utilisation d’habitat; Plasticité comportementale; Interactions intra et inter-specifiques; [SDV.EE.IEO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Ecology; environment/Symbiosis; Phoques; harbour seal; Northeast Atlantic; veau marin
• Online Access: https://theses.hal.science/tel-01804977; https://theses.hal.science/tel-01804977/document; https://theses.hal.science/tel-01804977/file/2017Huon104423.pdf

The behavioural plasticity and the interactions between organisms are known to influence foraging habitat selection and spatial usage. In the Northeast Atlantic, greyand harbour seals live in sympatry. These two species are spread into different colonies where interactions between organisms (linked to the colony size et and the presence of one or both species) and habitat availability (linked to the prey distribution) vary locally. The objective of this PhD was to study the spatial usage and foraging habitat selection of these two species at the local scale, in contrasted situations of population dynamics. Several individuals were tagged with GPS/GSM tags in different colonies located in Ireland, Scotland and France. Telemetry data was used to characterize the seals’ trips at sea and to identify their foraging areas in order to model foraging habitat selection. While harbour seals only performed trips restricted around their haulout sites, grey seals moved between colonies. Studying habitat selection at the individual scale, for individuals moving between colonies, highlighted the influence of behavioural plasticity and suggested the influence of individual personality. At the colony scale, for both species, results highlighted the influence of habitat availability (indirectly linked to prey availability) and intra-specific interactions (linked to density dependence effects) on spatial usage and foraging habitat selection. However, the foraging habitat selection was mainly explained by the distance from the last haulout and the bathymetry. These two parameters are linked to the central place forager and benthic feeder characteristics of the seals. Furthermore, this study also highlighted, for study sites where both species occur, a spatial segregation and differences in foraging habitat selection between grey and harbourseals. La plasticité comportementale et les interactions entre organismes sont connues pour avoir une influence sur l’utilisation de l’espace, notamment la sélection de l’habitat de chasse. ...