Southern Elephant Seals Replenish Their Lipid Reserves at Different Rates According to Foraging Habitat.

ABSTRACT: Assessing energy gain and expenditure in free ranging marine predators is difficult. However, such measurements are critical if we are to understand how variation in foraging efficiency, and in turn individual body condition, is impacted by environmentally driven changes in prey abundance and/or accessibility. To investigate the influence of oceanographic habitat type on foraging efficiency, ten post-breeding female southern elephant seals Mirounga leonina (SES) were equipped and tracked with bio-loggers to give continuous information of prey catch attempts, body density and body activity. Variations in these indices of foraging efficiency were then compared between three different oceanographic habitats, delineated by the main frontal structures of the Southern Ocean. Results show that ch

SUBMITTER: Richard G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5130208 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature