Dive behaviour can predict metabolic expenditure in Steller sea lions Conservation Physiology

Quantification of costs associated with foraging contributes to understanding the energetic impact that changes in prey availability have on the energy balance of an animal and the fitness of populations. However, estimating the costs of foraging is difficult for breath-hold divers, such as Steller sea lions, that feed underwater. We developed models parameterized with data from free-diving captive Steller sea lions to estimate the costs incurred by wild animals while foraging. We measured diving metabolic rate of trained sea lions performing four types of dives to 10 and 40 m in the open ocean and estimated the separate costs of different dive components: surface time; bottom time; and transiting to and from depth. Grant no. NA11NMF4390124