Taken from the abstract of the referenced papers: Maternal attendance behaviour was studies in Antarctic (Arctocephalus gazella) and subantarctic fur seals (Arctocephalus tropicalis) which breed sympatrically at subantarctic Macquarie Island. Data on attendance were obtained using telemetric methods. Both species undertook two types of foraging trips: overnight foraging tips which were of less than 1 day duration and occurred exclusively overnight, and extended foraging trips which lasted longer than 1 day. The mean duration of overnight foraging trips was 0.43 and 0.39 days, while the duration of extended foraging trips was 3.6 and 3.8 days in A. gazella and A. tropicalis, respectively. The duration of overnight and extended foraging trips did not differ significantly between species. Two types of shore attendance bouts that differed in duration were also observed in these species. Short attendance bouts lasted less than 0.9 days, while long attendance bouts lasted longer than 0.9 days. Short attendance bouts lasted 0.4 and 0.5 days, while long attendance bouts lasted 1.6 and 1.7 days in A. gazella and A. tropicalis, respectively, and did not differ significantly between species. The most significant differences between the attendance behaviour of both species was in the percentage of foraging time allocated to overnight foraging trips (15% and 25% in A. gazella and A. tropicalis, respectively), and the percentage of time spent ashore (30% and 38% in A. gazella and A. tropicalis, respectively). The nearness of pelagic waters to Macquarie Island is considered to be the main reason that lactating females are able to undertake overnight foraging trips. These trips may be used by females as a means of optimising the costs of fasting and nursing ashore. Females may be able to save energy by only nursing pups when milk transfer efficiencies are high, and reduce the time and energy costs of fasting ashore when milk transfer efficiency is low. Of the female A. gazella that still carried transmitters at the end of lactation, 83% continued regular attendance for between 21 and 150 days post-lactation (when data collection ceased). Overwintering of A. gazella females at breeding sites has not been previously reported in other populations. Breeding colonies of the Antarctic fur seal Arctocephalus gazella on Heard Island (53.18S, 73.5E) are situated on the sheltered northern and eastern coasts on flat vegetated terrain near streams and pools. Pupping in the 1987/88 summer began on 21 November, with 90% of births in 26 d. The median birth date was 11 December. Pup counts at Heard Island made in seven breeding seasons from 1962/63 to 1987/88 show an exponential rate of increase of 21%, which may be inflated due to undercounting in early years. The total of 248 births in 1987/88 represents an exponential increase of 37% since the previous year, but pups may have been undercounted then. Based on the number of pups born, the breeding population is estimated at 870-1,120. During the breeding season, the largest number of animals ashore was 835. Many non-breeding fur seals began hauling out from early January and 15,000 animals were estimated to be ashore by late February, a far larger number than expected from the size of the breeding population. Both the breeding and non-breeding components of the population may be augmented by immigration. The source of immigrants may be undiscovered breeding colonies of this species in the northwestern sector of the Kerguelen Archipelago or the concentration at South Georgia. Further censuses are required at Heard Island to monitor the population growth.

