Approaches to Studying Climatic Change and its Role on the Habitat Selection of Antarctic Pinnipeds

• Published in: Integrative and Comparative Biology
• Main Authors: Costa, Daniel P., Huckstadt, Luis A., Crocker, Daniel E., McDonald, Birgitte I., Goebel, Michael E., Fedak, Michael A.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: SOUTHERN ELEPHANT SEALS; PENINSULA CONTINENTAL-SHELF; KRILL EUPHAUSIA-SUPERBA; KING-GEORGE ISLAND; FUR SEALS; FORAGING BEHAVIOR; MIROUNGA-LEONINA; MARGUERITE BAY; OCEANOGRAPHIC CONDITIONS; KERGUELEN ISLANDS; Antarctic; Kerguelen; Kerguelen Islands; King George Island; Marguerite; Marguerite Bay; Southern Ocean; Antarc*; Elephant Seals; Euphausia superba; Mirounga leonina; Southern Elephant Seals
• Online Access: https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/en/researchoutput/approaches-to-studying-climatic-change-and-its-role-on-the-habitat-selection-of-antarctic-pinnipeds(193efcae-0c5a-47f2-9963-6a746e850306).html; https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icq054

Top predators integrate resources over time and space, and depending on the particular species they represent, different components of the marine environment. The habitat utilization of top predators has been studied using electronic tags to follow their movements and foraging behavior. In addition, these tags provide information on the physical characteristics of the water column (temperature and salinity) at a scale and resolution that is coincident with the animals' behavior. In addition to data on the animals' behavior, these tags provide physical oceanographic data in regions or at times they cannot be collected using other currently available technologies. These data inform us on how these important top predators are likely to respond to climatic change, as well as about how the Southern Ocean is changing.