Elephant seal foraging success is enhanced in Antarctic coastal polynyas
Antarctic polynyas are persistent open water areas which enable early and large seasonal phytoplankton blooms. This high primary productivity, boosted by iron supply from coastal glaciers, attracts organisms from all trophic levels to form a rich and diverse community. How the ecological benefit of...
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Online Access: | https://eprints.utas.edu.au/45863/ |
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ftunivtasmania:oai:eprints.utas.edu.au:45863 2023-05-15T13:43:28+02:00 Elephant seal foraging success is enhanced in Antarctic coastal polynyas Arce, F Hindell, MA McMahon, CR Wotherspoon, S Guinet, C Harcourt, R Bestley, S 2022 https://eprints.utas.edu.au/45863/ unknown Royal Soc London Arce, F, Hindell, MA orcid:0000-0002-7823-7185 , McMahon, CR, Wotherspoon, S orcid:0000-0002-6947-4445 , Guinet, C, Harcourt, R and Bestley, S orcid:0000-0001-9342-669X 2022 , 'Elephant seal foraging success is enhanced in Antarctic coastal polynyas' , Proceedings of the Royal Society of London: Biological Sciences, vol. 289, no. 1967 , pp. 1-9 , doi:10.1098/rspb.2021.2452 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.2452>. Mirounga leonina body condition drift rates Southern Ocean post-polynyas foraging behaviour Article PeerReviewed 2022 ftunivtasmania https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.2452 2022-05-23T22:16:35Z Antarctic polynyas are persistent open water areas which enable early and large seasonal phytoplankton blooms. This high primary productivity, boosted by iron supply from coastal glaciers, attracts organisms from all trophic levels to form a rich and diverse community. How the ecological benefit of polynya productivity is translated to the highest trophic levels remains poorly resolved. We studied 119 southern elephant seals feeding over the Antarctic shelf and demonstrated that: (i) 96% of seals foraging here used polynyas, with individuals spending on average 62% of their time there; (ii) the seals exhibited more area-restricted search behaviour when in polynyas; and (iii) these seals gained more energy (indicated by increased buoyancy from greater fat stores) when inside polynyas. This higher-quality foraging existed even when ice was not present in the study area, indicating that these are important and predictable foraging grounds year-round. Despite these energetic advantages from using polynyas, not all the seals used them extensively. Factors other than food supply may influence an individual's choice in their use of feeding grounds, such as exposure to predation or the probability of being able to return to distant sub-Antarctic breeding sites. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Elephant Seal Elephant Seals Mirounga leonina Southern Elephant Seals Southern Ocean University of Tasmania: UTas ePrints Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 289 1967 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
University of Tasmania: UTas ePrints |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtasmania |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Mirounga leonina body condition drift rates Southern Ocean post-polynyas foraging behaviour |
spellingShingle |
Mirounga leonina body condition drift rates Southern Ocean post-polynyas foraging behaviour Arce, F Hindell, MA McMahon, CR Wotherspoon, S Guinet, C Harcourt, R Bestley, S Elephant seal foraging success is enhanced in Antarctic coastal polynyas |
topic_facet |
Mirounga leonina body condition drift rates Southern Ocean post-polynyas foraging behaviour |
description |
Antarctic polynyas are persistent open water areas which enable early and large seasonal phytoplankton blooms. This high primary productivity, boosted by iron supply from coastal glaciers, attracts organisms from all trophic levels to form a rich and diverse community. How the ecological benefit of polynya productivity is translated to the highest trophic levels remains poorly resolved. We studied 119 southern elephant seals feeding over the Antarctic shelf and demonstrated that: (i) 96% of seals foraging here used polynyas, with individuals spending on average 62% of their time there; (ii) the seals exhibited more area-restricted search behaviour when in polynyas; and (iii) these seals gained more energy (indicated by increased buoyancy from greater fat stores) when inside polynyas. This higher-quality foraging existed even when ice was not present in the study area, indicating that these are important and predictable foraging grounds year-round. Despite these energetic advantages from using polynyas, not all the seals used them extensively. Factors other than food supply may influence an individual's choice in their use of feeding grounds, such as exposure to predation or the probability of being able to return to distant sub-Antarctic breeding sites. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Arce, F Hindell, MA McMahon, CR Wotherspoon, S Guinet, C Harcourt, R Bestley, S |
author_facet |
Arce, F Hindell, MA McMahon, CR Wotherspoon, S Guinet, C Harcourt, R Bestley, S |
author_sort |
Arce, F |
title |
Elephant seal foraging success is enhanced in Antarctic coastal polynyas |
title_short |
Elephant seal foraging success is enhanced in Antarctic coastal polynyas |
title_full |
Elephant seal foraging success is enhanced in Antarctic coastal polynyas |
title_fullStr |
Elephant seal foraging success is enhanced in Antarctic coastal polynyas |
title_full_unstemmed |
Elephant seal foraging success is enhanced in Antarctic coastal polynyas |
title_sort |
elephant seal foraging success is enhanced in antarctic coastal polynyas |
publisher |
Royal Soc London |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://eprints.utas.edu.au/45863/ |
geographic |
Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Elephant Seal Elephant Seals Mirounga leonina Southern Elephant Seals Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Elephant Seal Elephant Seals Mirounga leonina Southern Elephant Seals Southern Ocean |
op_relation |
Arce, F, Hindell, MA orcid:0000-0002-7823-7185 , McMahon, CR, Wotherspoon, S orcid:0000-0002-6947-4445 , Guinet, C, Harcourt, R and Bestley, S orcid:0000-0001-9342-669X 2022 , 'Elephant seal foraging success is enhanced in Antarctic coastal polynyas' , Proceedings of the Royal Society of London: Biological Sciences, vol. 289, no. 1967 , pp. 1-9 , doi:10.1098/rspb.2021.2452 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.2452>. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.2452 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
container_volume |
289 |
container_issue |
1967 |
_version_ |
1766189225420521472 |