Hostname: page-component-76d6cb85b7-6jg5l Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-07-15T05:11:16.647Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Adult male southern elephant seals from King George Island utilize the Weddell Sea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 October 2008

C.A. Tosh ,
H. Bornemann ,
S. Ramdohr ,
M. Schröder ,
T. Martin ,
A. Carlini ,
J. Plötz  and
M.N. Bester
C.A. Tosh*
Affiliation:
Mammal Research Institute, Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa
H. Bornemann
Affiliation:
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Postfach 120161, D-27515 Bremerhaven, Germany
S. Ramdohr
Affiliation:
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Postfach 120161, D-27515 Bremerhaven, Germany
M. Schröder
Affiliation:
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Postfach 120161, D-27515 Bremerhaven, Germany
T. Martin
Affiliation:
Leibniz-Institute of Marine Sciences, IFM-GEOMAR, Düsternbrooker Weg 20, D-24105 Kiel, Germany
A. Carlini
Affiliation:
Instituto Antártico Argentino, Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas, Cerrito 1248, 1010 Buenos Aires, Argentina
J. Plötz
Affiliation:
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Postfach 120161, D-27515 Bremerhaven, Germany
M.N. Bester
Affiliation:
Mammal Research Institute, Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa
*
*catosh@zoology.up.ac.za
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Adult male southern elephant seals instrumented in 2000 on King George Island (n = 13), travelled both to the north (n = 2) and to the east (n = 6) of the Antarctic Peninsula. Five males remained within 500 km of the island focusing movements in the Bransfield Strait and around the Antarctic Peninsula. Sea surface temperatures encountered by these animals showed little variation. While animal trajectories appeared unaffected by sea ice cover, areas of shallow depths were frequented. Three males moved as far as 75°S to the east of the Peninsula with maximum distances of more than 1500 km from King George Island. They travelled into the Weddell Sea along the western continental shelf break until they reached the region of the Filchner Trough outflow. Here the sea floor consists of canyons and ridges that support intensive mixing between the warm saline waters of the Weddell Gyre, the very cold outflow waters and ice shelf water at the Antarctic Slope Front. The need for re-instrumentation of adult males from King George Island is highlighted to investigate whether males continue to travel to similar areas and to obtain higher resolution data.

Keywords

Antarctic Peninsulaarea restricted movementspost-moult movementssatellite telemetrysea ice

Information

Type
Biological Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , April 2009 , pp. 113 - 121
Copyright
Copyright © Antarctic Science Ltd 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Bailleul, F., Charrassin, J.B., Ezraty, R., Girard-Ardhuin, F., McMahon, C.R., Field, I.C. & Guinet, C. 2007. Southern elephant seals from Kerguelen Islands confronted by Antarctic Sea ice. Changes in movements and behaviour. Deep Sea Research II, 54, 343–355.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bargagli, R. 2005. The southern ocean environment: anthropogenic impact and climate change. In Caldwell, M.M., Heldmaier, G., Jackson, R.B., Lange, O.L., Mooney, H.A., Schulze, E.D. & Sommer, U., eds. Antarctic ecosystems. Berlin: Springer, 102–116.Google Scholar
Bennet, K.A., McConnell, B.J. & Fedak, M.A. 2001. Diurnal and seasonal variations in the duration and depth of the longest dives in southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina): possible physiological and behavioural constraints. Journal of Experimental Biology, 204, 649–662.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biuw, M., Boehme, L., Guinet, C., Hindell, M., Costa, D., Charrassin, J.B., Roquet, F., Bailleul, F., Meredith, M., Thorpe, S., Tremblay, Y., McDonald, B., Park, Y.H., Rintoul, S.R., Bindhoff, N., Goebel, M., Crocker, D., Lovell, P., Nicholson, J., Monks, F. & Fedak, M.A. 2007. Variations in behaviour and condition of a southern ocean top predator in relation to in situ oceanographic conditions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104, 13705–13710.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Block, B.A. 2005. Physiological ecology in the 21st century: advancements in biologging science. Integrative and Comparative Biology, 45, 305–320.