Authors
Karine Heerah, Virginia Andrews-Goff, Guy Williams, Emanuelle Sultan, Mark Hindell, Toby Patterson, Jean-Benoît Charrassin
Publication date
2013/4/1
Journal
Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography
Volume
88
Pages
23-33
Publisher
Pergamon
Description
Studying the foraging strategies of top predators can provide information on both how animals interact with their environment and the distribution of their prey. We studied the winter foraging behaviour of Weddell seals in Adélie Land, East Antarctica, and the influence of abiotic parameters (bathymetry, hydrology, sea ice, light intensity) on their foraging behaviour. A total of six seals were fitted with Conductivity Temperature Depth Satellite Relayed Data Loggers (CTD-SRDL) at Dumont D'Urville (∼67°S, 140°E) during the austral winters in 2007 and 2008. The tags transmitted positions and dive information over 169±31 day, providing a total of 20,400 dive profiles and 2350 CTD profiles. Significant environmental influences on seal diving behaviour and habitat use were detected. Seals dived deeper, longer and increased their foraging effort during the day than at night with intermediate values for twilight. During the …
Total citations
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Scholar articles
K Heerah, V Andrews-Goff, G Williams, E Sultan… - Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in …, 2013