Five decades on: use of historical weaning size data reveals that a decrease in maternal foraging success underpins the long-term decline in population of southern elephant seals ( Mirounga leonina )
The population of Southern elephant seals ( Mirounga leonina ) at Macquarie Island has declined since the 1960s, and is thought to be due to changing oceanic conditions leading to reductions in the foraging success of Macquarie Island breeding females. To test this hypothesis, we used a 55-year-old...
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ftunivtasecite:oai:ecite.utas.edu.au:117139 2023-05-15T16:05:22+02:00 Five decades on: use of historical weaning size data reveals that a decrease in maternal foraging success underpins the long-term decline in population of southern elephant seals ( Mirounga leonina ) Clausius, E McMahon, CR Hindell, MA 2017 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0173427 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28301546 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/117139 en eng Public Library of Science http://ecite.utas.edu.au/117139/1/Clausius-2017-Five decades on_ Use of historic.pdf http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0173427 Clausius, E and McMahon, CR and Hindell, MA, Five decades on: use of historical weaning size data reveals that a decrease in maternal foraging success underpins the long-term decline in population of southern elephant seals ( Mirounga leonina ), PLoS One, 12, (3) Article e0173427. ISSN 1932-6203 (2017) [Refereed Article] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28301546 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/117139 Biological Sciences Ecology Marine and Estuarine Ecology (incl. Marine Ichthyology) Refereed Article PeerReviewed 2017 ftunivtasecite https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0173427 2019-12-13T22:16:38Z The population of Southern elephant seals ( Mirounga leonina ) at Macquarie Island has declined since the 1960s, and is thought to be due to changing oceanic conditions leading to reductions in the foraging success of Macquarie Island breeding females. To test this hypothesis, we used a 55-year-old data set on weaning size of southern elephant seals to quantify a decrease in weaning size from a period of population stability in 1950s to its present state of on-going decline. Being capital breeders, the size of elephant seal pups at weaning is a direct consequence of maternal foraging success in the preceding year. During the 1940-1950s, the mean of female pups at weaning was similar between the Heard and Macquarie Island populations, while the snout-tail-length length of male weaners from Heard Island were longer than their conspecifics at Macquarie Island. Additionally, the snout-tail-length of pups at weaning decreased by 3cm between the 1950s and 1990s in the Macquarie Island population, concurrent with the observed population decline. Given the importance of weaning size in determining first-year survival and recruitment rates, the decline in the size at weaning suggests that the decline in the Macquarie Island population has, to some extent, been driven by reduced maternal foraging success, consequent declines in the size of pups at weaning, leading to reduced first-year survival rates and recruitment of breeding females into the population 3 to 4 years later. Article in Journal/Newspaper Elephant Seal Elephant Seals Heard Island Macquarie Island Mirounga leonina Southern Elephant Seals eCite UTAS (University of Tasmania) Heard Island PLOS ONE 12 3 e0173427 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
eCite UTAS (University of Tasmania) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtasecite |
language |
English |
topic |
Biological Sciences Ecology Marine and Estuarine Ecology (incl. Marine Ichthyology) |
spellingShingle |
Biological Sciences Ecology Marine and Estuarine Ecology (incl. Marine Ichthyology) Clausius, E McMahon, CR Hindell, MA Five decades on: use of historical weaning size data reveals that a decrease in maternal foraging success underpins the long-term decline in population of southern elephant seals ( Mirounga leonina ) |
topic_facet |
Biological Sciences Ecology Marine and Estuarine Ecology (incl. Marine Ichthyology) |
description |
The population of Southern elephant seals ( Mirounga leonina ) at Macquarie Island has declined since the 1960s, and is thought to be due to changing oceanic conditions leading to reductions in the foraging success of Macquarie Island breeding females. To test this hypothesis, we used a 55-year-old data set on weaning size of southern elephant seals to quantify a decrease in weaning size from a period of population stability in 1950s to its present state of on-going decline. Being capital breeders, the size of elephant seal pups at weaning is a direct consequence of maternal foraging success in the preceding year. During the 1940-1950s, the mean of female pups at weaning was similar between the Heard and Macquarie Island populations, while the snout-tail-length length of male weaners from Heard Island were longer than their conspecifics at Macquarie Island. Additionally, the snout-tail-length of pups at weaning decreased by 3cm between the 1950s and 1990s in the Macquarie Island population, concurrent with the observed population decline. Given the importance of weaning size in determining first-year survival and recruitment rates, the decline in the size at weaning suggests that the decline in the Macquarie Island population has, to some extent, been driven by reduced maternal foraging success, consequent declines in the size of pups at weaning, leading to reduced first-year survival rates and recruitment of breeding females into the population 3 to 4 years later. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Clausius, E McMahon, CR Hindell, MA |
author_facet |
Clausius, E McMahon, CR Hindell, MA |
author_sort |
Clausius, E |
title |
Five decades on: use of historical weaning size data reveals that a decrease in maternal foraging success underpins the long-term decline in population of southern elephant seals ( Mirounga leonina ) |
title_short |
Five decades on: use of historical weaning size data reveals that a decrease in maternal foraging success underpins the long-term decline in population of southern elephant seals ( Mirounga leonina ) |
title_full |
Five decades on: use of historical weaning size data reveals that a decrease in maternal foraging success underpins the long-term decline in population of southern elephant seals ( Mirounga leonina ) |
title_fullStr |
Five decades on: use of historical weaning size data reveals that a decrease in maternal foraging success underpins the long-term decline in population of southern elephant seals ( Mirounga leonina ) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Five decades on: use of historical weaning size data reveals that a decrease in maternal foraging success underpins the long-term decline in population of southern elephant seals ( Mirounga leonina ) |
title_sort |
five decades on: use of historical weaning size data reveals that a decrease in maternal foraging success underpins the long-term decline in population of southern elephant seals ( mirounga leonina ) |
publisher |
Public Library of Science |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0173427 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28301546 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/117139 |
geographic |
Heard Island |
geographic_facet |
Heard Island |
genre |
Elephant Seal Elephant Seals Heard Island Macquarie Island Mirounga leonina Southern Elephant Seals |
genre_facet |
Elephant Seal Elephant Seals Heard Island Macquarie Island Mirounga leonina Southern Elephant Seals |
op_relation |
http://ecite.utas.edu.au/117139/1/Clausius-2017-Five decades on_ Use of historic.pdf http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0173427 Clausius, E and McMahon, CR and Hindell, MA, Five decades on: use of historical weaning size data reveals that a decrease in maternal foraging success underpins the long-term decline in population of southern elephant seals ( Mirounga leonina ), PLoS One, 12, (3) Article e0173427. ISSN 1932-6203 (2017) [Refereed Article] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28301546 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/117139 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0173427 |
container_title |
PLOS ONE |
container_volume |
12 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
e0173427 |
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1766401271257890816 |