Publication of these results is currently in progress with the Journal of Animal Ecology. Summary 1.An efficient method of describing change in Antarctic marine ecosystems is long-term monitoring of land-breeding marine predators. High-level predators are used to index the state of environment on the notion that perturbations in the ecosystem will affect their diet, reproductive performance and other demographics. For this purpose, Weddell seals breeding at the Vestfold Hills have been marked and re-sighted for the past 28 years (1973 - 2000). 2.Successful reproduction requires considerable energetic resources. The difference between rates of conception and rates of parturition suggests pregnant females abort reproductive attempts when their energy stores are low. In this way, annual rates of reproduction (i.e. parturition) are a measure of foraging efficiency. 3.Previous attempts to estimate Weddell seal reproduction have been biased by different rates of re-sighting breeding and non-breeding females. We used multistate mark and re-sight models to account for this and other variables when estimating reproductive rate. 4.The amplitude of temporal variation was much greater for reproduction than for survivorship, indicating that parous (breeding) females maximised survival by reproducing less. This strategy could be successful in fluctuating environments because seals live longer and experience more reproductive occasions. 5.The population had low reproductive rates from 1983 to 1985 and throughout the 1990s. In those years, potential recruitment into breeding groups was reduced to 50 - 60 % of the cohort before viable pups were even born. 6.Even in years of low reproductive rate, typically half (52%) of the breeding females produced pups. It seemed that individuals differed in their foraging success and thus body condition and / or their functional response to this. 7.There was no evidence for costs of reproduction. We infer that the seals responded to environmental conditions prior to parturition, as opposed to proceeding with reproduction when inadequately resourced and depleting energy resources such that they had lower probability of surviving or reproducing the following year. 8.Synthesis and applications: This study demonstrates a method of estimating reproductive rate that overcomes bias inherent in traditional methods. Estimated in this way, we propose that reproductive rate is the best indicator of the state of marine ecosystems that can be indexed for Weddell seals. The fields in this dataset are: Year Standard Error Upper confidence interval Lower confidence interval Breeding probability Upper error bar Lower error bar

Metadata record for data from ASAC Project 2184 See the link below for public details on this project. The objectives of this project were: To characterise the mating system of the Weddell seal by: 1) acoustically tracking males under the ice during the breeding season, 2) measuring changes in health and condition of individual males over the breeding season, 3) determining whether vocalisations are used as advertisements of individual quality to attract females, and/or in male-male competition, 4) develop and use a combination of microsatellite loci tests to assign paternity to newborn pups, and then use these results to determine whether the variance in male mating success is related to territory size, tenure and/or individual characteristics. A large number of collected data files are available for download. Many files are in an unknown format, but will open with a standard text editor. See below for summaries of the two seasons of fieldwork. 1997/1998 Season: In November/December 1997, we conducted a pilot study at the Turtle Rock colony (77.727S, 166.85E) in McMurdo Sound. All of the techniques outlined in the proposal were successfully trialled. Acoustic pingers were attached to seven males and five females for a total deployment of 104 seal days and mass and morphometrics obtained for each animal. Preliminary analysis of male movements indicate that males held adjacent yet non-overlapping territories on the southern side of Turtle Rock, along a major ice crack and where the congregation of females was highest. Both the size and shape of the males territories, and the evidence from the vocalisation data show that we captured the dominant males at the site. Both males and females were immobilised using Ketamine/Diazepam with no loss of an animal, nor signs of respiratory depression. Vocalisations were recorded from all territory holding males, and both behavioural and vocal responses of both male and female seals to familiar and unfamiliar calls were observed. We bleach marked all animals to which we attached pingers and these markings were visible on our under-ice video - with which we also recorded behavioural responses to both animals and our under-ice speaker during playback experiments. We conducted a daily census of all animals at Turtle Rock and above-ice movements were recorded. Skin samples were taken from 24/25 males seen at the site and 43/45 mother-pup pairs (One male was only seen on a single occasion at the colony, though sighted elsewhere, and two females disappeared shortly after our arrival at the colony). Significant findings Dominant males hold under-ice territories which are adjacent yet non-overlapping - however territory boundaries change considerably over the course of the breeding season. Males respond to playbacks of their own and others calls as do females. Females towards the end of lactation will visit each males territories. Whether to assess individual males or not is yet to be determined. 