eCite Digital Repository
Identifying foraging events in deep diving southern elephant seals, Mirounga leonina, using acceleration data loggers
Citation
Gallon, S and Bailleaul, F and Charrassin, JB and Guinet, C and Bost, CA and Handrich, Y and Hindell, MA, Identifying foraging events in deep diving southern elephant seals, Mirounga leonina, using acceleration data loggers, Deep-Sea Research. Part 2: Topical Studies in Oceanography, 88-89 pp. 14-22. ISSN 0967-0645 (2013) [Refereed Article]
Copyright Statement
Copyright 2012 Elsevier Ltd.
DOI: doi:10.1016/j.dsr2.2012.09.002
Abstract
Southernelephantseals(Miroungaleonina) rangewidelythroughouttheSouthernOceanandare
associatedwithimportanthabitats(e.g., iceedges,shelf)wheretheyaccumulateenergytofueltheir
reproductiveeffortsonland.Knowledgeofthefinescaleforagingbehaviourusedtogarnerthisenergy,
however,islimited.Forthefirsttime,accelerationloggersweredeployedonthreeadultsouthern
elephantsealsduringatranslocationstudyatKerguelenIsland.Theaimsofthestudywereto
(1) identifypreycaptureattemptsusing2-Daccelerometertagsdeployedontheheadofsouthern
elephantseals,(2)comparethenumberofforagingdivesidentifiedbysimpledivedepthprofilesand
accelerometerprofilesand(3)comparedivecharacteristicsbetweenpreyencounterandnon-prey
encounterdives.The2-Dloggersrecordeddeptheverysecond,surgeandheaveaccelerationsat8or
16 Hzandwerecarriedforperiodsbetween23and121h.Rapidheadmovementswereinterpretedto
be associatedwithpreyencounterevents.Accelerationdatadetectedpossiblepreyencountereventsin
39–52%ofdiveswhilst67–80%ofdiveswereclassifiedasforagingdiveswhenusingdivedepthprofiles
alone. Preyencountersoccurredinsuccessivedivesduringdaysandnightsandlastedbetweentenths
of asecondand7.6min.Binomiallinearmixedeffectmodelsshowedthatsealswerediving
significantlydeeperandincreasedbothdescentrateandbottomdurationwhenencounteringprey.
Dive duration,however,didnotsignificantlyincreaseduringdiveswithpreyencounters.Theseresults
are inaccordancewithoptimalforagingtheory,whichpredictsthatdeepdiversshouldincreaseboth
their transitratesandthetimespentatdepthwhenaprofitablepreypatchisencountered.These
findings indicatethatthistechniqueispromisingasitmoreaccuratelydetectspossiblepreyencounter
eventscomparedwithdivedepthprofilesaloneandthusprovidesabetterunderstandingofseal
foragingstrategies.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | Kergueln Island, predator prey interactions, marine ecology, diving behaviour, accelerometers |
| Research Division: | Biological Sciences |
| Research Group: | Ecology |
| Research Field: | Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology) |
| Objective Division: | Environmental Management |
| Objective Group: | Coastal and estuarine systems and management |
| Objective Field: | Assessment and management of coastal and estuarine ecosystems |
| UTAS Author: | Hindell, MA (Professor Mark Hindell) |
| ID Code: | 89051 |
| Year Published: | 2013 |
| Funding Support: | Australian Research Council (DP0342714) |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 55 |
| Deposited By: | IMAS Research and Education Centre |
| Deposited On: | 2014-02-24 |
| Last Modified: | 2014-05-23 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
Repository Staff Only: item control page