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Collaborative Research:  U.S. SO GLOBEC Synthesis and Modeling - Habitat Utilization and Predator-Prey interactions In Western Antarctic Peninsula

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Collaborative Research: Foraging ecology of crabeater seals (Lobodon carcinophagus)

National Science Foundation, Office of Polar Programs #0003956 and #0523338

PIs: J.M. Burns; Collaborators: D.P. Costa (UCSC; lead PI), E.E. Hoffman (ODU)   

Project Summary 0003956:

The U.S. Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics (U.S. GLOBEC) program has the goal of understanding and ultimately predicting how populations of marine animal species respond to natural and anthropogenic changes in climate. Research in the Southern Ocean (SO) indicates strong coupling between climatic processes and ecosystem dynamics via the annual formation and destruction of sea ice. The Southern Ocean GLOBEC Program (SO GLOBEC) will investigate the dynamic relationship between physical processes and ecosystem responses through identification of critical parameters that affect the distribution, abundance and population dynamics of target species. The overall goals of the SO GLOBEC program are to elucidate shelf circulation processes and their effect on sea ice formation and krill distribution, and to examine the factors which govern krill survivorship and availability to higher trophic levels, including penguins, seals and whales. The focus of the U.S. contribution to the international SO GLOBEC program will be on winter processes. This component will focus on the distribution and foraging behavior of adult female crabeater seals, using a combination of satellite-linked tracking, specialized diver recorders, and stable isotopic tracers. This research will be coordinated with components focused on prey (krill) distribution and the physical environment. The results will be analyzed using an optimality model. The result of the integrated SO GLOBEC program will be to improve the predictability of living marine resources, especially with respect to local and global climatic shifts.

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Project Summary: 0523338:  This collaborative study between the University of California, Santa Cruz, Duke University, the University of South Florida, the University of Alaska-Anchorage, and the University of California, San Diego will examine the identification of biological and physical features associated with the abundance and distribution of individual Antarctic predators; the identification and characterization of biological 'hot spots' within the Western Antarctic Peninsula; and the development of temporally and spatially explicit models of krill consumption within the WAP by vertebrate predators. It is one of several data synthesis and modeling components that use the data obtained in the course of the field work of the Southern Ocean Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics (SO GLOBEC) experiment.

SO-Globec is a multidisciplinary effort focused on understanding the physical and biological factors that influence growth, reproduction, recruitment and survival of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba). The program uses a multi-trophic level approach that includes the predators and competitors of Antarctic krill, represented by other zooplankton, fish, penguins, seals, and cetaceans. It is currently in a synthesis and modeling phase. This collaborative project is concerned with understanding how predators utilize 'hot spots', i.e. locally intense areas of biological productivity, and how 'hot spots' might temporally and spatially structure krill predation rates, and will be integrated with other synthesis and modeling studies that deal with the hydrography primary production, and krill dynamics.

Key Publications: 

  1. Burns, J.M., D.P. Costa, M.A. Hindell, CJ. Bradshaw, N. Gales, S.J. Trumble, B. 2004. Winter habitat use and foraging behaviour of crabeater seals along the western Antarctic Peninsula.  Deep Sea Research II 51: 2279-2303

  2. Burns, J.M., M.A. Hindell, C.J.A. Bradshaw, and D.P. Costa. 2008. Fine-scale habitat selection by crabeater seals diving within Marguerite Bay, Antarctica. Deep Sea Research II 55: 500-514.

  3. Costa, D.P., J.M. Klinck, E.E. Hofmann, M.S. Dinniman, J.M. Burns. 2008. Upper Ocean Variability in West Antarctic Peninsula Continental Shelf Waters as Measured Using Instrumented Seals. Deep Sea Research II 55: 323-337.

  4. Forcada, J. P. Trathan, P. Boveng, I.  Boyd, J. Burns, D. Costa, M. Fedak, T. Rogers, C. Southwell. 2012 Uncertainty in the assessment of responses of Antarctic pack-ice seals to environmental change and increasing krill fishing. Biological Conservation. 149: 40–50; doi: 10.1016.2012.02.002

  5. Friedlaender, A.S, D.W. Johnston, W.R. Fraser, J.M. Burns, and D.P. Costa. 2011. Ecological Niche Modeling of Sympatric Krill Predators around Margeurite Bay, Western Antarctic Peninsula. Deep Sea Research II, 58: 1729-1740

  6. Gales, N., Barnes, J.,Chittick, B., Gray, M., Robinson, S., Burns, J., Costa, D. 2005. Effective, field-based inhalation anesthesia for ice seals. Marine Mammal Science 21:717-727

  7. Hückstädt, LA, J.M. Burns, P. Koch, B.I. McDonald, D.E. Crocker, and D.P Costa. 2012. Being a specialist in a changing environment: the diet of the crabeater seal along the western Antarctica Peninsula. Marine Ecology Progress Series. 455:287-301; doi:10.3354/meps09601

  8. McDonald, B., D. Crocker, J. Burns, and D. Costa. 2008. Body condition as an index of winter foraging success in crabeater seals (Lobodon carcinophaga). Deep Sea Research II 55: 515-522.

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