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 2695
See 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 seals
2. Collect diving behaviour (dive depth, duration and frequency) from a sub-set of these seals
3. Collect high precision water temperature data from a subset of these seals

These 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产出的数据集。如需了解该项目的公开详情，请点击下方链接。

海冰冬季覆盖范围的波动被认为会对藻类生长、南极磷虾繁殖等生物生产力造成深远影响，并通过海洋食物网引发连锁效应。本试点研究旨在记录威德尔海豹（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。具体研究目标如下：
1. 获取成年雌性威德尔海豹样本的卫星追踪轨迹
2. 采集该样本中部分个体的潜水行为数据（包括潜水深度、时长与频次）
3. 采集该样本中部分个体的高精度海水温度数据

上述数据将用于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。

本次下载文件包含13个该项目相关的Access数据库，同时附带一份汇总各数据库信息的Excel电子表格。

相关数据已同步录入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。