Quantifying the Trophic Linkages of Antarctic Marine Predators

Understanding the diet and trophic relationships of animals in space and time, and its implications for population abundance and distributions, is a central problem in ecology. In the marine environment, the dietary study of marine mammal and avian species is impeded by the lack of information on their foraging strategies during the non-breeding period, when individuals migrate from common breeding areas to remote feeding grounds. Moreover, the spatial distribution of males, females and their offspring can differ considerably due to contrasting reproductive requirements and physiological constraints, respectively. Seasonal constraints therefore may influence the spatial distribution of abundant, migratory species, causing the food web structure, energy and nutrient flow within a given system to fluctuate accordingly.