Different habitat use strategies by subadult and adult ringed seals (Phoca hispida) in the Bering and Chukchi seas

Crawford, Justin A.; Frost, Kathryn J.; Quakenbush, Lori T.; Whiting, Alex

doi:10.1007/s00300-011-1067-1

Cited by 67 publications

(88 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…between Galapagos fur seals Arctocephalus galapagoensis and sea lions Zalophus wollebaeki (Villegas-Amtmann et al 2013), grey seals and harbour seals (Svensson 2012) and, within species, between juveniles and adults (Crawford et al 2012, Breed et al 2013) and mature males and females (Andersen et al 2013). However, it is less commonly reported among adults of the same sex within species (Kernaléguen et al 2015), as here.…”

Section: Individual Variation In Foraging and Diving Behavioursupporting

confidence: 53%

“…Movements of central place foragers (species that make regular short-duration foraging trips to defined feeding areas) can be limited by proximity to haul-out sites, which they use for resting or feeding pups, as seen in harbour seals Phoca vitulina (Thompson & Miller 1990), grey seals Halichoerus grypus (Harvey et al 2012) and otariids during breeding seasons (Thompson et al 2003). Risk of predation (De Vos & O'Riain 2013), interspecies competition (Villegas-Amtmann et al 2013) and physiological state (Kelly et al 2010, Crawford et al 2012) also influence movement patterns and habitat use.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Individual variation in seasonal movements and foraging strategies of a land-locked, ice-breeding pinniped

Dmitrieva¹,

Jüssi²,

Jüssi³

et al. 2016

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Marine mammal satellite telemetry studies can provide important tests of movement and foraging theory. Here we present the first satellite tracking study of Caspian seals Pusa caspica, an endangered, ice-breeding phocid seal, endemic to the Caspian Sea. The Caspian Sea is one of the most variable habitats inhabited by any pinniped species, and lacks competing large piscivores. Under such conditions foraging theory predicts that individual variation in foraging strategy may develop to reduce intra-species competition. We deployed 75 Argos satellite tags from 2009 to 2012 on adult seals of both sexes, and used state-space modelling to describe movement, and behavioural states. During winter in all years most individuals were mobile within the icepack, making repeated trips into open water outside the ice field, with only brief stationary periods that may have been related to breeding activity. During summer 2011, 60% of tagged animals migrated into the mid and southern Caspian, while the remainder spent the ice-free season in the north. Summer foraging locations were not restricted by proximity to haul-out sites, with animals spending more than 6 months at sea. Maximum dive depths exceeded 200 m, and maximum duration was greater than 20 min, but 80% of dives were shallower than 15 m and shorter than 5 min. Hierarchical cluster analysis identified 3 distinct groups of summer dive behaviour, comprising shallow, intermediate and deep divers, which were also spatially exclusive, suggesting potential niche partitioning and individual specialisation on prey or habitat types. The results can contribute to assessment of impacts from anthropogenic activities and to designation of protected areas encompassing critical habitats.

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Section: Individual Variation In Foraging and Diving Behavioursupporting

confidence: 53%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual variation in seasonal movements and foraging strategies of a land-locked, ice-breeding pinniped

Dmitrieva¹,

Jüssi²,

Jüssi³

et al. 2016

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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“…During winter at one of the most southern sampling locations (i.e. Saglek Bay), ringed seals traveled in areas of moving sea ice farther from shore, allowing more accessibility to different prey patches, similar to ringed seals in the Bering Sea, who are also at the southern limit of their distribution (Crawford et al 2012). Large-scale climate variability indices such as the AO can be used as better predictors of ecological change than environmental factors at regional scales (Stenseth et al 2002).…”

Section: Resident Behaviour Relative To the Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ringed seals forage more intensively during the resource-productive ice-free season, use a diversity of habitats from over the continental shelf to deep ocean basins (Freitas et al 2008, Hamilton et al 2015, Oksanen et al 2015, and have been observed to transit thousands of kilometres (Harwood et al 2012, Brown et al 2014. Further, adults exhibit site fidelity and territoriality during the winter and spring, primarily in shore-fast ice for breeding, whereas subadults are likely competitively excluded to the resource-productive outer edges of shore-fast ice habitat (Crawford et al 2012, Hamilton et al 2016). As such, ringed seals provide an excellent model to examine the influence of age as well as variation in several environmental features including sea ice phenology on the movement ecology of a marine predator across a large spatial scale.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of sea ice phenology on the movement ecology of ringed seals across their latitudinal range

