Grey seal diet at the southern limit of its European distribution: Combining dietary analyses and fatty acid profiles

Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom

Volumn 87, Issue 1, 2007, Pages 255-264

  Ridoux, V ^a   Spitz, J ^a   Vincent, C ^a   Walton, M J ^b  

^a UNIVERSITÉ DE LA ROCHELLE   (France)

^b UNIVERSITY OF ST ANDREWS   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

BODY MASS; COASTAL ZONE; DIET; FATTY ACID; FORAGING BEHAVIOR; GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION; INTERSPECIFIC INTERACTION; PINNIPED; POPULATION DISTRIBUTION; PREY SIZE; STOMACH CONTENT;

BRETAGNE; EURASIA; EUROPE; FINISTERE; FRANCE; MOLENE ISLAND; RUSSIAN FEDERATION; SCOTLAND; UNITED KINGDOM; WESTERN EUROPE;

ANIMALIA; CONGER CONGER; CONGRIDAE; DICENTRARCHUS LABRAX; HALICHOERUS GRYPUS; LABRIDAE; LABRUS BERGYLTA; SEPIA OFFICINALIS; SEPIIDAE; SERRANIDAE; SOLEA SOLEA;

EID: 33847353839     PISSN: 00253154     EISSN: 14697769     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S002531540705463X     Document Type: Article

References (31)