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bornemann, H., Kreyscher, M., Ramdohr, S., Martin, T., Carlini, A., Sellmann, L. & Plötz, J. 2000. Southern elephant seal movements and Antarctic sea ice. Antarctic Science, 12, 3–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradshaw, C.J.A., Hindell, M.A., Best, N.J., Phillips, K.L., Wilson, G. & Nichols, P.D. 2003. You are what you eat: describing the foraging ecology of southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) using blubber fatty acids. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, B270, 1283–1292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradshaw, C.J.A., Hindell, M.A., Michael, K.J. & Sumner, M.D. 2002. The optimal spatial scale for the analysis of elephant seal foraging as determined by geo-location in relation to sea surface temperatures. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 59, 770–781.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campagna, C., Fedak, M.A. & McConnell, B.J. 1999. Post-breeding distribution and diving behaviour of adult male southern elephant seals from Patagonia. Journal of Mammalogy, 80, 1341–1352.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campagna, C., Piola, A.R., Martin, M.R., Lewis, M. & Fernández, T. 2006. Southern elephant seal trajectories, fronts and eddies in the Brazil/Malvinas confluence. Deep-Sea Research I, 53, 1907–1924.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campagna, C., Piola, A.R., Martin, M.R., Lewis, M., Zajaczkovski, U. & Fernández, T. 2007. Deep divers in shallow seas: southern elephant seals on the Patagonian shelf. Deep-Sea Research I, 54, 1792–1814.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campagna, C., Rivas, A.L. & Martin, M.R. 2000. Temperature and depth profiles recorded during dives of elephant seals reflect distinct ocean environments. Journal of Marine Systems, 24, 299–312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carlini, A.R., Daneri, G.A., Márquez, M.E.I., Bornemann, H., Panarello, H., Casaux, R., Ramdohr, S. & Plötz, J. 2005. Food consumption estimates of southern elephant seal females during their post-breeding aquatic phase at King George Island. Polar Biology, 28, 769–775.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carlini, A.R., Daneri, G.A., Márquez, M.E.I., Soave, G.E. & Poljak, S. 1997. Mass transfer from mothers to pups and mass recovery by mothers during the post-breeding foraging period in southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) at King George Island. Polar Biology, 18, 305–310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cavalieri, D., Parkinson, P., Gloerson, P. & Zwally, H.J. 1996 (updated 2006). Sea ice concentrations from Nimbus-7 SMMR and DMSP SSM/I passive microwave data, (2000–2001). Boulder, CO: National Snow and Ice Data Centre. Digital media.Google Scholar
Daneri, G.A. & Carlini, A.R. 2002. Fish prey of southern elephant seals, Mirounga leonina, at King George Island. Polar Biology, 25, 739–743.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Galimberti, F., Sanvito, S., Braschi, C. & Boitani, L. 2007. The cost of success: reproductive effort in male southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina). Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology, 62, 159–171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gregr, E.J. & Bodtker, K.M. 2007. Adaptive classification of marine ecosystems: identifying biologically meaningful regions in the marine environment. Deep Sea Research 1, 54, 385–402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fedak, M.A. 2004. Marine animals as platforms for oceanographic sampling: a “win/win” situation for biology and operational oceanography. Memoirs of the National Institute of Polar Research, 58, 133–147.Google Scholar
Field, I., Hindell, M., Slip, D. & Michael, K. 2001. Foraging strategies of southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) in relation to frontal zones and water masses. Antarctic Science, 13, 371–379.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foldvik, A., Gammelsrød, T., Østerhus, S., Fahrbach, E., Rohardt, G., Schröder, M., Nicholls, K.W., Padman, L. & Woodgate, R.A. 2004. Ice shelf water overflow and bottom water formation in the southern Weddell Sea. Journal of Geophysical Research 109, 10.1029/2003JC002008.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hindell, M.A., Burton, H.R. & Slip, D.J. 1991. Foraging areas of southern elephant seals, Mirounga leonina, as inferred from water temperature data. Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 42, 15–128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hindell, M.A., Bradshaw, C.J.A., Sumner, M.D., Michael, K.J. & Burton, H.R. 2003. Dispersal of female southern elephant seals and their prey consumption during the austral summer: relevance to management and oceanographic zones. Journal of Applied Ecology 40, 703–715.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hindell, M.A. & Little, G.J. 1988. Longevity, fertility and philopatry of two female southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) at Macquarie Island. Marine Mammal Science, 4, 168–171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holm-Hansen, O., Kahru, M., Hewes, C.D., Kawaguchi, S., Kameda, T., Sushin, V.A., Krasovski, I., Priddle, J., Korb, R., Hewitt, R.P. & Mitchell, B.G. 2004. Temporal and spatial distribution of chlorophyll-a in surface waters of the Scotia Sea as determined by both shipboard measurements and satellite data. Deep-Sea Research II, 51, 1323–1331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hubold, G. 1985. Stomach contents of the Antarctic silverfish Pleuragramma antarcticum from the southern and eastern Weddell Sea (Antarctica). Polar Biology, 5, 43–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
IOC, IHO & BODC. 2003. Centenary edition of the GEBCO Digital Atlas, Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission and the International Hydrographic Organisation, General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans. Liverpool: British Oceanographic Data Centre, CD-ROM.Google Scholar
Jonker, F.C. & Bester, M.N. 1998. Seasonal movements and foraging areas of adult southern female elephant seals, Mirounga leonina, from Marion Island. Antarctic Science, 10, 21–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Le Boeuf, B.J. & Laws, R.M. 1994. Elephant seals: an introduction to the genus. In Le Boeuf, B.J. & Laws, R.M., eds. Elephant seals: population ecology, behavior and physiology. Berkley, CA: University of California Press, 1–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Le Boeuf, B.J., Morris, P.A., Blackwell, S.B., Crocker, D.E. & Costa, D.P. 1996. Diving behaviour of juvenile northern elephant seals. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 74, 1632–1644.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Le Boeuf, B.J., Crocker, D.E., Costa, D.P., Blackwell, S.B., Webb, P.M. & Houser, D.S. 2000. Foraging ecology of northern elephant seals. Ecological Monographs, 70, 353–382.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lombard, A.T., Reyers, B., Schonegevel, L.Y., Cooper, J., Smith-Adao, L.B., Nel, D.C., Froneman, P.W., Ansorge, I.J., Bester, M.N., Tosh, C.A., Strauss, T., Akkers, T., Gon, O., Leslie, R.W. & Chown, S.L. 2007. Conserving pattern and process in the Southern Ocean: designing a marine protected area for the Prince Edward Islands. Antarctic Science, 19, 39–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, T., Ramdohr, S., Plötz, J., Bornemann, H., Bester, M.N., Carlini, A.R., Sellmann, L. 2006. Animation of male southern elephant seal movements in relation to Antarctic sea ice cover. http://doi.pangea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.509404Google Scholar
McCann, T.S. 1981. Aggression and sexual activity of male southern elephant seals, Mirounga leonina. Journal of Zoology, 195, 295–310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCarthy, J.J., Canziani, O.F., Leary, N.A., Dokken, D.J. & White, K.S., eds. 2001. Climate change 2001: impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. Contribution of working group II to the third assessment report of the Intergovernmental Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1042 pp.Google Scholar
