The ecology of 3-d space use in a sexually dimorphic mammal

The distribution of animals is the result of habitat selection according to sex, reproductive status and resource availability. Little is known about how marine predators investigate their 3-dimensional space along both the horizontal and vertical axes and how temporal variation affects space use. In this study, we assessed the spatio-temporal movement of a sexually dimorphic marine mammal, the grey seal Halichoerus grypus by 1) determining seasonal home range size, 2) testing whether space use of seals was affected by water depth, and 3) investigating the vertical movement of seals according to the maximum depth of each dive. Between 1993 and 2005, we fitted 49 grey seals in the Gulf of St. Lawrence with satellite transmitters. We estimated seasonal 95% fixed-kernel home ranges for each individual. For each seal, we tested for selectivity and preference for 4 water depth classes at the home range scale and within the home range. We also evaluated the proportional number of dives made in each water depth classes according to the maximum depth of each dive. Home ranges were 10 times larger in winter than in summer. Seals generally selected habitats <50 m deep. They also mainly dove to depths of 40 m or less. At both scales of selection, preference for shallow areas decreased in winter. We also observed that adults used shallow habitats more than juveniles to establish their home range. A spatial segregation based on sex also occurred at the finer scale of selection where females were more concentrated in the shallowest parts of their home range than males. Segregation in space use according to age and sex classes occurred at both the horizontal and vertical scales. Our results emphasise the importance of studying habitat selection of marine predators in 3-dimensional space, in addition to the temporal scale

Harp Seals: Monitors of Change in Differing Ecosystems

Harp seals are the most abundant marine mammal in the north Atlantic. As an ice obligatory predator, they reflect changes in their environment, particularly during a period of climatic change. As the focus of a commercial hunt, a large historic data set exists that can be used to quantify changes. There are three populations of harp seals: White Sea/Barents Sea, Greenland Sea and Northwest Atlantic. The objective of this paper is to review their current status and to identify the factors that are influencing population dynamics in different areas. Although important historically, recent catches have been low and do not appear to be influencing trends in either of the two northeast Atlantic populations. Massive mortalities of White Sea/Barents Sea seals occurred during the mid 1980s due to collapses in their main prey species. Between 2004 and 2006, pup production in this population declined by 2/3 and has remained low. Body condition declined during the same period, suggesting that ecosystem changes may have resulted in reduced reproductive rates, possibly due to reduced prey availability and/or competition with Atlantic cod. The most recent estimate of pup production in the Greenland Sea also suggests a possible decline during a period of reduced hunting although the trend in this population is unclear. Pupping concentrations are closer to the Greenland coast due to the reduction in ice in the traditional area and increased drift may result in young being displaced from their traditional feeding grounds leading to increased mortality. Reduced ice extent and thickness has resulted in major mortality of young in the Northwest Atlantic population in some years. After a period of increase, the population remained relatively stable between 1996 and 2013 due to increased hunting, multiple years with increased ice-related mortality of young seals, and lower reproductive rates. With a reduction in harvest and improved survival of young, the population appears to be increasing although extremely large interannual variations in body condition and fecundity have been observed which were found to be influenced by variations in capelin biomass and ice conditions. Each of these populations has been impacted differently by changes in their ecosystems and hunting practices. By identifying the factors influencing these three populations, we can gain a better understanding of how species may respond to changes that are occurring in their ecosystems.publishedVersio

Managing the Ethical Dimensions of Brain-Computer Interfaces in eHealth: An SDLC-based Approach

A growing range of brain-computer interface (BCI) technologies is being employed for purposes of therapy and human augmentation. While much thought has been given to the ethical implications of such technologies at the ‘macro’ level of social policy and ‘micro’ level of individual users, little attention has been given to the unique ethical issues that arise during the process of incorporating BCIs into eHealth ecosystems. In this text a conceptual framework is developed that enables the operators of eHealth ecosystems to manage the ethical components of such processes in a more comprehensive and systematic way than has previously been possible. The framework’s first axis defines five ethical dimensions that must be successfully addressed by eHealth ecosystems: 1) beneficence; 2) consent; 3) privacy; 4) equity; and 5) liability. The second axis describes five stages of the systems development life cycle (SDLC) process whereby new technology is incorporated into an eHealth ecosystem: 1) analysis and planning; 2) design, development, and acquisition; 3) integration and activation; 4) operation and maintenance; and 5) disposal. Known ethical issues relating to the deployment of BCIs are mapped onto this matrix in order to demonstrate how it can be employed by the managers of eHealth ecosystems as a tool for fulfilling ethical requirements established by regulatory standards or stakeholders’ expectations. Beyond its immediate application in the case of BCIs, we suggest that this framework may also be utilized beneficially when incorporating other innovative forms of information and communications technology (ICT) into eHealth ecosystems

