Determining the movement of marine animals is logistically difficult and is currently primarily based on VHF and satellite-tracking telemetry, GPS, acoustic telemetry, and geolocation, all of which have substantial limitations in accurately locating the fine-scale movements of these animals. A recent development-that of dead-reckoning-is being increasingly used to examine the fine-scale movement of animals underwater. The advantages and drawbacks of this approach are quite different to those incurred by the other methods. This paper considers the advances that deadreckoning can bring to the study of the often cryptic movement and behaviour of marine animals at sea. Methods used in determining position via dead-reckoning are presented and consideration is given to results derived from the use of deadreckoning on cetaceans, pinnipeds, penguins and sea turtles; these are complemented by data on cormorants and albatrosses acquired using GPS systems. Suggestions are made as to how movement data derived from these devices can be analysed using indices that allow interpretation over a large variety of temporal and spatial scales. r

D~ving seabirds should evolve a variety of foraging characteristics which enable them to minimize energy expendture and to maximize net energy gain while searching for prey underwater In order to assess the related ecological adaptations in a marine predator, we studied the at-sea distribution and the diving behaviour of 23 cormorants Phalacrocorax carbo (Linnaeus) breeding at the Chausey Islands (France) using VHF-telemetry and data loggers recording hydrostatic pressure. Birds foraged within an area of approximately 1131 km2 situated north-east of the breeding colony. This zone represents only 25 % of the maxinlal potentially available area that the birds may utilize considering their maximum foraging range of 35 km. Individual birds remained withln restricted individual foraging areas (on average 18 and 10% of the total utilized area in 1994 and 1995, respectively) throughout the study period. Moreover, the cormorants studied conducted an average of 42 dives per foraging trip, lasting for an average of 40 S (maximum 152 S), and reached an average maximum dive depth of 6.1 m (maximum 32 m) with median descent and ascent angles calculated to be 18.7" and 20.3", respectively. Overall, 64 % of all dives were U-shaped dives and 36% V-shaped dives. We use these results to demonstrate how both specialization and opportunism may support the remarkably high foraging efficiency of this marine predator.

Assessment of food requirements is a key feature in the evaluation of the ecological status of the marine megafauna. However, this remains technically difficult because prey intake by marine top predators occurs mainly under water, out of sight. In this paper, we compare three independent methods currently available for use in quantitative dietary studies: (1) time-energy budget; (2) stomach-temperature measurements; and (3) automatic weighing. To this end, concurrent measurements were performed on Great Cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo carbo) breeding in Normandy. According to the time-energy budget method, breeding males required 690 g of fish while incubating, 1050 g when rearing small chicks, and 1350 g when rearing large chicks; corresponding values for breeding females were 500, 760, and 970 g. These measurements are similar to estimates derived from automatic weighing data, which gave a mean food intake of 540 and 390 g for incubating males and females, 1150 and 830 g for those tending small chicks, and 1410 and 1010 g for those tending large ones, respectively. Stomach-temperature measurements, which can only be performed for birds raising small chicks, were lower (640 g fish in males and 450 g in females) than those obtained using the other two methods. We compare these results with former estimates obtained at the same study site and for other Great Cormorant subspecies and discuss the relative accuracies of the three techniques. Finally, we stress that better assessment of the ecological status of marine top predators requires further technical improvements and additional investigations outside of the reproductive phase.

Sea turtles are diving ectotherms that are influenced by the temperature of the ambient water, although swimming activity can temper this influence via increased body temperatures enhanced by the thermal inertia of these large animals. We successfully equipped 3 nesting hawksbill turtles Eretmochelys imbricata with time-depth recorders (TDRs) to monitor water temperature and dive depth over the duration of the re-migration interval between 2 successive nesting seasons. Data sets for up to 22 mo were obtained, showing fluctuations in water temperature over the seasons. Nocturnal dive behaviour of the turtles at their foraging grounds revealed an increase in dive duration with decreasing water temperatures in winter. A model is provided to estimate dive duration for the range of temperatures experienced by this species in the wild. The data on vertical velocity during ascent and descent phases as a parameter for activity failed to show thermal dependence. It is concluded that changes in water temperature have an effect on the behavioural ecology of hawksbill turtles.

Recent severe hurricanes in the Caribbean and south-east United States have had devastating socioeconomic effects, and there is a pressing need to learn how animals are impacted by such events. We serendipitously deployed a multi-channel data logger onto a hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) during the breeding season in 1998 and logged various aspects of her behaviour before, during and after passage of hurricane Georges. As Georges passed by, the turtle made shorter dives, became more active and spent less time at the surface between dives compared with its baseline, non-storm activity. However, after passage of the hurricane the turtle quickly resumed its pre-hurricane behaviour and nested successfully a few days later. These results show that, in this case, the hurricane had a minor impact on the submerged animal presumably because of the dampening effect of depth on high winds over water.

Auf unzugänglichen Inseln der tropischen Meere lebt die Karettschildkröte. Um Einblick in ihr Tauchverhalten und die Lebensweise auf See zu gewinnen, werden Tiere mit modernen „Fahrtenschreibern”︁ ausgerüstet

Hawksbill turtles live on inaccessible islands in tropical oceans. In order to gain insight on their diving behaviour and their marine way of life some have been equipped with modern “trip recorders”