Meeting Abstract
S7.9 Tuesday, Jan. 5 Climate Change and Habitat Selection of Seals in the Western Antarctic Peninsula COSTA, D.P.*; CROCKER, D.E.; GOEBEL, M.E.; FEDAK, M.A.; MCDONALD, B.I.; HUCKSTADT, L.A.; Univ. of California, Santa Cruz; Sonoma State University; AMLR Southwest Fisheries Science Center; Sea Mammal Research Unit; Univ. of California, Santa Cruz; Univ. of California, Santa Cruz costa@biology.ucsc.edu
Top predators integrate resources over time and space and depending on the particular species they represent different components of the marine environment. The habitat utilization of top predators has been studied using electronic tags to follow their movements and foraging behavior. These data along with studies of diet are informing us on how these important marine predators are likely to respond to climate change. Such changes in foraging behavior will also provide insights into how the Southern Ocean is changing. The Western Antarctic Peninsula has experienced the greatest and most rapidly changing temperature of anywhere in the Southern Ocean. As such changes in the populations of top predators in this region are indicative of changes that are likely to be observed throughout the Antarctic. We examined the habitat utilization and movement patterns of southern elephant seals, Mirounga leonina over five years (2005-2008), crabeater seals, Lobodon carcinophaga over three years (2001-2 & 2007), and Weddell seals, Leptonychotes weddelli (2007) foraging. Southern elephant seals forage over very large distances and breed on land while crabeater seals are limited to foraging along the continental shelf and breed on pack ice. Further, crabeater seals primarily feed on krill and krill is dependent on the seasonal pack ice for habitat. As the climate of the Southern Ocean warms species like elephant seals that forage over a greater range of habitat types and breed on land are likely to expand, while species like crabeater and Weddell seals that forage over a more restricted area and breed on sea ice are likely to decline as their habitat recedes.