Stomach temperature records reveal nursing behaviour and transition to solid food consumption in an unweaned mammal, the harbour seal pup (Phoca vitulina)

Knowledge of milk transfer from mother to offspring and early solid food ingestions in mammals allows for a greater understanding of the factors affecting transition to nutritional independence and pre-weaning growth and survival. Yet studies monitoring suckling behaviour have often relied on visual observations, which might not accurately represent milk intake. We assessed the use of stomach temperature telemetry to monitor suckling and foraging behaviour in free-ranging harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) pups during lactation. Stomach temperature declines were analysed using principal component and cluster analyses, as well as trials using simulated stomachs resulting in a precise classification of stomach temperature drops into milk, seawater and solid food ingestions. Seawater and solid food ingestions represented on average 15.361.6% [0-40.0%] and 0.760.2% [0-13.0%], respectively, of individual ingestions. Overall, 63.7% of milk ingestions occurred while the pups were in the water, of which 13.9% were preceded by seawater ingestion. The average time between subsequent ingestions was significantly less for seawater than for milk ingestions. These results suggest that seawater ingestion might represent collateral ingestion during aquatic suckling attempts. Alternatively, as solid food ingestions (n = 19) were observed among 7 pups, seawater ingestion could result from missed prey capture attempts. This study shows that some harbour seals start ingesting prey while still being nursed, indicating that weaning occurs more gradually than previously thought in this species. Stomach temperature telemetry represents a promising method to study suckling behaviour in wild mammals and transition to nutritional independence in various endotherm species

Atlantic water variability on the SE Greenland continental shelf and its relationship to SST and bathymetry

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2013. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 118 (2013): 847–855, doi:10.1029/2012JC008354.Interaction of warm, Atlantic-origin water (AW) and colder, polar origin water (PW) advecting southward in the East Greenland Current (EGC) influences the heat content of water entering Greenland's outlet glacial fjords. Here we use depth and temperature data derived from deep-diving seals to map out water mass variability across the continental shelf and to augment existing bathymetric products. We compare depths derived from the seal dives with the IBCAO Version 3 bathymetric database over the shelf and find differences up to 300 m near several large submarine canyons. In the vertical temperature structure, we find two dominant modes: a cold mode, with the typical AW/PW layering observed in the EGC, and a warm mode, where AW is present throughout the water column. The prevalence of these modes varies seasonally and spatially across the continental shelf, implying distinct AW pathways. In addition, we find that satellite sea surface temperatures (SST) correlate significantly with temperatures in the upper 50 m (R = 0.54), but this correlation decreases with depth (R = 0.22 at 200 m), and becomes insignificant below 250 m. Thus, care must be taken in using SST as a proxy for heat content, as AW mainly resides in these deeper layers.Funding for this work came from National Science Foundation OPP grant 0909373 and OCE grant 1130008, plus the WHOI Arctic Research Initiative. The Greenland Institute of Natural Resources and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada, supported the seal tagging logistics.2013-08-2

Seasonal variability of the warm Atlantic Water layer in the vicinity of the Greenland shelf break

The warmest water reaching the east and west coast of Greenland is found between 200?m and 600?m. Whilst important for melting Greenland's outlet glaciers, limited winter observations of this layer prohibit determination of its seasonality. To address this, temperature data from Argo profiling floats, a range of sources within the World Ocean Database and unprecedented coverage from marine-mammal borne sensors have been analysed for the period 2002-2011. A significant seasonal range in temperature (~1-2?°C) is found in the warm layer, in contrast to most of the surrounding ocean. The phase of the seasonal cycle exhibits considerable spatial variability, with the warmest water found near the eastern and southwestern shelf-break towards the end of the calendar year. High-resolution ocean model trajectory analysis suggest the timing of the arrival of the year's warmest water is a function of advection time from the subduction site in the Irminger Basin

