Collaborative Research: Weddell seals as autonomous sensors of the winter oceanography of the Ross Sea

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案(公法111-5)资助的。南大洋的海洋哺乳动物进化了不同的生活史模式和觅食策略，以适应物理和生物环境的极端波动。鉴于持续的气候变化以及罗斯海海冰范围和持久性的戏剧性变化，了解关键的顶端捕食者威德尔海豹如何选择和利用觅食栖息地是至关重要的。卫星链接的动物传导性、温度和深度(CTD)标签的最新进展使人们能够同时收集关于海豹的位置、它们的潜水模式以及它们所使用的水柱的温度和盐度分布的数据。在其他生态系统中，这类数据显示，海洋捕食者有选择地在洋流和锋面用于局部集中猎物资源的区域觅食，这些条件是维持种群所必需的。韦德尔海豹将在麦克默多海峡和罗斯海的Terra Nova Bay进行研究，并将提供近20年来关于韦德尔海豹冬季潜水行为和栖息地使用的第一批新数据。动物的潜水行为和自然栖息地之间的关系具有巨大的潜力，可以加强监测研究，并深入了解冰川条件的变化(由于变暖或大型冰山的影响，如B15)可能如何影响个体的时间预算和觅食成功。该项目的第二个重点是使用从CTD海豹标签获得的剖面来模拟该区域的物理海洋学。目前关于南大洋物理海洋过程的数学模型旨在更好地了解它在全球气候过程中发挥的作用，以及物理海洋过程和生物海洋过程之间的联系。然而，这些努力受到冬季高纬度地区海洋数据稀缺的限制；安装在动物身上的CTD标签将以足够的空间和时间分辨率收集数据，以提高数据密度。该项目将有助于国际海洋生物联合会批准的两项倡议：MEOP(海洋哺乳动物作为海洋极地探险者)和CAML(南极海洋生物普查)。此外，数据和分析的高度可视化本质有助于公共和教育展示和推广，特别是在与全球气候变化有关的情况下，我们与本科生和研究生培训计划、西摩海洋发现中心和无敌舰队计划合作，以促进这些更广泛的影响。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Marine mammals of the Southern Ocean have evolved diverse life history patterns and foraging strategies to accommodate extreme fluctuations in the physical and biological environment. In light of ongoing climate change and the dramatic shifts in the extent and persistence of sea ice in the Ross Sea, it is critical to understand how Weddell seals, Leptonychotes weddellii, a key apex predator, select and utilize foraging habitats. Recent advances in satellite-linked animal-borne conductivity, temperature and depth (CTD) tags make it possible to simultaneously collect data on seal locations, their diving patterns, and the temperature and salinity profiles of the water columns they utilize. In other ecosystems, such data have revealed that marine predators selectively forage in areas where currents and fronts serve to locally concentrate prey resources, and that these conditions are required to sustain populations. Weddell seals will be studied in McMurdo Sound and at Terra Nova Bay, Ross Sea and will provide the first new data on Weddell seal winter diving behavior and habitat use in almost two decades. The relationship between an animal's diving behavior and physical habitat has enormous potential to enhance monitoring studies and to provide insight into how changes in ice conditions (due either to warming or the impact of large icebergs, such as B15) might impact individual time budgets and foraging success. The second thrust of this project is to use the profiles obtained from CTD seal tags to model the physical oceanography of this region. Current mathematical models of physical oceanographic processes in the Southern Ocean are directed at better understanding the role that it plays in global climate processes, and the linkages between physical and biological oceanographic processes. However, these efforts are limited by the scarcity of oceanographic data at high latitudes in the winter months; CTD tags deployed on animals will collect data at sufficient spatial and temporal resolution to improve data density. The project will contribute to two IPY endorsed initiatives: MEOP (Marine Mammals as Explorers of the Ocean Pole to Pole) and CAML (Census of Antarctic Marine Life). In addition, the highly visual nature of the data and analysis lends itself to public and educational display and outreach, particularly as they relate to global climate change, and we have collaborations with undergraduate and graduate training programs, the Seymour Marine Discovery Center, and the ARMADA program to foster these broader impacts.