Foraging ecology of southern elephant seals in relation to the bathymetry and productivity of the Southern Ocean

McConnell, Bernie; Chambers, C.; Fedak, Michael A.

doi:10.1017/s0954102092000580

Cited by 462 publications

(370 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…We first used a forward-backward speed filter (McConnell et al, 1992) with a maximum speed of 80 km/h (Croll et al, 1991) to cull erroneous positions ( o5% of locations were removed), leaving over 1 million locations from 44 individuals. Not all birds were equipped with dive loggers to identify known foraging activity, therefore we developed criteria to define a foraging trip based on activities of birds carrying dive loggers and direct observations of adults returning with prey to provision chicks.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does location really matter? An inter-colony comparison of seabirds breeding at varying distances from productive oceanographic features in the Bering Sea

Harding

Paredes

Suryan

et al. 2013

Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography

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a b s t r a c tCentral place foragers, such as breeding seabirds, need to commute between their nests and foraging grounds, thus close proximity of the breeding colony to productive oceanographic features might be beneficial for seabird reproduction. We tested this hypothesis by investigating the at-sea foraging and breeding behavior of thick-billed murres (Uria lomvia) nesting at three colonies (Bogoslof, St. Paul, and St. George Islands) in the Bering Sea located at different distances from the productive continental shelf-break. We found that distances to feeding areas differed only during night trips among colonies. St. Paul murres foraged entirely on the shelf, whereas St. George murres commuted to the continental shelf-break at night and foraged on the shelf during the day. Bogoslof murres foraged in oceanic waters in close proximity to the colony. Murres breeding at the both Pribilof colonies spent less time attending nests and had higher levels of stress hormone corticosterone compared to murres breeding at Bogoslof, although chick-provisioning rates and fledging success were similar among the three colonies. Lower nest attendance and higher corticosterone suggest lower food availability in the Pribilof domain compared to the Bogoslof region. Murres breeding at the Pribilofs used different foraging strategies to buffer effects of food shortages on their reproduction: flight costs associated with longer distance night trips at St. George were presumably balanced by benefits of higher density and/or more lipid rich prey in the continental shelf-break regions, whereas the additional distance of St. Paul from the continental shelf-break may have outweighed any energetic gain. Murres exhibited a remarkable degree of plasticity of foraging strategies in response to changes in their food availability, but the breeding success of murres did not reflect either food limitations or the colony proximity to productive oceanographic features.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does location really matter? An inter-colony comparison of seabirds breeding at varying distances from productive oceanographic features in the Bering Sea

Harding

Paredes

Suryan

et al. 2013

Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography

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“…Following the approach adopted in previous studies (Barlow and Croxall 2002;Lynnes et al 2002), only PTT fixes of ARGOS Location Class (LC) 3, 2, 1 and 0 were used, corresponding to a radius of error of better than 1,500 m for LC 1-3 and over 1,500 m for LC 0 (www.argossystem.org). An iterative filter (McConnell et al 1992) was applied to remove unlikely locations based on a maximum travel speed of 8 km h -1 (Ainley 2002). The validated fixes of LC 1-3 were then used in the calculation of cumulative travel distance and maximum distance from the colony for each bird.…”

Section: Location Data Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Post-breeding dispersal of Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) nesting at Signy Island, South Orkney Islands

2010

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ARGOS satellite telemetry and Global Location Sensors (geolocators) were used to identify the moult locations and the winter foraging dispersal of Adélie penguins after they left their breeding colonies on Signy Island in the South Orkney Islands. Animals were tracked during the period December 2004 to October 2005. All birds displayed a similar pattern of migratory behaviour, remaining away from colonies for approximately 9 months, at distances of up to 2,235 km. Moult locations were within the pack ice. Mean daily travel speeds to the moult locations were significantly faster when moving through open water than through pack ice. Moult occurred during February/March within a narrow latitudinal range (65-71°S), at a mean distance of 126 km from the ice edge; the mean duration of individual moult was c. 18.6 days. After moult, penguins spent the subsequent winter months moving north or north-eastward within the expanding winter pack ice, at a mean distance of 216 km from the ice edge, and in areas with ice cover [80%. The penguins returned to the vicinity of their colony between September 26 and October 22, 2005. This dependence of Adélie penguins on sea ice habitat suggests that any further reductions in sea ice extent in the Weddell Sea region would potentially have important impacts on the population processes of this pagophilic species.

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“…It is also possible that myctophid fish are seen in M. leonina diet, to some extent, as a result of secondary ingestion by squid. (McConnell et al 1992;Slip et al 1994;Jonker and Bester 1998;Campagna et al 1999;van den Hoff, unpubl. data).…”

Section: Foo (%) Ibm (%)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Humans and the Southern Elephant Seal Mirounga leonina

Burton¹,

Hoff²

2002

Aust. Mammalogy

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Southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina) populations appear remarkably unaffected by interactions with humans. They are very tolerant of close human presence whilst they are ashore for pupping, mating and moulting. Their behaviour in close proximity to helicopter operations suggests disturbance of moulting male M. leonina is minimal. There is no evidence that M. leonina have been affected by persistent organic pollutants; and few M. leonina have been reported as having been injured or killed by interactions with fishery gear. The number of prey species common to their diet and commercial fisheries in the Southern Ocean are few; but one commercial squid species, Martialia hyadesi, accounted for as much as 94% of the biomass consumed by M. leonina. Two harvested commercial squid species (Mar. hyadesi and Todarodes filippovae) were found in the stomachs of M. leonina; and some other squid species (Alluroteuthis antarcticus, Brachioteuthis spp., Gonatus antarcticus, Histeoteuthis spp., Kondokovia longimana, Moroteuthis ingens, Mor. knipovitchi, Pholidoteuthis boschmani and Psychroteuthis glacialis) have potential as commercial catch too. There is cause for concern if a future directed fishery for any of these species escalates or the by-catch of Mar. hyadesi and T. filippovae in the Illex and Nototodarus fisheries increase. There is also concern if fin-fish fisheries expand and take more of those species already taken by both M. leonina and fisheries. These species are benthic (Notothenia squamifrons), benthopelagic (Dissostichus eleginoides and Champsocephalus gunnari) and, perhaps most importantly, the pelagic myctophid species (e.g., Electrona carlsbergi).

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Foraging ecology of southern elephant seals in relation to the bathymetry and productivity of the Southern Ocean

Cited by 462 publications

References 13 publications

Does location really matter? An inter-colony comparison of seabirds breeding at varying distances from productive oceanographic features in the Bering Sea

Does location really matter? An inter-colony comparison of seabirds breeding at varying distances from productive oceanographic features in the Bering Sea

Post-breeding dispersal of Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) nesting at Signy Island, South Orkney Islands

Humans and the Southern Elephant Seal Mirounga leonina

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