Effects of maternal foraging success and oceanographic variation on offspring behaviour and survival in the southern elephant seal

母海象觅食成功和海洋变化对南部象海豹后代行为和存活的影响。幼体存活是哺乳动物种群表现的关键决定因素，但在大型、长寿的捕食者身上，很少能确定这一点的直接决定因素。南方象海豹以其集中的哺乳努力和明显分离的能量获取(海上觅食)和支出(陆上哺乳)为研究这些因素提供了理想的模型。在这项研究中，我们调查了与海洋生产力的时空变化相关的产前表现(母亲获得的脂肪)的划分，以及这种支出对后代条件和生存的影响。在这里，能量转移的最后缺失环节及其对后代的影响将是该项目的主要成果。

Effects of maternal foraging success and oceanographic variation on offspring behaviour and survival in the southern elephant seal. Juvenile survival is the key determinant of mammalian population performance, but the proximate determinants of this have rarely been established in large, long-lived predators. Southern elephant seals, with their concentrated lactation effort and marked separation of energy acquisition (at-sea foraging) and expenditure (on-land lactation) provide an ideal model for investigating these factors. In this study, we investigate the partitioning of pre-partum performance (fat acquired in mothers) relative to spatial-temporal variation in ocean productivity and the effect of this expenditure on offspring condition and survival. Here, the final missing link of energy transfer and its effects on offspring will be a major outcome of this project.