1. Bigg, M.A. & Fawcett, I., 1985. Two biases in diet determination of northern fur seals (Callorhinus ursinus). In Marine mammals and fisheries (ed. J.R. Beddington et al.), pp. 284-291. Boston, USA: George Allen & Unwin.
2. Bowen, W.D., Lawson, J.W. & Beck, B., 1993. Seasonal and geographic variation in the species composition and size of prey consumed by grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) on the Scotian shelf. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 50, 1768-1778.
3. Bowen, W.D. & Harrison, G.D., 1994. Offshore diet of grey seals Halichoerus grypus near Sable Island, Canada. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 112, 1-11.
4. Clarke, M.R., 1986. A handbook for the identification of cephalopod beaks. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
5. Croxall, J.P., 1993. Diet. In Antarctic seals (ed. R.W. Laws), pp. 268-290. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
6. Folch, J, Lees, M. & Sloane Stanley, G.H., 1957. A simple method for the isolation and purification of total lipids from animal tissues. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 226, 497-509.
7. Gérondeau, M., Barbraud, C., Ridoux, V. & Vincent, C., 2007. Abundance estimate and seasonal patterns of grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) occurrence in Brittany, France, as assessed by photo-identification and capture-mark-recapture. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 87, 365-372.
8. Hammond, P.S., Hall, A.S. & Prime, J.H., 1994a. The diet of grey seals in the inner and outer Hebrides. Journal of Applied Ecology, 31, 737-746.
9. Hammond, P.S., Hall, A.S. & Rothery, P., 1994b. Consumption of fish prey by grey seals. In Grey seals in the North Sea and their interactions with fisheries, pp. 35-69. Final Report to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Contract no. MF0503. St Andrews, UK: Sea Mammal Research Unit.
10. Härkönen, T., 1986. Guide to the otoliths of the bony fishes of the northeast Atlantic. Hellerup: Danbiu ApS. Biological Consultants.
11. Härkönen, T., Brasseur, S., Teilmann, J., Vincent, C., Dietz, R., Abt, K. & Reijnders, P., in press. Status of grey seals along mainland Europe from the southwestern Baltic to France. Tromsø: NAMMCO Scientific Publications.
12. Harvey, J.T. & Antonelis, G.A., 1994. Biases associated with nonlethal methods of determining the diet of northern elephant seals. Marine Mammal Science, 10, 178-187.
13. Hauksson, E. & Bogason V., 1997. Comparative feeding of grey (Halichoerus grypus) and common seals (Phoca vitulina) in coastal waters of Iceland, with a note on the diet of hooded (Cystophora cristata) and harp seals (Phoca groenlandica). Journal of Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Science, 22, 125-135.
14. Iverson, S.J., Field, C., Bowen, W.D. & Blanchard, W. 2004. Quantitative fatty acid signature analysis: a new method of estimating predator diets. Ecological Monographs, 74, 211-235.
15. Iverson, S.J., Frost, K.J. & Lowry, L.F., 1997. Fatty acid signatures reveal fine scale structure of foraging distribution of harbour seals and their prey in Prince William Sound, Alaska. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 151, 255-271.
16. Iverson, S.J., Oftedal, O.T., Bowen, W.D., Boness, D.J. & Sampugna, J., 1995. Prenatal and postnatal transfer of fatty acids from mother to pup in the hooded seal (Cystophora cristata). Journal of Comparative Physiology, 165, 1-12.
17. Murie, D.J. & Lavigne, D.M., 1992. Growth and feeding habits of grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) in the northwestern gulf of Saint-Lawrence, Canada. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 70, 1604-1613.
18. Pierce, G.J. & Boyle, P.R., 1991. A review of methods for diet analysis in piscivorous marine mammals. Oceanographic Marine Biology. Annual Review, 29, 409-486.
19. Pierce, G.J., Miller, A., Thompson, P.M. & Hislop, J.R.G., 1991. Prey remains in grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) faeces from the Moray Firth, north-east Scotland. Journal of Zoology, 224, 337-341.
20. Pierce, G.J., Boyle, P.R., Watt, J. & Grisley, M., 1993. Recent advances in diet analysis of marine mammals. In Marine mammals: advances in behavioural and population biology (ed. I.L. Boyd), pp. 241-261. Oxford, Oxford Science Publications, Zoological Society of London Symposia, 66.
21. Prime, J.H. & Hammond, P.S., 1990. The diet of grey seals from the south-western North Sea assessed from analyses of hard parts found in faeces. Journal of Applied Ecology, 27, 435-447.
22. Reynolds, J.C. & Aebischer, N.J., 1991. Comparison and quantification of carnivore diet by faecal analysis: a critique, with recommendations, based on the study of the fox, Vulpes vulpes. Mammal Review, 21, 97-122.
23. Ridoux, V., 1994. The diets and dietary segregation of seabirds at the subantarctic Crozet Islands. Marine Ornithology, 22, 1-192.
24. Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU), 2004. Scientific advice on matters related to the management of seal populations: 2004. UK Special Committee On Seals, 99pp.
25. Thompson, P.M., McConnell, B.J., Tollit, D.J., McKay, A., Hunter, C. & Racey, P.A., 1996. Comparative distribution, movements and diet of harbour and grey seals from the Moray Firth, NE Scotland. Journal of Applied Ecology, 33, 1572-1584.
26. Tollit, D., Greenstreet, S.P.R. & Thompson, P.M., 1997. Prey selection by harbour seals, Phoca vitulina, in relation to variations in prey abundance. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 75, 1508-1518.
27. Vincent, C. 2001. Ecological bases for the conservation of the grey seal, Halichoerus grypus, in the Iroise Sea, France. PhD thesis, Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Brest, France.
28. Vincent, C., Fedak, M.A., McConnell, B.J., Meynier, L., Saint-Jean, C. & Ridoux, V., 2005. Status and conservation of grey seal, Halichoerus grypus, in France. Biological Conservation, 126, 62-73.
29. Walton, M.J., Henderson, R.J. & Pomeroy, P.P., 2000. Use of blubber fatty acid profiles to distinguish dietary differences between grey seals Halichoerus grypus from two UK breeding colonies. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 193, 201-208.
30. Walton, M.J. & Pomeroy, P.P., 2003. Use of blubber fatty acid profiles to detect inter-annual variations in the diet of grey seals. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 248, 257-266.
31. Yonezaki, S., Kiyota, M., Baba, N., Koidi, T. & Takemura, A., 2003. Size distribution of the hard remains of prey in the digestive tract of northern fur seal (Callorhinus ursinus) and related biases in diet estimation by scat analysis. Mammal Study, 28, 97-102.