The Demographic Consequences of Environmental Variability and Individual Heterogeneity in Life-history Tactics of a Long-lived Antarctic Marine Predator

The Erebus Bay population of Weddell seals in the Ross Sea of Antarctica is the most southerly breeding population of mammal in the world, closely associated with persistent shore-fast ice, and one that has been intensively studied since 1969. The resulting long-term database, which includes data for over 25,000 marked individuals, contains detailed population information that provides an excellent opportunity to study linkages between environmental conditions and demographic processes in the Antarctic. The study population is of special interest as the Ross Sea is one of the most productive areas of the Southern Ocean and one of the most pristine marine environments on the planet. The study provides long-term demographic data for individual seals