McConnell, B.J., Chambers, C. & Fedak, M.A. 1992. Foraging ecology and southern elephant seals in relation to bathymetry and productivity of the Southern Ocean. Antarctic Science, 4, 393–398.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McConnell, B.J. & Fedak, M.A. 1996. Movements of southern elephant seals. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 74, 1485–1496.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McMahon, C.R., Bester, M.N., Burton, H.R., Hindell, M.A. & Bradshaw, C.J.A. 2005. Population status, trends and a re-examination of the hypotheses explaining recent declines of the southern elephant seal Mirounga leonina. Mammal Review, 35, 82–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muelbert, M.M.C., Robaldo, R.B., Martínez, P.E., Colares, E.P., Bianchini, A. & Setzer, A. 2004. Movement of southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina L.) from Elephant Island, South Shetlands, Antarctica. Brazilian Archives of Biology and Technology, 47, 461–467.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Otis, D.L. & White, G.C. 1999. Autocorrelation of location estimates and the analysis of radio-tracking data. Journal of Wildlife Management, 63, 1039–1044.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pistorius, P.A., Bester, M.N., Lewis, M.N., Taylor, F.E., Campagna, C. & Kirkman, S.P. 2004. Adult female survival, population trend, and implications of early primiparity in a capital breeder, the southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina). Journal of Zoology, 263, 107–119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plötz, J., Bornemann, H., Knust, R., Schröder, A. & Bester, M.N. 2001. Foraging behaviour of Weddell seals, and its ecological implications. Polar Biology, 24, 901–909.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ramdohr, S., Bornemann, H., Plötz, J. & Bester, M.N. 2001. Immobilization of free ranging adult male southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) with Immobilon (etorphine/acepromacine) and ketamine. South African Journal of Wildlife Research, 3 & 4, 135–140.Google Scholar
Reynolds, R.W., Rayner, N.A., Smith, T.M., Stokes, D.C. & Wang, W. 2002. An improved in situ and satellite SST analysis for climate. Journal of Climate, 15, 1607–1652.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sale, P.F., Cowen, R.K., Danilowicz, B.S., Jones, G.P., Kritzer, J.P., Lindeman, K.C., Planes, S., Polunin, N.V.C., Russ, G.R., Sadovy, Y.J., Steneck, R.S. 2005. Critical science gaps impede use of no-take fishery reserves. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 20, 74–80.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
SCAR. 2000. Report of the Meeting of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, Group of Specialists on SealsTokyo. http://www.seals.scar.org/pdf/meetings.pdf. 55–79.Google Scholar
Schaffer, S.A., Tremblay, Y., Weimerskirch, H., Scott, D., Thompson, D.R., Sagar, P.M., Moller, H., Taylor, G.A., Foley, D.G., Block, B.A. & Costa, D.P. 2006. Migratory shearwaters integrate oceanic resources across the Pacific Ocean in an endless summer. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 103, 12799–12802.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simmonds, M.P. & Isaac, S.J. 2007. The impacts of climate change on marine mammals: early signs of significant problems. Oryx, 41, 19–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skov, H., Humphreys, E., Garthe, S., Geitner, K., Grémillet, D., Hamer, K.C., Hennicke, J., Parner, H. & Wanless, S. 2008. Application of habitat suitability modelling to tracking data of marine animals as a means of analyzing their feeding habits. Ecological Modelling, 212, 504–512.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stretch, J.J., Hamner, P.P., Michel, W.C., Cook, J. & Sullivan, C.W. 1988. Foraging behaviour of Antarctic krill Euphausia superba on sea ice microalgae. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 44, 131–139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sun, L., Liu, X., Yin, X., Zhu, R., Xie, Z. & Wang, Y. 2004. A 1,500–year record of Antarctic seal populations in response to climate change. Polar Biology, 27, 495–501.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tremblay, Y., Roberts, A.J. & Costa, D.P. 2007. Fractal landscape method: an alternative approach to measuring area-restricted searching behavior. Journal of Experimental Biology, 210, 935–945.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van den Hoff, J., Burton, H.R., Hindell, M.A., Sumner, M.D. & McMahon, C.R. 2002. Migrations and foraging of juvenile southern elephant seals from Macquarie Island within CCAMLR managed areas. Antarctic Science, 14, 134–145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, N.A. & Sjöberg, M. 2002. Accuracy of satellite positions from free-ranging grey seals using ARGOS. Polar Biology, 25, 629–631.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilkinson, I.S. & Bester, M.N. 1990. Duration of post-weaning fast and local dispersion in the southern elephant seal, Mirounga leonina, at Marion Island. Journal of Zoology, 222, 591–600.CrossRefGoogle Scholar