Ecology of the ringed seal, <i>Phoca hispida</i>, in its fast ice breeding habitat

Smith, Thomas G.; Hammill, Michael O.

doi:10.1139/z81-135

Cited by 141 publications

(150 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Strong fidelity to breeding sites was observed in all 12 ringed seals (3 tracked via VHF radio transmitters and 9 via satellite-linked transmitters) that we tracked through subnivean periods in successive years. Smith and Hammill (1981) observed the same ringed seal resting on the ice of a Baffin Island fjord in two successive basking periods, and hunters from Norton Sound on the Bering Sea coast of Alaska reported recognizing a female ringed seal rearing a pup in the same location in 4 or 5 successive years (Huntington 2000). Krafft et al (2007) reported that an unspecified number of ''adult animals have been marked and then recaptured in the next year or after several years some few 100 m from where they were marked'' in a fjord on Svalbard.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal home ranges and fidelity to breeding sites among ringed seals

et al. 2010

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Population structure and patterns of habitat use among ringed seals (Phoca hispida) are poorly known, in part because seasonal movements have not been adequately documented. We monitored the movements of 98 ringed seals in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas between 1990 and 2006 using three forms of telemetry. In the winter-spring period (when the seals were occupying shorefast ice), we used radio and ultra-sonic tags to track movements above and below the ice, respectively. We used satellite-linked transmitters in summer and fall (when the seals ranged away from their winter sites) to track at-sea movements. In the shorefast ice habitat, the home ranges of 27 adult males ranged from \1 to 13.9 km 2 (median = 0.628) while the home ranges of 28 adult females ranged from \1 to 27.9 km 2 (median = 0.652). The 3-dimensional volumes used by 9 seals tracked acoustically under the ice averaged 0.07 (SD = 0.04) km 3 for subadults and adult males and 0.13 (SD = 0.04) km 3 for adult females. Three of the radio-tracked seals and 9 tracked by satellite ranged up to 1,800 km from their winter/spring home ranges in summer but returned to the same small (1-2 km 2 ) sites during the ice-bound months in the following year. The restricted movements of ringed seals during the ice-bound seasonincluding the breeding season-limits their foraging activities for most of the year and may minimize gene flow within the species.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal home ranges and fidelity to breeding sites among ringed seals

et al. 2010

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“…A diurnal pattern must also be taken into account. Midday has generally been regarded as the peak basking period during the moult (Bums and Harbo 1972, Smith 1973a, Finley 1979, Smith and Hammill 1981. Air temperature, wind speed and cloud cover, however, also affect haul-out behaviour.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Finley (1979) estimated that under ideal survey conditions up to 70% of the ringed seals in an area would be visible on the ice. Smith and Hammill (1981) found during the latter half of May that 23-80% (average 48%) of the seals in the fast ice of inner Popham Bay, Baffin Island, were on the ice at the diel peak of haulout. Using a different approach in another area, Hammill and Smith (1990) estimated that true densities were 1.3-1.9 times higher than estimated from aerial surveys.…”

Section: Nammco Scientific Publications Volume Imentioning

confidence: 99%

Distribution, abundance and biology of ringed seals (<i>Phoca hispida</i>): an overview