Google haul out : Earth observation imagery and digital aerial surveys in coastal wildlife management and abundance estimation

© The Author(s), 2017. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Bioscience 67 (2017): 760–768, doi:10.1093/biosci/bix059.As the sampling frequency and resolution of Earth observation imagery increase, there are growing opportunities for novel applications in population monitoring. New methods are required to apply established analytical approaches to data collected from new observation platforms (e.g., satellites and unmanned aerial vehicles). Here, we present a method that estimates regional seasonal abundances for an understudied and growing population of gray seals (Halichoerus grypus) in southeastern Massachusetts, using opportunistic observations in Google Earth imagery. Abundance estimates are derived from digital aerial survey counts by adapting established correction-based analyses with telemetry behavioral observation to quantify survey biases. The result is a first regional understanding of gray seal abundance in the northeast US through opportunistic Earth observation imagery and repurposed animal telemetry data. As species observation data from Earth observation imagery become more ubiquitous, such methods provide a robust, adaptable, and cost-effective solution to monitoring animal colonies and understanding species abundances.We would like to thank generous support from International Fund for Animal Welfare, the Bureau of Ocean Energy, and the Oak Foundation for funding support for the telemetry devices

Rapid circulation of warm subtropical waters in a major glacial fjord in East Greenland

Author Posting. © The Authors, 2009. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Nature Publishing Group for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Nature Geoscience 3 (2010): 182-186, doi:10.1038/ngeo764.The recent rapid increase in mass loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet is primarily attributed to an acceleration of outlet glaciers. One possible cause is increased melting at the ice/ocean interface driven by the synchronous warming of subtropical waters offshore of Greenland. This hypothesis is largely untested, however, because of the lack of observations from Greenland’s glacial fjords and our limited understanding of their dynamics. Here, we present new ship-based and moored oceanographic data, collected in Sermilik Fjord, a large glacial fjord in East Greenland, showing that subtropical waters are present throughout the fjord and are continuously replenished via a wind-driven exchange with the shelf, where they occur year-round. The temperature and rapid renewal of these waters suggest that, at present, they drive enhanced submarine melting at the terminus. Key controls on the melting rate are the volume and properties of subtropical waters on the shelf and the patterns of the along-shore winds, suggesting the glaciers’ acceleration was triggered by a combination of atmospheric and oceanic changes. These measurements provide evidence of rapid advective pathway for the transmission of oceanic variability to the ice-sheet margins and highlight an important process that is missing from prognostic ice-sheet models.F.S. acknowledges support from WHOI’s Ocean and Climate Change Institute’s Arctic Research Initiative and from NSF OCE 0751896, and G.S.H and L.A.S from NASA’s Cryospheric Sciences Program. Funding for the hooded seal deployments was obtained from the International Governance and Atlantic Seal Research Program, Fisheries and Oceans, Canada, to G. B. S. and to the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources to A. R. A

Marine mammals exploring the oceans pole to pole

Polar oceans are poorly monitored despite the important role they play in regulating Earth’s climate system. Marine mammals equipped with biologging devices are now being used to fill the data gaps in these logistically difficult to sample regions. Since 2002, instrumented animals have been generating exceptionally large data sets of oceanographic CTD casts (>500,000 profiles), which are now freely available to the scientific community through the MEOP data portal (http://meop.net). MEOP (Marine Mammals Exploring the Oceans Pole to Pole) is a consortium of international researchers dedicated to sharing animal-derived data and knowledge about the polar oceans. Collectively, MEOP demonstrates the power and cost-effectiveness of using marine mammals as data-collection platforms that can dramatically improve the ocean observing system for biological and physical oceanographers. Here, we review the MEOP program and database to bring it to the attention of the international community.http://www.tos.org/oceanographyam2017Mammal Research InstituteZoology and Entomolog