Blubber fatty acid profiles indicate dietary resource partitioning between adult and juvenile southern elephant seals

Marine Ecology Progress Series

Volumn 384, Issue , 2009, Pages 303-312

  Newland, China ^a   Field, Iain C ^a,b   Nichols, Peter D ^c,d   Bradshaw, Corey J A ^e,f   Hindell, Mark A ^a,d  

^a UNIVERSITY OF TASMANIA   (Australia)

^b CHARLES DARWIN UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

^c CSIRO   (Australia)

^d ANTARCTIC CLIMATE AND ECOSYSTEMS COOPERATIVE RESEARCH CENTRE   (Australia)

^e UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE   (Australia)

^f SOUTH AUSTRALIAN RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE   (Australia)

Author keywords

Diet; Fatty acid signature analysis; Resource partitioning; Southern elephant seal

Indexed keywords

ADULT; DIET; DIVING BEHAVIOR; FAT RESERVE; FATTY ACID; FEEDING GROUND; JUVENILE; NICHE PARTITIONING; PATCHINESS; PHENOTYPE; PINNIPED; SEXUAL DIMORPHISM;

CEPHALOPODA; MIROUNGA LEONINA;

EID: 67651093775     PISSN: 01718630     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.3354/meps08010     Document Type: Article

References (47)

