Breeding habitat and lair structure of the ringed seal ( Phoca hispida ladogensis ) in northern Lake Ladoga in Russia

Kunnasranta, Mervi; Hyvärinen, Heikki; Sipilä, Tero; Медведев, Н. В.

doi:10.1007/s003000000192

Cited by 19 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Therefore, we suggest that, during the breeding season, the male mating strategy may involve not only guarding the female but also providing resources (lairs). There is evidence of haul out lair sharing among the ringed seals in Lake Ladoga and in the Arctic, which has been suggested to be related to the social behavior of the Ladoga ringed seals and the Arctic subadults rather than a mating tactic [1, 5]. In our data, there was not such evidence on lair sharing.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 59%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Winter behavior of Saimaa ringed seals: Non-overlapping core areas as indicators of avoidance in breeding females

Niemi¹,

Liukkonen²,

Koivuniemi³

et al. 2019

PLoS ONE

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Climate change, together with increasing human activity, poses a threat to the breeding success of endangered landlocked ringed seals (Phoca hispida saimensis). In this study, we estimated the spatial ecology of Saimaa ringed seals during the breeding season in the ice-covered period of December-April. The telemetry data on tagged seals (n = 20), with a total of 25 separate tracking periods and birth lair locations (n = 59) of non-tagged seals, were studied to estimate the movement ecology and breeding density. The movements of the ringed seals were more restricted during the ice-covered season; the total home range size (average 7.4 km2) in winter was 13 times smaller than that in summer. Individual tagged seals occupied an average of 5 ± 3 SD subnivean haul outs (snow lairs or ice cavities), and the mean distance between the haul outs was 1.6 ± 1.1 SD km (range 0.2–5.9 km). Moreover, our data indicated that ringed seal females likely exhibited breeding time avoidance of each other’s core areas, which may indicate some degree of territoriality. This was supported by the findings that the core areas (mean 1.2 km2) of tagged adult females (n = 9), did not overlap with each other. Also data on non-tagged seals showed that females did not give birth to pups within the core area radius of other parturient females. This study, together with earlier findings on the home ranges of nursed pups and perinatal mortality rates, has implications into land usage planning in Lake Saimaa by highlighting the need of undisturbed area between seal lairs and anthropogenic disturbances.

show abstract

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 59%

“…h . ladogensis ) construct their lairs in the snowdrifts formed on the shorelines of islands and islets [3–5]. The lairs protect the ringed seals from predation and cold by providing a sheltered platform for resting (haul out lairs) and giving birth as well as nursing (birth lairs).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Winter behavior of Saimaa ringed seals: Non-overlapping core areas as indicators of avoidance in breeding females

Niemi¹,

Liukkonen²,

Koivuniemi³

et al. 2019

PLoS ONE

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, in normal situation where there is no external noise; the pup keeps browsing the proximity (the multi-chambered lair) searching for best location. Basically, the quality of the habitat depends on the structure of the lairs, therefore during the breeding season male ringed seal emits a strong gasoline smell which may indicate the location of the lairs [ 57 , 58 ]. Wounds on both males and females represent another smell index that can mark territories.…”

Section: Ringed Seal Search Behaviourmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The number of lairs is fixed where the mortality rate of seals is interpreted by the rate of lairs destruction which is equal to 15% [ 58 ]. The complete algorithm is divided into three main parts.…”

Section: The Algorithmmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Ringed Seal Search for Global Optimization via a Sensitive Search Model

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The efficiency of a metaheuristic algorithm for global optimization is based on its ability to search and find the global optimum. However, a good search often requires to be balanced between exploration and exploitation of the search space. In this paper, a new metaheuristic algorithm called Ringed Seal Search (RSS) is introduced. It is inspired by the natural behavior of the seal pup. This algorithm mimics the seal pup movement behavior and its ability to search and choose the best lair to escape predators. The scenario starts once the seal mother gives birth to a new pup in a birthing lair that is constructed for this purpose. The seal pup strategy consists of searching and selecting the best lair by performing a random walk to find a new lair. Affected by the sensitive nature of seals against external noise emitted by predators, the random walk of the seal pup takes two different search states, normal state and urgent state. In the normal state, the pup performs an intensive search between closely adjacent lairs; this movement is modeled via a Brownian walk. In an urgent state, the pup leaves the proximity area and performs an extensive search to find a new lair from sparse targets; this movement is modeled via a Levy walk. The switch between these two states is realized by the random noise emitted by predators. The algorithm keeps switching between normal and urgent states until the global optimum is reached. Tests and validations were performed using fifteen benchmark test functions to compare the performance of RSS with other baseline algorithms. The results show that RSS is more efficient than Genetic Algorithm, Particles Swarm Optimization and Cuckoo Search in terms of convergence rate to the global optimum. The RSS shows an improvement in terms of balance between exploration (extensive) and exploitation (intensive) of the search space. The RSS can efficiently mimic seal pups behavior to find best lair and provide a new algorithm to be used in global optimization problems.

show abstract

Developing artificial nest boxes for a large aquatic mammal

Kunnasranta

Niemi

Auttila

2022

Aquatic Conservation

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

1. Nest boxes and other human-made constructions have been widely and successfully used as conservation tools to increase nest-availability for hollowdependent fauna, especially birds and some small and medium mammals.2. This study applies, for the first time, this recovery technique to a large aquatic mammal, aiming to improve resting, birthing and nursing sites of endangered Saimaa ringed seals (Pusa hispida saimensis) by developing artificial nest boxes. This landlocked subspecies' breeding habitat is severely affected by climate change. Because of mild winters, sufficient ice and snow habitat for subnivean lairs is lacking.3. In this study, floating nest boxes were developed. It was found that free-ranging ringed seals accept nest boxes as sites for resting, birthing and nursing. Thirtyfour boxes in total were offered during six successive breeding seasons. Almost half (47%) of the available boxes were used by seals, and two pups were born and reared in the boxes during the 6-year study. 4. Our study indicates that this innovative technique can be a valuable tool for the Saimaa ringed seal conservation in the changing climate.

show abstract

Breeding habitat and lair structure of the ringed seal ( Phoca hispida ladogensis ) in northern Lake Ladoga in Russia

Cited by 19 publications

References 0 publications

Winter behavior of Saimaa ringed seals: Non-overlapping core areas as indicators of avoidance in breeding females

Winter behavior of Saimaa ringed seals: Non-overlapping core areas as indicators of avoidance in breeding females

Ringed Seal Search for Global Optimization via a Sensitive Search Model

Developing artificial nest boxes for a large aquatic mammal

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About