Yurkowski¹,

Semeniuk²,

Harwood³

et al. 2016

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Environmental variation influences resource distribution, thereby affecting animal movement and foraging decisions. Climate change is altering environmental processes worldwide, but particularly in the Arctic, where changes in the phenology of sea ice have been redistributing resources across space and time. How polar marine predators such as ringed seals Pusa hispida hispida, whose ecology is tightly tied to sea ice, respond to different sea ice dynamics across large spatial scales is generally unknown. Here, behavioural states (resident and traveling) were estimated using state−space models on adult (n = 45) and subadult (n = 85) ringed seal satellite telemetry tracks from 6 Arctic locations. Tagged ringed seals spanned a wide latitudinal (56.54° to 75.58°N) and sea ice phenological range from short (1 to 2 mo) to longer (6 mo) ice-free periods. We assessed the influences of age class and several intra-and inter-annual environmental variables on ringed seal movement ecology. Both adults and subadults spent most of the icefree season in a resident state (93 and 77%, respectively). A latitudinal gradient was characterised, where longer ice-free seasons and less inter-annual variability in sea ice phenology at lower latitudes were related to ringed seals spending more time in a resident state than their conspecifics at higher latitudes (90 versus 58%, respectively), where the ice-free season was shorter and sea ice phenology between years was less synchronous. Ringed seals are responding to latitudinal differences in sea ice phenology which affect prey distribution, suggesting plasticity in their foraging decisions and spatiotemporal differences in prey distribution across the rapidly changing Arctic.

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“…In other areas, their migrations have been linked to advancing and retreating ice (e.g., Svalbard, Freitas et al, 2008a;Chukchi/Bering Seas, Crawford et al, 2011). Seasonal and age-specific prey preferences are known (�owry et al, 1980;Thiemann et al, 2008;Young et al, 2010), as are patterns of habitat use, which differ within and among populations (Freitas et al, 2008a;Crawford et al, 2011;Carroll et al, 2013). In the Western Arctic, the less experienced subadults (< 6 y) appear to rely most heavily on invertebrates (Smith, 1987;Smith and Harwood, 2001;authors' unpubl.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal Movements and Diving of Ringed Seals, <i>Pusa hispida</i>, in the Western Canadian Arctic, 1999–2001 and 2010–11

Harwood¹,

Smith²,

Auld³

et al. 2015

ARCTIC

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ABSTRACT. Satellite-linked time-depth recorders were deployed on 17 ringed seals in early summer in 1999, 2000, and 2010, near the Inuvialuit community of Ulukhaktok, Northwest Territories, Canada. The main objective was to investigate movements and diving behaviour of ringed seals in the Prince Albert Sound (PAS) and eastern Amundsen Gulf (EAG) regions in relation to season, sex, and age-class. Tags performed well on 16 of 17 tagged seals, with average tracking periods of 256 d (SD 69, (61%), but they all traveled to distant zones, eight in total. During winter, all tagged adult females, five of seven adult males, and three of four subadults returned to PAS and EAG to occupy winter home ranges that were on average 15% of the size of the open water home range (mean winter ranges = 1299 km 2 for adult males, 3599 km 2 for adult females, and 30 499 km 2 for subadults). The mean size of the winter home ranges varied by as much as a factor of 10 among the three winters examined. Seal movements were most restricted during the winters with extensive fast ice (1999 -2000 and 2010 -11) and least restricted during the winter (2000 -01) when fast ice did not form in EAG. In winter, adult females made more long, deep dives than either adult males or subadults.

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Different habitat use strategies by subadult and adult ringed seals (Phoca hispida) in the Bering and Chukchi seas

Cited by 67 publications

References 61 publications

Individual variation in seasonal movements and foraging strategies of a land-locked, ice-breeding pinniped

Individual variation in seasonal movements and foraging strategies of a land-locked, ice-breeding pinniped

Influence of sea ice phenology on the movement ecology of ringed seals across their latitudinal range

Seasonal Movements and Diving of Ringed Seals, <i>Pusa hispida</i>, in the Western Canadian Arctic, 1999–2001 and 2010–11

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