1. Best NJ, Bradshaw CJA, Hindell MA, Nichols PD (2003)Vertical stratification of fatty acids in the blubber of southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina): implications for diet analysis. Comp Biochem Physiol B 134:253-263
2. Bligh EG, Dyer WJ (1959)A rapid method of lipid extraction and purification. Can J Biochem Physiol 37:911-917
3. Bolnick DI, Svanback R, Fordyce JA, Yang LH (2003)The ecology of individuals: incidence and implications of individual specialization. Am Nat 161:1-28
4. Borobia M, Gearing PJ, Simard Y, Gearing JN, Beland P (1995) Blubber fatty acids of finback and humpback whales from the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Mar Biol 122: 341-353
5. Bradshaw CJA, Hindell MA, Best NJ, Phillips KL, Wilson G, Nichols PD (2003)You are what you eat: describing the foraging ecology of southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) using blubber fatty acids. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 270:1283-1292
6. Bremer J, Norum KR (1982)Metabolism of very long-chained monounsaturated fatty acids (22:1) and the adaption to their presence in the diet. J Lipid Res 23:243-256
7. Brown DJ, Boyd IL, Cripps GC (1999)Fatty acid signature analysis from the milk of Antarctic fur seals and southern elephant seals from South Georgia: implications for diet determination. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 187:251-263
8. Burnham KP, Anderson DR (2002)Model selection and multimodel inference: a practical information-theoretical approach, 2nd edn. Springer-Verlag, New York
9. Fea N, Harcourt R (1997)Assessing the use of faecal and regurgitate analysis as a means of determining the diet of New Zealand fur seals. In: Mammal research in the Southern Hemisphere, Vol 1. Status, ecology and medicine. Surrey Beatty & Sons, Chipping Norton, p 143-150
10. Field IC, Hindell MA, Slip DJ, Michael KJ (2001)Foraging strategies of southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) in relation to frontal zones and water masses. Antarct Sci 13:371-379
11. Field IC, McMahon CR, Burton HR, Bradshaw CJ, Harrington J (2002)Effects of age, size and condition of elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) on their intravenous anaesthesia with tiletamine and zolazepam. Vet Rec 151:235-240
12. Field IC, Bradshaw CJA, Burton HR, Sumner MD, Hindell MA (2005a) Resource partitioning through oceanic segregation of foraging juvenile southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina). Oecologia 142:127-135
13. Field IC, Bradshaw CJA, Burton HR, Sumner MD, Hindell MA (2005b) Juvenile southern elephant seals exhibit seasonal differences in energetic requirements and use of lipids and protein stores. Physiol Biochem Zool 78: 491-504
14. Field IC, Bradshaw CJA, van den Hoff J, Burton HR, Hindell MA (2007)Age-related shifts in the diet composition of southern elephant seals expand overall foraging niche. Mar Biol 150:1441-1452
15. Green K, Burton HR (1993)Comparison of the stomach contents of southern elephant seals, Mirounga leonina, at Macquarie and Heard Islands. Mar Mamm Sci 9:10-22
16. Harvey JT, Antonelis GA (1994)Biases associated with nonlethal methods of determining the diet of northern elephant seals. Mar Mamm Sci 10:178-187
17. Herman DP, Burrows DG, Wade PR, Durban JW and others (2005) Feeding ecology of eastern North Pacific killer whales Orcinus orca from fatty acid, stable isotope and organochlorine analyses of blubber biopsies. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 302:275-291
18. Hindell M (1991)Some life-history parameters of a declining population of southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonine). J Anim Ecol 60:119-134
19. Hindell MA, Slip DJ, Burton HR (1994)Possible causes for the decline of southern elephant populations in the southern Pacific and southern Indian Oceans. In: Le Boeuf BJ, Laws RM (eds) Elephant seals: population ecology, behaviour and physiology. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA, p 66-84
20. Hindell MA, Lea M, Morrice M, McMahan CR (2000)Metabolic limits on dive duration and swimming speed in the southern elephant seal, Mirounga leonina. Physiol Biochem Zool 73:790-798
21. Hindell MA, Bradshaw CJ, Sumner MD, Michael KJ, Burton HR (2003)Dispersal of female southern elephant seals and their prey consumption during the austral summer: relevance to management and oceanographic zones. J Appl Ecol 40:703-715
22. Hooker SK, Iverson SJ, Ostrom P, Smith SC (2001)Diet of northern bottlenose whales inferred from fatty acid and stable isotope analyses of biopsy samples. Can J Zool 79: 1442-1454
23. Innis SM (2005)Essential fatty acid metabolism during early development. In: Burrin DG, Mersmann HJ (eds) Biology of metabolism in growing animals. Elsevier Ltd, Sydney, p 235-274
24. Irvine LG, Hindell MA, van den Hoff J, Burton HR (2000)The influence of body size on dive duration of under-yearling southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina). J Zool 251: 463-471
25. Iverson SJ, Frost KJ, Lowry LF (1997)Fatty acid signatures reveal fine scale structure of foraging distribution of harbour seals and their prey in Prince William Sound Alaska. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 151:255-271
26. Iverson SJ, Field C, Bowen WD, Blanchard W (2004)Quantitative fatty acid signature analysis: a new method of estimating predator diets. Ecol Monogr 74:211-235
27. Knox G (1993)Biology of the Southern Ocean. University of Canterbury, Christchurch
28. Laws R (1994)History and present status of southern elephant seal population. In: Le Boeuf BJ, Laws RM (eds) Elephant seals: population ecology, behaviour and physiology. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA, p 49-65
29. Le Boeuf BJ, Morris PA, Blackwell SB, Crocker DE, Costa DP (1996) Diving behaviour of juvenile northern elephant seals. Can J Zool 74:1632-1644
30. Le Boeuf BJ, Crocker DE, Costa DP, Blavkwell SB, Webb PM, Houser DS (2000)Foraging ecology of northern elephant seals. Ecol Monogr 70:353-382
31. Maillet D, Weber JM (2006)Preformance-enhancing role of dietary fatty acids in a long-distance migrant shore-bird: the semipalmated sandpiper. J Exp Biol 209:2686-2695
32. McConnell BJ, Fedak MA, Burton HR, Engelhard GH, Reijnders PJH (2002)Movements and foraging areas of naïve, recently weaned southern elephant seal pups. J Anim Ecol 71:65-78
33. McMahon CR, Burton HR (2005)Climate change and seal survival: evidence for environmentally mediated changes in elephant seal, Mirounga leonina, pup survival. Proc R Soc Lond B 272:923-928
34. McMahon CR, Burton HR, Slip DJ, McLean S, BesterM(2000) Field immobilisation of southern elephant seals with intravenous tiletamine and zolazepam. Vet Rec 146:251-254
35. McMahon CR, Burton HR, Bester MN (2003)A demographic comparison of two southern elephant seal populations. J Anim Ecol 72:61-74
36. McMahon CR, Bester MN, Burton HR, Hindell MA, Bradshaw CJA (2005)Population status, trends and a re-examination of the hypotheses explaining the recent declines of the southern elephant seal Mirounga leonina. Mammal Rev 35:82-100
37. Moller P, Born EW, Dietz R, Ruzzante D, Haug T, Oien N (2000) Differences in fatty acid composition of blubber of minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) from Greenland, NE Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea, 1998. International Whaling Commission, Cambridge
38. Nordstrom CA, Wilson LJ, Iverson SJ, Tollit DJ (2008)Evaluating quantitative fatty acid signature analysis (QFASA) using harbour seals Phoca vitulina richardsi in captive feeding studies. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 360:245-263
39. Olsen E, Grahl-Nielsen O (2003)Blubber fatty acids of minke whales: stratification, population identification and relation to diet. Mar Biol 142:13-24
40. Pakhomov EA, McQuaid CD (1996)Distribution of surface zooplankton and seabirds across the Southern Ocean. Polar Biol 16:271-286
41. Polis GA (1984)Age structure component of niche width and intra-specific resource partitioning: Can age groups function as ecological species? Am Nat 123:541-564
42. Slip DJ (1995)The diet of southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) from Heard Island. Can J Zool 73:1519-1528
43. Slip DJ (1997)Diving and foraging behaviour of juvenile southern elephant seals from Heard Island. In: Hindell M, Kemper C (eds) Marine mammal research in the Southern Hemisphere, Vol 1. Status, ecology and medicine. Surrey Beatty & Sons, Chipping Norton, p 114-124
44. Volpe JJ, Vagelos PR (1973)Saturated fatty acid biosynthesis and its regulation. Annu Rev Biochem 42:21-60
45. Wakil SJ, Stoops JK, Joshi VC (1983)Fatty acid synthesis and its regulation. Annu Rev Biochem 52:537-579
46. Weimerskirch H, Inchausti P, Guinet C, Barbraud C (2003) Trends in bird and seal populations as indicators of a system shift in the Southern Ocean. Antarct Sci 15:249-256
47. Wheatley KE, Nichols PD, Hindell MA, Harcourt RG, Bradshaw CJA (2007)Temporal variation in the vertical stratification of blubber fatty acids alters diet predictions for lactating Weddell seals. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 352: 103-113