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Using short-term measures of behaviour to estimate long-term fitness of southern elephant seals
Citation
New, LF and Clark, JS and Costa, DP and Fleishman, E and Hindell, MA and Klanjscek, T and Lusseau, D and Kraus, S and McMahon, CR and Robinson, PW and Schick, RS and Schwarz, LK and Simmons, SE and Thomas, L and Tyack, P and Harwood, J, Using short-term measures of behaviour to estimate long-term fitness of southern elephant seals, Marine Ecology Progress Series, 496 pp. 99-108. ISSN 0171-8630 (2014) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
Copyright 2014 Inter-Research
Abstract
Environmental changes (a type of disturbance) are altering the habitat of southern elephant
seals Mirounga leonina, an apex marine predator in the Southern Ocean. As a result, individuals
may shift their behaviour, spending more time in transit and less time foraging. The effects of
these sublethal changes in behaviour can accumulate, indirectly impacting lifetime fitness through
changes in individual survival and reproduction. If a sufficient proportion of the population is affected,
the probability of population persistence will be altered. We used data from long-term
telemetry studies of female elephant seals at Macquarie Island, Australia, to model the effect of behaviour
on the seals’ health (i.e. all internal factors that affect homeostasis). Through simulation, we
investigated the effect of increasing periods of behavioural shifts, quantifying how the exclusion of
maternal southern elephant seals from foraging habitat may affect their health, offspring survival,
individual fitness and population growth rate. A long period of altered behaviour (>50% of an average
foraging trip at sea) in 1 yr resulted in a small (0.4%) decline in population size the following
year. However, a persistent disruption (e.g. 30 yr), caused for example by the long-term effects of
climate change, could result in a 0.3% decline in individual fitness and a 10% decline in population
size. Our approach to estimating the long-term population effects of short-term changes in individual
behaviour can be generalised to include physiological effects and other causes of behavioural
and physiological disruption, such as anthropogenic disturbance, for any species.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | Southern Ocean, predators, ecology, Kalman filter, Mirounga leonina, population consequences of disturbance, state-space model, telemetry data |
| Research Division: | Biological Sciences |
| Research Group: | Ecology |
| Research Field: | Marine and Estuarine Ecology (incl. Marine Ichthyology) |
| Objective Division: | Environment |
| Objective Group: | Ecosystem Assessment and Management |
| Objective Field: | Ecosystem Assessment and Management of Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic Environments |
| UTAS Author: | Hindell, MA (Professor Mark Hindell) |
| UTAS Author: | McMahon, CR (Dr Clive McMahon) |
| ID Code: | 92724 |
| Year Published: | 2014 |
| Funding Support: | Australian Research Council (DP0342714) |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 79 |
| Deposited By: | IMAS Research and Education Centre |
| Deposited On: | 2014-06-26 |
| Last Modified: | 2017-11-01 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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