| 1. |
- Hindell, Mark A., et al.
(author)
-
Circumpolar habitat use in the southern elephant seal : implications for foraging success and population trajectories
- 2016
-
In: Ecosphere. - : Wiley. - 2150-8925 .- 2150-8925. ; 7:5
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In the Southern Ocean, wide-ranging predators offer the opportunity to quantify how animals respond to differences in the environment because their behavior and population trends are an integrated signal of prevailing conditions within multiple marine habitats. Southern elephant seals in particular, can provide useful insights due to their circumpolar distribution, their long and distant migrations and their performance of extended bouts of deep diving. Furthermore, across their range, elephant seal populations have very different population trends. In this study, we present a data set from the International Polar Year project; Marine Mammals Exploring the Oceans Pole to Pole for southern elephant seals, in which a large number of instruments (N = 287) deployed on animals, encompassing a broad circum-Antarctic geographic extent, collected in situ ocean data and at-sea foraging metrics that explicitly link foraging behavior and habitat structure in time and space. Broadly speaking, the seals foraged in two habitats, the relatively shallow waters of the Antarctic continental shelf and the Kerguelen Plateau and deep open water regions. Animals of both sexes were more likely to exhibit area-restricted search (ARS) behavior rather than transit in shelf habitats. While Antarctic shelf waters can be regarded as prime habitat for both sexes, female seals tend to move northwards with the advance of sea ice in the late autumn or early winter. The water masses used by the seals also influenced their behavioral mode, with female ARS behavior being most likely in modified Circumpolar Deepwater or northerly Modified Shelf Water, both of which tend to be associated with the outer reaches of the Antarctic Continental Shelf. The combined effects of (1) the differing habitat quality, (2) differing responses to encroaching ice as the winter progresses among colonies, (3) differing distances between breeding and haul-out sites and high quality habitats, and (4) differing long-term -regional trends in sea ice extent can explain the differing population trends observed among elephant seal colonies.
|
|
| 2. |
- Ohshima, Kay I., et al.
(author)
-
Antarctic BottomWater production by intense sea-ice formation in the Cape Darnley polynya
- 2013
-
In: Nature Geoscience. - 1752-0894 .- 1752-0908. ; 6:3, s. 235-240
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The formation of Antarctic Bottom Water-the cold, dense water that occupies the abyssal layer of the global ocean-is a key process in global ocean circulation. This water mass is formed as dense shelf water sinks to depth. Three regions around Antarctica where this process takes place have been previously documented. The presence of another source has been identified in hydrographic and tracer data, although the site of formation is not well constrained. Here we document the formation of dense shelf water in the Cape Darnley polynya (65 degrees -69 degrees E) and its subsequent transformation into bottom water using data from moorings and instrumented elephant seals (Mirounga leonina). Unlike the previously identified sources of Antarctic Bottom Water, which require the presence of an ice shelf or a large storage volume, bottom water production at the Cape Darnley polynya is driven primarily by the flux of salt released by sea-ice formation. We estimate that about 0.3-0.7 x 10(6) m(3) s(-1) of dense shelf water produced by the Cape Darnley polynya is transformed into Antarctic BottomWater. The transformation of this water mass, which we term Cape Darnley BottomWater, accounts for 6-13% of the circumpolar total.
|
|
