2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Ecological responses of large mesopelagic predators to environmental variability in the open ocean
| Project/Area Number |
23255001
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 海外学術 |
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| Research Field |
Environmental dynamic analysis
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| Research Institution | National Institute of Polar Research |
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Principal Investigator |
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
IIDA Takahiro 国立極地研究所, 研究教育系, 助教 (90455189)
SAKAMOTO Kentaro 北海道大学, 獣医学研究科, 講師 (80374627)
MORI Yoshihisa 帝京科学大学, 生命環境学部, 教授 (90367516)
MITANI Yoko 北海道大学, 北方生物圏フィールド科学センター, 准教授 (40538279)
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| Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha) |
NAITO Yasuhiko 国立極地研究所, 名誉教授 (80017087)
SATO Katsufumi 東京大学, 大気海洋研究所, 教授 (50300695)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2011-04-01 – 2015-03-31
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| Keywords | 海洋生態 / 環境変動 / 動物行動 / データロガー / バイオロギング |
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
We examined the foraging behaviour of northern elephant seals, an important mesopelagic predator in the North Pacific Ocean, using newly developed animal-borne data loggers, to investigate how their behaviour and ecology link with the mesopelagic environment in the open ocean. We monitored the feeding events and prey type of the seals from long-term jaw acceleration records and images from head-mounted cameras, during their oceanic migration across Northeastern Pacific. We found that the seals relied heavily on small mesopelagic prey, such as myctophids, and fed mostly at the 400-600 m depth zones. Number of feeding events varied largely day-to-day throughout their migrations, and foraging ‘hotspot’ were identified in the subarctic-subtropical transition zones. We suggest that environmental variability in the transition zone should have important consequences on the foraging success and reproduction of northern elephant seals.
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| Free Research Field |
動物生態学
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