Biuw M, Boehme L, Guinet C, Hindell M, Costa D, Charrassin J-B, Roquet F, Bailleul F, Meredith M, Thorpe S, Tremblay Y, McDonald B, Park Y-H, Rintoul S R, Bindoff N, Goebel M, Crocker D, Lovell P, Nicholson J, Monks F, Fedak M A
Natural Environment Research Council Sea Mammal Research Unit, Gatty Marine Laboratory, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Fife KY16 8LB, United Kingdom.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Aug 21;104(34):13705-10. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0701121104. Epub 2007 Aug 10.
Responses by marine top predators to environmental variability have previously been almost impossible to observe directly. By using animal-mounted instruments simultaneously recording movements, diving behavior, and in situ oceanographic properties, we studied the behavioral and physiological responses of southern elephant seals to spatial environmental variability throughout their circumpolar range. Improved body condition of seals in the Atlantic sector was associated with Circumpolar Deep Water upwelling regions within the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, whereas High-Salinity Shelf Waters or temperature/salinity gradients under winter pack ice were important in the Indian and Pacific sectors. Energetic consequences of these variations could help explain recently observed population trends, showing the usefulness of this approach in examining the sensitivity of top predators to global and regional-scale climate variability.
此前，几乎不可能直接观察到海洋顶级食肉动物对环境变化的反应。通过使用安装在动物身上的仪器同时记录运动、潜水行为和现场海洋学特征，我们研究了南象海豹在其环极分布范围内对空间环境变化的行为和生理反应。在大西洋区域，海豹身体状况的改善与南极绕极流中的环极深层水上升流区域有关，而在印度洋和太平洋区域，冬季海冰下的高盐度陆架水或温度/盐度梯度则很重要。这些变化对能量的影响有助于解释最近观察到的种群趋势，表明这种方法在研究顶级食肉动物对全球和区域尺度气候变化的敏感性方面是有用的。
