Display options
Cite
Naito Y, Costa DP, Adachi T, et al. Oxygen minimum zone: An important oceanographic habitat for deep-diving northern elephant seals, . Ecol Evol. 2017;7(16):6259-6270doi: 10.1002/ece3.3202.
Naito, Y., Costa, D. P., Adachi, T., Robinson, P. W., Peterson, S. H., Mitani, Y., & Takahashi, A. (2017). Oxygen minimum zone: An important oceanographic habitat for deep-diving northern elephant seals, . Ecology and evolution, 7(16), 6259-6270. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.3202
Naito, Yasuhiko, et al. "Oxygen minimum zone: An important oceanographic habitat for deep-diving northern elephant seals, ." Ecology and evolution vol. 7,16 (2017): 6259-6270. doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.3202
Naito Y, Costa DP, Adachi T, Robinson PW, Peterson SH, Mitani Y, Takahashi A. Oxygen minimum zone: An important oceanographic habitat for deep-diving northern elephant seals, . Ecol Evol. 2017 Jul 03;7(16):6259-6270. doi: 10.1002/ece3.3202. eCollection 2017 Aug. PMID: 28861230; PMCID: PMC5574793.
Copy Download .nbib Format: NLM
Share it on

Ecol Evol. 2017 Jul 03;7(16):6259-6270. doi: 10.1002/ece3.3202. eCollection 2017 Aug.

Oxygen minimum zone: An important oceanographic habitat for deep-diving northern elephant seals, .

Ecology and evolution

Yasuhiko Naito, Daniel P Costa, Taiki Adachi, Patrick W Robinson, Sarah H Peterson, Yoko Mitani, Akinori Takahashi

Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Polar Research Midori-cho Tachikawa, Tokyo Japan.
  2. Long Marine Laboratory Center for Ocean Health Institute of Marine Sciences University of California Santa Cruz CA USA.
  3. Present address: Department of Biological Sciences Graduate School of Science The University of Tokyo Tokyo 113-0032 Japan.
  4. Field Science Center for Northern Biosphere Hokkaido University Bentencho Hakodate, Hokkaido Japan.

PMID: 28861230 PMCID: PMC5574793 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.3202

Abstract

Little is known about the foraging behavior of top predators in the deep mesopelagic ocean. Elephant seals dive to the deep biota-poor oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) (>800 m depth) despite high diving costs in terms of energy and time, but how they successfully forage in the OMZ remains largely unknown. Assessment of their feeding rate is the key to understanding their foraging behavior, but this has been challenging. Here, we assessed the feeding rate of 14 female northern elephant seals determined by jaw motion events (JME) and dive cycle time to examine how feeding rates varied with dive depth, particularly in the OMZ. We also obtained video footage from seal-mounted videos to understand their feeding in the OMZ. While the diel vertical migration pattern was apparent for most depths of the JME, some very deep dives, beyond the normal diel depth ranges, occurred episodically during daylight hours. The midmesopelagic zone was the main foraging zone for all seals. Larger seals tended to show smaller numbers of JME and lower feeding rates than smaller seals during migration, suggesting that larger seals tended to feed on larger prey to satisfy their metabolic needs. Larger seals also dived frequently to the deep OMZ, possibly because of a greater diving ability than smaller seals, suggesting their dependency on food in the deeper depth zones. Video observations showed that seals encountered the rarely reported ragfish (

Keywords: bio‐logging; elephant seal; feeding efficiency; jaw‐motion recorder; marine mammal; oxygen minimum zone

References

  1. Nature. 2011 Jun 22;475(7354):86-90 - PubMed
  2. J Exp Biol. 2011 Jan 15;214(Pt 2):326-36 - PubMed
  3. Ecol Evol. 2017 Jul 03;7(16):6259-6270 - PubMed
  4. J Anim Ecol. 2010 Nov;79(6):1146-56 - PubMed
  5. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Aug 21;104(34):13705-10 - PubMed
  6. J Exp Biol. 1998 Apr;201(Pt 8):1223-32 - PubMed
  7. PLoS One. 2016 Nov 30;11(11):e0166747 - PubMed
  8. Proc Biol Sci. 2016 Feb 24;283(1825):20152457 - PubMed
  9. J Exp Biol. 2008 Mar;211(Pt 5):699-708 - PubMed
  10. Am Nat. 2006 Feb;167(2):276-87 - PubMed
  11. Proc Biol Sci. 2001 Jan 22;268(1463):151-7 - PubMed
  12. Nat Commun. 2014;5:3271 - PubMed
  13. Proc Biol Sci. 2004 Nov 7;271(1554):2239-47 - PubMed
  14. J Exp Biol. 2010 Feb 15;213(4):585-92 - PubMed
  15. J Anim Ecol. 2006 May;75(3):814-25 - PubMed
  16. Ecology. 2011 Jun;92(6):1258-70 - PubMed
  17. Ecology. 2010 Apr;91(4):1004-15 - PubMed
  18. J Exp Biol. 2006 Nov;209(Pt 21):4238-53 - PubMed
  19. J Comp Pathol. 2005 Feb-Apr;132(2-3):169-78 - PubMed
  20. J Anim Ecol. 2009 May;78(3):513-23 - PubMed
  21. Proc Biol Sci. 2004 Dec 7;271 Suppl 6:S383-6 - PubMed
  22. J Exp Biol. 2005 Oct;208(Pt 19):3721-30 - PubMed
  23. Proc Biol Sci. 2014 Dec 22;281(1797): - PubMed
  24. PLoS One. 2012;7(5):e36728 - PubMed
  25. PLoS One. 2009;4(4):e5379 - PubMed

Publication Types