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New technology reveals seal behavior
August 08, 2007New technology has allowed an international team including UK scientists from University of St Andrews and British Antarctic Survey to witness for the first time the behaviour of the southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina) and how it relates to its physical environment. Small sensors were attached to 85 seals to track their movements and collect data about their marine environment. Results are published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The seals were tagged at the islands of South Georgia, Kerguelen and Macquarie in the Southern Ocean, and at the western coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. The data from the seals was transmitted back to land via satellite and shows that elephant seals adopted different strategies to find food.
The Sea Mammal Research Unit at St Andrews University led the research. Author Mike Fedak says, "These data are really exciting. This new technology has allowed us to see where the seals go and understand their behaviour in the context of different characteristics of water in the Southern Ocean. The majority of animals from South Georgia fed within the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, but seals from other locations had a very different strategy, and visited colder waters nearer the continental shelf.
He added, "This approach helps us to understand current population trends, where the animals forage and predict the availability of food under various climate change scenarios."
Dr. Mike Meredith, Head of the Atmosphere and Ocean Group at British Antarctic Survey says, "The Southern Ocean is the hardest place in the world to obtain oceanographic data, especially during the wintertime. The seals acted as 'samplers' to collect data from deep seas that we couldn't ordinarily access due to their remoteness and harsh environments. Understanding how these animals respond to their environment is fundamental in predicting how they may respond to climate change and the consequent shifts in ocean circulation and ice dynamics."
British Antarctic Survey
He added, "This approach helps us to understand current population trends, where the animals forage and predict the availability of food under various climate change scenarios."
Dr. Mike Meredith, Head of the Atmosphere and Ocean Group at British Antarctic Survey says, "The Southern Ocean is the hardest place in the world to obtain oceanographic data, especially during the wintertime. The seals acted as 'samplers' to collect data from deep seas that we couldn't ordinarily access due to their remoteness and harsh environments. Understanding how these animals respond to their environment is fundamental in predicting how they may respond to climate change and the consequent shifts in ocean circulation and ice dynamics."
British Antarctic Survey
Seals Current Events and Seals News RSSResearch around the North Pole
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Researchers use nanoparticles to deliver treatment for brain, spinal cord injuries
Purdue University researchers have developed a method of using nanoparticles to deliver treatments to injured brain and spinal cord cells.
Greenland Ice Core Reveals History of Pollution in the Arctic
New research, reported this week in the online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, finds that coal burning, primarily in North America and Europe, contaminated the Arctic and potentially affected human health and ecosystems in and around Earth's polar regions.
Wilkins Ice Shelf hanging by its last thread
The Wilkins Ice Shelf is experiencing further disintegration that is threatening the collapse of the ice bridge connecting the shelf to Charcot Island. Since the connection to the island in the image centre helps to stabilise the ice shelf, it is likely the break-up of the bridge will put the remainder of the ice shelf at risk.
University of Pennsylvania Engineers Reveal What Makes Diamonds Slippery at the Nanoscale
They call diamonds "ice," and not just because they sparkle. Engineers and physicists have long studied diamond because even though the material is as hard as an ice ball to the head, diamond slips and slides with remarkably low friction, making it an ideal material or coating for seals, high performance tools and high-tech moving parts.
A missing link settles debate over the origin of frogs and salamanders
The description of an ancient amphibian that millions of years ago swam in quiet pools and caught mayflies on the surrounding land in Texas has set to rest one of the greatest current controversies in vertebrate evolution. The discovery was made by a research team led by scientists at the University of Calgary.
CU-Boulder researchers forecast 3-in-5 chance of record low Arctic sea ice in 2008
New University of Colorado at Boulder calculations indicate the record low minimum extent of sea ice across the Arctic last September has a three-in-five chance of being shattered again in 2008 because of continued warming temperatures and a preponderance of younger, thinner ice.
Indigenous peoples hardest hit by climate change describe impacts
Indigenous peoples have contributed the least to world greenhouse gas emissions and have the smallest ecological footprints on Earth.
Mechanism of blood clot elasticity revealed in high definition
Blood clots can save lives, staunching blood loss after injury, but they can also kill. Let loose in the bloodstream, a clot can cause a heart attack, stroke or pulmonary embolism.
Observing sustainable tourism in Antarctica
"Antarctica is the ultimate destination for anyone interested in natural history but it also challenges those people who visit to think broadly about our responsibilities to all life on Earth." That's the view of Dr Robert Lambert, a lecturer on Tourism and the Environment at The University of Nottingham, who has just returned from the Antarctic in his role as an Observer for the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO).
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