Influence of time of day and month on Weddell seal haul-out patterns at the Vestfold Hills, Antarctica
A diurnal pattern in haul-out behaviour has been described for Weddell seals at McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, but regional and seasonal variations were previously unknown. Knowledge of activity patterns is important for standardising census methods and census data. This study quantified the diurnal pat...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s003000050194 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/11829 |
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ftunivtasecite:oai:ecite.utas.edu.au:11829 2023-05-15T13:56:40+02:00 Influence of time of day and month on Weddell seal haul-out patterns at the Vestfold Hills, Antarctica Lake, SE Burton, HR Hindell, MA 1997 https://doi.org/10.1007/s003000050194 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/11829 en eng Springer-Verlag http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s003000050194 Lake, SE and Burton, HR and Hindell, MA, Influence of time of day and month on Weddell seal haul-out patterns at the Vestfold Hills, Antarctica, Polar Biology, 18, (5) pp. 319-324. ISSN 0722-4060 (1997) [Refereed Article] http://ecite.utas.edu.au/11829 Biological Sciences Ecology Marine and Estuarine Ecology (incl. Marine Ichthyology) Refereed Article PeerReviewed 1997 ftunivtasecite https://doi.org/10.1007/s003000050194 2019-12-13T20:56:47Z A diurnal pattern in haul-out behaviour has been described for Weddell seals at McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, but regional and seasonal variations were previously unknown. Knowledge of activity patterns is important for standardising census methods and census data. This study quantified the diurnal pattern in haulout behaviour of Weddell seals at the Vestfold Hills from October 1994 to March 1995. Sequential counts of seals on the ice showed that, between 0900 and 1930 hours, seal abundance differed up to 95%. Fewer seals were hauled out in the morning than in the afternoon. The maximum numbers of seals were hauled out at the warmest time of day. The diurnal cycle was less pronounced in the breeding season than in the moulting season. The findings indicated the importance of censusing Weddell seals after 1430 hours and before 1700 hours local time, especially in the moulting season. Correction factors are given for month and time of day. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica McMurdo Sound Polar Biology Weddell Seal Weddell Seals eCite UTAS (University of Tasmania) Vestfold Hills McMurdo Sound Weddell Vestfold Polar Biology 18 5 319 324 |
institution |
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) Lake, SE Burton, HR Hindell, MA Influence of time of day and month on Weddell seal haul-out patterns at the Vestfold Hills, Antarctica |
topic_facet |
Biological Sciences Ecology Marine and Estuarine Ecology (incl. Marine Ichthyology) |
description |
A diurnal pattern in haul-out behaviour has been described for Weddell seals at McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, but regional and seasonal variations were previously unknown. Knowledge of activity patterns is important for standardising census methods and census data. This study quantified the diurnal pattern in haulout behaviour of Weddell seals at the Vestfold Hills from October 1994 to March 1995. Sequential counts of seals on the ice showed that, between 0900 and 1930 hours, seal abundance differed up to 95%. Fewer seals were hauled out in the morning than in the afternoon. The maximum numbers of seals were hauled out at the warmest time of day. The diurnal cycle was less pronounced in the breeding season than in the moulting season. The findings indicated the importance of censusing Weddell seals after 1430 hours and before 1700 hours local time, especially in the moulting season. Correction factors are given for month and time of day. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Lake, SE Burton, HR Hindell, MA |
author_facet |
Lake, SE Burton, HR Hindell, MA |
author_sort |
Lake, SE |
title |
Influence of time of day and month on Weddell seal haul-out patterns at the Vestfold Hills, Antarctica |
title_short |
Influence of time of day and month on Weddell seal haul-out patterns at the Vestfold Hills, Antarctica |
title_full |
Influence of time of day and month on Weddell seal haul-out patterns at the Vestfold Hills, Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Influence of time of day and month on Weddell seal haul-out patterns at the Vestfold Hills, Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Influence of time of day and month on Weddell seal haul-out patterns at the Vestfold Hills, Antarctica |
title_sort |
influence of time of day and month on weddell seal haul-out patterns at the vestfold hills, antarctica |
publisher |
Springer-Verlag |
publishDate |
1997 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s003000050194 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/11829 |
geographic |
Vestfold Hills McMurdo Sound Weddell Vestfold |
geographic_facet |
Vestfold Hills McMurdo Sound Weddell Vestfold |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica McMurdo Sound Polar Biology Weddell Seal Weddell Seals |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica McMurdo Sound Polar Biology Weddell Seal Weddell Seals |
op_relation |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s003000050194 Lake, SE and Burton, HR and Hindell, MA, Influence of time of day and month on Weddell seal haul-out patterns at the Vestfold Hills, Antarctica, Polar Biology, 18, (5) pp. 319-324. ISSN 0722-4060 (1997) [Refereed Article] http://ecite.utas.edu.au/11829 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s003000050194 |
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Polar Biology |
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18 |
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5 |
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319 |
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324 |
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1766264227667902464 |