Antarctic Pack Ice Seals: Nutritional Physiology and Body Condition of Seals

9815176卡斯特利尼南极洲周围的浮冰地区拥有世界上至少50%的海豹，占世界上大约80%的鳍状生物总量。作为一个群体，这些海豹是南大洋生态系统中占主导地位的顶级捕食者之一，它们的丰度、生长模式、生活史和行为的波动为大范围时空尺度上的环境变化提供了潜在的信息来源。这项提案是国际南极浮冰海豹（APIS）计划的一部分，该计划旨在更好地了解浮冰海豹的分布与其环境之间的生态关系。2000年1月至2月期间，将在罗斯海东部和阿蒙森海西部的浮冰带进行一次研究巡航，沿着与大陆架垂直的六条横断面进行调查和取样。每条样带将穿过五个环境采样层：大陆架带、南极坡锋、远洋带、冰缘锋和浮冰带外的开阔水域。除了开放水域以外的所有区域都将在一定程度上被冰覆盖。api项目的这一组成部分将使用一套反映海豹种群健康、身体状况和营养状况的生物标志物和形态测量指标来检查海豹的营养生理学。测量包括血液和临床标志物，营养指标，脂质特征和稳定同位素特征以及一系列蛋白质标志物。将在物种内部和物种之间进行比较。这项研究将补充其他关于南极冰海豹健康状况的研究。更好地了解浮冰海豹与南极海洋生态系统的生物和物理特征之间的相互作用，将有助于更好地预测环境变化背景下海豹数量的波动。

9815176CASTELLINIThe pack ice region surrounding Antarctica contains at least fifty percent of the world's population of seals, comprising about eighty percent of the world's total pinniped biomass. As a group, these seals are among the dominant top predators in Southern Ocean ecosystems, and the fluctuation in their abundance, growth patterns, life histories, and behavior provide a potential source of information about environmental variability integrated over a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. This proposal was developed as part of the international Antarctic Pack Ice Seals (APIS) program, which is aimed to better understand the ecological relationships between the distribution of pack ice seals and their environment. During January-February, 2000, a research cruise through the pack ice zone of the eastern Ross Sea and western Amundsen Sea will be conducted to survey and sample along six transects perpendicular to the continental shelf. Each of these transects will pass through five environmental sampling strata: continental shelf zone, Antarctic slope front, pelagic zone, the ice edge front, and the open water outside the pack ice zone. All zones but open water will be ice-covered to some degree. This component of the APIS program will examine seal nutritional physiology, using a suite of biomarkers and morphometric indices that reflect the health, body condition and nutritional status of seal populations. Measurements include blood and clinical markers, nutrition indices, lipid signatures and stable isotope signatures as well an array of protein markers. Comparisons will be made within and between species. This study will complement others on the health status of Antarctic ice seals. Better insight into the interplay among pack ice seals and biological and physical features of Antarctic marine ecosystems will allow for a better prediction of fluctuation in seal population in the context of environmental change.