Environmental drivers of population-level variation in the migratory and diving ontogeny of an Arctic top predator.

ABSTRACT: The development of migratory strategies that enable juveniles to survive to sexual maturity is critical for species that exploit seasonal niches. For animals that forage via breath-hold diving, this requires a combination of both physiological and foraging skill development. Here, we assess how migratory and dive behaviour develop over the first year of life for a migratory Arctic top predator, the harp seal Pagophilus groenlandicus, tracked using animal-borne satellite relay data loggers. We reveal similarities in migratory movements and differences in diving behaviour between 38 juveniles tracked from the Greenland Sea and Northwest Atlantic breeding populations. In both regions, periods of resident and transitory behaviour during migration were associated with proxies for food av

SUBMITTER: Grecian WJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8889203 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature