Development of monitoring system using marine animals as oceanographic data collectors

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Bio-logging science, the use of small, data-logging electronic devices on animals, provides the capacity for researchers to examine oceanographic environment that define critical habitat of aquatic animals. The aim of this project is to develop new technique to monitor animal behavior in relation to their surrounding environments. Field studies were conducted at various places from tropical region to Antarctica. Target species were many aquatic animals such as fishes, reptile, seabirds and marine mammals.For example, we examined the diving behavior of thick-billed murres (Uria lomvia) at St. George Island, southeastern Bering Sea, in relation to sea surface temperature and thermocline depth using ventrally attached depth-temperature recorders. Murres dove deeper in the mixed water mass, than in the stratified water, where most dives were to just below the thermocline depth. It suggests that the thermocline is important in shaping dive profiles of seabirds, possibly through its effect on the vertical distribution of both zooplankton and fish prey.In other case, animal-borne cameras deployed on Weddell seals revealed that the underside of an Antarctic ice shelf was covered by aggregated invertebrate communities, most likely cnidarians and isopods. This observation indicates that, similar to the sea floor, ice shelves serve as an important habitat for a remarkable amount of marine invertebrate fauna in Antarctica, and seals are effective for collecting oceanographic environment in severe condition.In conclusion, marine animals are favorable platforms for oceanographic sampling and bio-logging science is highly available to investigate aquatic animal behavior and physiology in relation to their surrounding environments.