Abstract
Bearded seals are one of the least studied Arctic marine mammals, despite their circumpolar distribution and importance as a resource to Inuit communities. In this study, adult bearded seals (Erignathus barbatus) were equipped with GPS-Argos-CTD-SRDLs in Svalbard, Norway (2011–2012, n = 7) to document their diving, activity and movement patterns in a region where their habitat is changing rapidly. Five seals transmitted for > 8 months, sending 21,738 GPS-positions and 17,866 dives between July and April. The seals spent little time hauled out (≤ 5%). Diving, which occupied 74 ± 3% of their time, was generally shallow (24 ± 7 m, max: 391 m) and of short duration (6.6 ± 1.5 min, max: 24 min) with deeper, longer dives in winter/spring compared to summer. All seals occupied shallow, coastal areas and relatively small 50% home ranges (10–32 km2). However, individuals exhibited high degrees of specialization in their habitat use and diving behaviour, differing markedly with respect to proportions of benthic vs pelagic dives (range: 51–95% benthic dives), distance to glacier fronts (range: 3–22 km) and in the time spent at the bottom of dives (range: 43–77%). Having specialized strategies within a generalist population may help bearded seals adapt in a rapidly changing Arctic ecosystem.
Highlights
The Arctic is being impacted by climate change more rapidly than other areas of the globe
This study is the first to report adult bearded seal movement and behaviour patterns covering most of the annual cycle
The bearded seals instrumented in this study exhibited high degrees of individual variability in their space use, dive behaviour, activity and movement patterns
Summary
The Arctic is being impacted by climate change more rapidly than other areas of the globe. Bearded seals (Erignathus barbatus) are an Arctic endemic species with a patchy, circumpolar distribution[10] This large true seal generally feeds on benthos (infauna, epifauna and benthically distributed fishes and invertebrates) in relatively shallow, coastal areas[11,12,13,14]. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the space use, diving behaviour and movement and activity patterns of adult bearded seals in the context of a rapidly changing environment in the Svalbard area This was achieved by investigating: home range size; the habitat the seals used; seasonal and diurnal patterns in activity and diving behaviour; and by exploring the variation in diving behaviour and habitat utilization among individual seals. Seals were considered specialists if their behaviour (i.e. use of habitat, diving) was consistent throughout the tracking period and generalists if behaviours varied over time
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