Marine Ecosystem Structure and function in Dronning Maud Land - MARES DML
The purpose of the experiment is to collect late summer and overwinter hydrographic and ecological information from a previously unstudied region of Antarctica, through the deployment of animal-borne instruments ("tags") and collection of standard biological samples from Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) and crabeater seals (Lobodon carcinophaga). The tags collect physical oceanography data as well as information on the foraging behaviour and distribution of the animals themselves.
Expected distress is minimal for both species. All of the handling, sampling and instrumentation approaches we plan to use have been developed and refined over several decades and represent "best practice" in an established international field.
Expected scientific and societal benefits - the study will be conducted in a region of the Antarctic which has been studied very little. It is the current focus of a Marine Protected Area development process, so data from the region is particularly important at this time. Consequently, the benefits to science and society in terms of increased understanding and MPA formulation of collecting time series data on physical hydrography and ecosystem functioning as well as data on a higher trophic species who have never been studied in this region is clear.
Twenty animals (adult males and females combined) of each species will be sampled and instrumented. The tags will remain attached until the annual moult in early February 2020.
Replacement: understanding how animals exploit their environment, and being able to establish what it is about their environment they consider important, requires in-situ study in the natural environment. Therefore replacement is impossible.
Reduction: ideally, we would seek a much larger sample size in order to cover a larger section of the coast - however the cost of instruments and data transmission are a limiting factor.
Improvement: the procedures and instrumentation approaches we will undertake represent the culmination of over 25 years of research activity on these and other phocid species. The restraint methods have been refined by research groups who have actively collaborated to improve procedures. The tag technology has been improved to the point where the effect of instrumentation on similar sized phocid seals is not detectable.
Expected distress is minimal for both species. All of the handling, sampling and instrumentation approaches we plan to use have been developed and refined over several decades and represent "best practice" in an established international field.
Expected scientific and societal benefits - the study will be conducted in a region of the Antarctic which has been studied very little. It is the current focus of a Marine Protected Area development process, so data from the region is particularly important at this time. Consequently, the benefits to science and society in terms of increased understanding and MPA formulation of collecting time series data on physical hydrography and ecosystem functioning as well as data on a higher trophic species who have never been studied in this region is clear.
Twenty animals (adult males and females combined) of each species will be sampled and instrumented. The tags will remain attached until the annual moult in early February 2020.
Replacement: understanding how animals exploit their environment, and being able to establish what it is about their environment they consider important, requires in-situ study in the natural environment. Therefore replacement is impossible.
Reduction: ideally, we would seek a much larger sample size in order to cover a larger section of the coast - however the cost of instruments and data transmission are a limiting factor.
Improvement: the procedures and instrumentation approaches we will undertake represent the culmination of over 25 years of research activity on these and other phocid species. The restraint methods have been refined by research groups who have actively collaborated to improve procedures. The tag technology has been improved to the point where the effect of instrumentation on similar sized phocid seals is not detectable.