Characterization of post-breeding movement behavior of southern elephant seals(Mirounga leonina) in the Kerguelen Plateau, Antarctica

Abstract:

Southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina) is an important predator in the Antarctic marine ecosystem, and its behavioral characteristics are important in ecological and biological oceanography research, but the regional behavioral characteristics of southern elephant seal in Kerguelen have rarely been studied. In this study, the dataset of CTD attached to southern elephant seals from the northern Kerguelen Plateau were used to predict the horizontal movement of southern elephant seals using a switching-state space model (SSSM), and the water masses preferred for their foraging use and diving characteristics were analyzed. The results showed that, horizontally, the uneven distribution of food resources drove southern elephant seals to migrate to more productive areas, and they mainly gathered in three more productive areas to forage, among which the eastern part of Kerguelen Plateau was the target of most southern elephant seals; vertically, the diving behavior of southern elephant seal was not affected by light level and the movement performance varied significantly among individuals, but had a combination of high frequency and depth, This linited the feeding area to the winter water (WW), which may be the result of a trade-off strategy between the distribution of predation targets and inter specific competition. This study enriches the knowledge of post-breeding behavior of southern elephant seals in Kerguelen Islands, and may provide a better understanding of the behavior and ecological characteristics of marine predators in the future, and thus further illustrate the function of the Antarctic ecosystem.