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Understanding how air-breathing diving animals moderate their dive behaviour when foraging successfully is foundational in the study of their foraging ecology. Yet, this fundamental relationship remains unresolved with previous research pointing to inconsistent relationships…
The weaning mass of southern elephant seal pups (Mirounga leonina) is a key predictor of their first-year survival probability. However, variations in pup morphometric characteristics (length, mass and body condition i.e. the residual of the allometric relationship between log(mass) and log(length))…
This paper presents the global analysis of two extended decreases in the galactic cosmic-ray intensity observed by worldwide networks of ground-based detectors in 2012. This analysis is capable of separately deriving the cosmic-ray density (or omnidirectional intensity) and anisotropy…
Population monitoring provides information on species conservation status. We reassess the status of the southern elephant seal population at Macquarie Island. The number of cows on the isthmus, ~20% of the total population, correlated with counts for the whole island (i.e.
The distribution of New Zealand sea lions is typically localised to New Zealand and its remote subantarctic islands. However, non-resident male sea lions were seen on Macquarie Island, 650 km from their nearest natal islands, in all months of all years from 1965 to 1980.
There is growing interest from research and conservation groups in the potential for using small unoccupied aerial vehicles (UAVs; <2 kg) to conduct wildlife surveys because they are affordable, easy to use, readily available and reliable. However, limitations such as short flight endurance…
A proportion of the southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina) population that breeds in the Kerguelen Plateau region seasonally migrates between their natal sub-Antarctic islands and moult haul-out locations on the Antarctic coastline.
The Southern Ocean, its ecosystem, and inhabitants are vulnerable to climate-mediated shifts in habitat conditions. These changes can affect marine predators in the long term through changes in the distribution, density, and quality of prey.
Species distributions are predicted to change with future climate-associated ecosystem changes such that so-called 'vagrant' individuals may become established or re-establish in areas currently thought to be beyond their principle ranges.
Contrasting regional changes in Southern Ocean sea ice have occurred over the last 30 years with distinct regional effects on ecosystem structure and function.
Investigating ecological relationships between predators and their environment is essential to understand the response of marine ecosystems to climate variability and change. This is particularly true in polar regions, where sea ice (a sensitive climate variable)…
Individual life-history traits, such as age and sex, influence vital rates in most large vertebrate species. Developmental differences are especially profound in polygamous mating systems. One of the most polygamous of all mammals, the southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina)…
Antarctic polynyas are persistent open water areas which enable early and large seasonal phytoplankton blooms. This high primary productivity, boosted by iron supply from coastal glaciers, attracts organisms from all trophic levels to form a rich and diverse community.
The first year of life is critical for large mammals to acquire foraging and predator avoidance skills. Southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina) pups wean at approximately three weeks of age and depart on their first foraging trips in midsummer…
Livestock was often released onto remote Southern Ocean islands as a food source for shipwreck survivors during the industrial whaling and sealing era. Although animals were put ashore at nearby Isles Kerguelen and Crozet…
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Avian and mammalian predators play a key role in the Kerguelen Plateau ecosystem, both with respect to structuring the marine community and its response to anthropogenic influences, such as climate change and commercial fisheries.
Delta15N signatures of fossil peat were used to interpret past ecosystem processes on tectonically active subantarctic Macquarie Island. By comparing past vegetation reconstructed from the fossil record with present day vegetation analogues, our evidence strongly suggests that changes in the ?