Reeves

1998

NAMMCOSP

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The ringed seal (Phoca hispida) has a circumpolar Arctic distribution. Because of its great importance to northern communities and its role as the primary food of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) the ringed seal has been studied extensively in Canada, Alaska, Russia, Svalbard and Greenland as well as in the Baltic Sea and Karelian lakes. No clear-cut boundaries are known to separate ringed seal stocks in marine waters. Adult seals are thought to be relatively sedentary, but sub-adults sometimes disperse over long distances. Stable ice with good snow cover is considered the most productive habitat although production in pack ice has been little studied. Populations appear to be structured so that immature animals and young adults are consigned to sub-optimal habitat during the spring pupping and breeding season. Annual production in ringed seal populations, defined as the pup percentage in the total population after the late winter pupping season, is probably in the order of 18-24%. Most ~stimates of maximum sustainable yield are in the order of 7%.The world population of ringed seals is at least a few million. Methods of abundance estimation have included aerial surveys, dog searches and remote sensing of lairs and breathing holes, acoustic monitoring, correlation analysis by reference to sizes of polar bear populations, and inference from estimated energy requirements of bear populations. Aerial strip survey has been the method of choice for estimating seal densities over large areas. Adjustment factors to account for seals not hauled out at the time of the survey, for seals that dove ahead of the aircraft, and for seals on the ice within the surveyed strip but not detected by the observers, are required for estimates of absolute abundance.Male and female ringed seals are sexually mature by 5-7 years of age (earlier at Svalbard). Pupping usually occurs in March or early April and is followed by 5-7 weeks of lactation. Breeding takes place in mid to late May, and implantation is delayed for about 3 months. In at least some parts of their range, ringed seals feed mainly on schooling gadids from late autumn through early spring and on benthic crustaceans and polar cod (Boreogadus saida) from late spring through summer. Little feeding is done during the moult, which takes place in late spring and early summer. Pelagic crustaceans offshore and mysids inshore become important prey in late summer and early autumn in some areas. Ringed seals have several natural predators, the most important of which is the polar bear in most arctic regions. Arctic foxes (Alopex lagopus) kill a large percentage of pups in some areas.From a conservation perspective, the ringed seal appears to be secure. Levels of exploitation of arctic populations have usually been considered sustainable, except in the Okhotsk Sea. Large fluctuations in production of ringed seals in the Beaufort Sea and Amundsen Gulf are thought to be driven by natural variability in environmental conditions. While concern has been expressed about the potential imp...

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“…In the Amundsen Gulf and Sanikiluaq during winter, ringed seals were resident in areas of stable shore-fast ice. Shore-fast ice with adequate snow cover allows ringed seals to minimise risk of predation by polar bears, who prefer to forage in areas of active sea ice further away from shore (Smith & Hammill 1981, Pilfold et al 2014. During winter at one of the most southern sampling locations (i.e.…”

Section: Resident Behaviour Relative To the Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ringed seals Pusa hispida hispida are an abundant near-top trophic level carnivore that have a circumpolar distribution and whose life history has been strongly shaped by sea ice dynamics (McLaren 1958, Smith & Hammill 1981. Ringed seals primarily consume schooling pelagic forage fish such as Arctic cod Boreogadus saida, sandlance Ammodytes sp.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of sea ice phenology on the movement ecology of ringed seals across their latitudinal range

Yurkowski¹,

Semeniuk²,

Harwood³

et al. 2016

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Environmental variation influences resource distribution, thereby affecting animal movement and foraging decisions. Climate change is altering environmental processes worldwide, but particularly in the Arctic, where changes in the phenology of sea ice have been redistributing resources across space and time. How polar marine predators such as ringed seals Pusa hispida hispida, whose ecology is tightly tied to sea ice, respond to different sea ice dynamics across large spatial scales is generally unknown. Here, behavioural states (resident and traveling) were estimated using state−space models on adult (n = 45) and subadult (n = 85) ringed seal satellite telemetry tracks from 6 Arctic locations. Tagged ringed seals spanned a wide latitudinal (56.54° to 75.58°N) and sea ice phenological range from short (1 to 2 mo) to longer (6 mo) ice-free periods. We assessed the influences of age class and several intra-and inter-annual environmental variables on ringed seal movement ecology. Both adults and subadults spent most of the icefree season in a resident state (93 and 77%, respectively). A latitudinal gradient was characterised, where longer ice-free seasons and less inter-annual variability in sea ice phenology at lower latitudes were related to ringed seals spending more time in a resident state than their conspecifics at higher latitudes (90 versus 58%, respectively), where the ice-free season was shorter and sea ice phenology between years was less synchronous. Ringed seals are responding to latitudinal differences in sea ice phenology which affect prey distribution, suggesting plasticity in their foraging decisions and spatiotemporal differences in prey distribution across the rapidly changing Arctic.

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Ecology of the ringed seal, Phoca hispida, in its fast ice breeding habitat

Cited by 141 publications

References 6 publications

Seasonal home ranges and fidelity to breeding sites among ringed seals

Seasonal home ranges and fidelity to breeding sites among ringed seals

Distribution, abundance and biology of ringed seals (<i>Phoca hispida</i>): an overview

Influence of sea ice phenology on the movement ecology of ringed seals across their latitudinal range

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