Goetz Kimberly T, Dinniman Michael S, Hückstädt Luis A, Robinson Patrick W, Shero Michelle R, Burns Jennifer M, Hofmann Eileen E, Stammerjohn Sharon E, Hazen Elliott L, Ainley David G, Costa Daniel P
Marine Mammal Laboratory, Alaska Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 7600 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA 98115, USA.
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Santa Cruz, 100 Shaffer Road, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA.
R Soc Open Sci. 2023 Jan 25;10(1):220500. doi: 10.1098/rsos.220500. eCollection 2023 Jan.
Weddell seals () are important predators in the Southern Ocean and are among the best-studied pinnipeds on Earth, yet much still needs to be learned about their year-round movements and foraging behaviour. Using biologgers, we tagged 62 post-moult Weddell seals in McMurdo Sound and vicinity between 2010 and 2012. Generalized additive mixed models were used to (i) explain and predict the probability of seal presence and foraging behaviour from eight environmental variables, and (ii) examine foraging behaviour in relation to dive metrics. Foraging probability was highest in winter and lowest in summer, and foraging occurred mostly in the water column or just above the bottom; across all seasons, seals preferentially exploited the shallow banks and deeper troughs of the Ross Sea, the latter providing a pathway for Circumpolar Deep Water to flow onto the shelf. In addition, the probability of Weddell seal occurrence and foraging increased with increasing bathymetric slope and where water depth was typically less than 600 m. Although the probability of occurrence was higher closer to the shelf break, foraging was higher in areas closer to shore and over banks. This study highlights the importance of overwinter foraging for recouping body mass lost during the previous summer.
威德尔海豹（）是南大洋重要的捕食者，也是地球上研究最为深入的鳍足类动物之一，但关于它们全年的活动和觅食行为仍有许多需要了解的地方。我们在2010年至2012年期间，使用生物记录器在麦克默多湾及其附近海域为62只换毛后的威德尔海豹佩戴了标记。利用广义相加混合模型来（i）根据八个环境变量解释和预测海豹出现及觅食行为的概率，以及（ii）研究与潜水指标相关的觅食行为。觅食概率在冬季最高，夏季最低，觅食主要发生在水柱中或海底上方；在所有季节中，海豹优先利用罗斯海的浅滩和较深的海槽，后者为绕极深层水流入大陆架提供了一条通道。此外，威德尔海豹出现和觅食的概率随着测深坡度的增加以及水深通常小于600米的地方而增加。尽管在靠近陆架断裂处出现的概率较高，但在靠近海岸和浅滩的区域觅食概率更高。这项研究强调了越冬觅食对于补充前一个夏季损失的体重的重要性。
