Winter foraging ranges of Weddell seals: a pilot study to assess their role in the winter sea-ice zone and their potential as ocean sampling platforms

Metadata record for data from ASAC Project 2695See the link below for public details on this project.Variations in the winter extent of sea ice are thought to have profound effects on biological productivity, such as algal growth and the reproduction of Antarctic krill, with subsequent flow-on effects through the food web. This pilot study aims to measure the winter foraging patterns of Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) as a first step in investigating their role in the winter sea-ice zone. Our specific objectives are to:1. Obtain satellite tracks from a sample of adult female Weddell seals2. Collect diving behaviour (dive depth, duration and frequency) from a sub-set of these seals3. Collect high precision water temperature data from a subset of these sealsThese data will enable us to assess the feasibility of including Weddell seals as a candidate species in a long-term study of winter sea-ice and predator performance. This project has now been merged into project number 2794 (ASAC_2794). It also contains data collected as part of project 1171 (ASAC_1171).The download file contains 13 Access Databases containing data from this project. An excel spreadsheet summarising the databases is also included.The data have also been loaded into the Australian Antarctic Data Centre's ARGOS tracking database. The database can be accessed at the provided URL.

本元数据记录对应ASAC项目2695的相关数据，项目公开详情请见下方链接。海冰冬季范围的变化被认为对生物生产力具有深远影响，例如藻类生长与南极磷虾繁殖，并通过食物网产生后续连锁效应。本先导研究旨在测定威德尔海豹（Leptonychotes weddellii）的冬季觅食模式，以此作为探究其在冬季海冰区生态作用的第一步。本研究的具体目标如下：
1. 获取成年雌性威德尔海豹样本的卫星追踪轨迹
2. 采集该样本子群体的潜水行为数据（包括潜水深度、时长与频次）
3. 采集该样本子群体的高精度水温数据
上述数据将助力我们评估将威德尔海豹作为候选物种，纳入冬季海冰与捕食者表现长期研究的可行性。本项目现已并入项目编号2794（ASAC_2794），同时包含项目1171（ASAC_1171）所采集的相关数据。下载文件包含13个存储本项目数据的Access数据库，同时附带一份汇总各数据库信息的Excel电子表格。本数据集亦已上传至澳大利亚南极数据中心的ARGOS追踪数据库，可通过提供的URL访问该数据库。