1998/1999 Season Between October 29 through December 10 1998, the behaviour of male and female weddell seals at the Turtle Rock colony (77.727S, 166.85E) were monitored both above and below the ice. This season, we switched from the seal sled method of capture and restraint (see K027 report 1997) to the use of a pole net and tripod. Seals were bagged by placing a seal hood over their head and then a 3m pole net (consisting of two, 3m long poles connected by a 2m wide, 2.5cm mesh, net , was placed over them and the poles tied tightly at both ends, leaving them constrained within the netting bag. The pole net was then hoisted under a tripod (built by Antarctica New Zealand) using a chain block suspended from the head of the tripod, and the animal weighed using electronic scales. For attachment of instruments, animals were immobilised with an intra-muscular injection of Ketamine/Diazepam at a dose rate of approximately 2.0mg/100 kg Ketamine, 0.4mg/100 kg Diazepam as was used successfully in 1997. Animals were

Public summary for project 2128: The aim of this study is to relate the foraging behaviour of Antarctic fur seals breeding on the Kerguelen Plateau at Iles Kerguelen and Heard Island, to the distribution of prey species at sea. Specifically this project seeks to examine the relationship between predators and prey, and how their locations at sea vary according to the position of major productive zones, such as the Antarctic Polar Frontal Zone. This project will provide important data on the relationship between predators and their prey and the developing commercial fisheries in the region. These data are central to improved conservation and management of marine resources on the Kerguelen Plateau. Variations made to the work plan The original comparative aspects of the program planned for the 1999/00 season, where fur seals from Iles Kerguelen and Heard Island were to be satellite tracked simultaneously could not be undertaken because of original 1999/00 field season to Heard Island was re-scheduled to 2000/01. Fortunately the project collaborator Dr Christophe Guinet (French CEBC-CNRS) agreed to extend the work program at Iles Kerguelen another season, and the comparative and integrated fur seal-prey-fisheries study over the Kerguelen Plateau was undertaken the following season (2000/01). Details of this study are presented in ASAC project 1251 (CI - Goldsworthy)and 1085 (CI-Robertson). Significant findings: The distribution of the foraging activity of Antarctic fur seal females was investigated at Cap Noir (49 degrees 07 S, 70 degrees 45E), Kerguelen Island in February 1998. Eleven females were fitted with a satellite transmitter and Time Depth recorder. The two sets of data were combined to locate spatially the diving activity of the seals. The fish component of the fur seal diet was determined by the occurrence of otolotihs found in 55 scats collected during the study period at the breeding colony. Oceanographic parameters were obtained simultaneously through direct sampling and satellite imagery. The mesopelagic fish community was sampled on 20 stations along four transects where epipelagic trawls were conducted at night at 50 meters of depth. We then investigated, using geographic information systems, the relationship between the spatial distribution of the diving activity of the fur seals and oceanographic factors that included sea surface temperature, surface chlorophyll concentration, prey distribution and bathymetry obtained at the same spatio-temporal scale as the spatial distribution of the diving activity of our study animals. An inverse relationship was found between the main fish species preyed by fur seal and those sampled in trawl nets. However, the diving activity of Antarctic fur seal females was found to be significantly related to oceanographic conditions, fish-prey distribution and to the distance from the colony but these relationships changed with the spatial scale investigated. A probabilistic model of the Kerguelen Plateau was developed that predicted where females should concentrate their foraging activity according to the oceanographic conditions of the year, and the locations of their breeding colonies. Maternal allocation in growth of the pup was measured in Antarctic fur seals (Arctocephalus gazella) at Iles Kerguelen during the 1997 austral summer. Absolute mass gain of pups following a maternal foraging trip was independent of the sex of the pup but was positively related to the foraging trip duration and to maternal length. However, daily mass gain, i.e. the absolute mass gain of the pup divided by the foraging trip duration, decreased with increasing foraging trip duration but increased with maternal length. While fasting, the daily mass loss of the pup was related to the sex of the pup and initial body mass, with both heavier pups and female pups losing more mass per day than lighter pups and male pups. The mass specific rate of mass loss was significantly higher in female pups than in male

Antarctic Fur Seals from Heard Island fed mainly on fish, but the prey species changed both seasonally and inter-annually. The majority of prey were pelagic myctophids characteristic of deep oceanic water, and were generally taken in autumn and winter. The only other fish taken in significant numbers was Champsocephalus gunnari which was mostly taken from late winter through early autumn when it was co-dominant in the diet with the Krefftichthys anderssoni. Males and females foraged in different localities and in different parts of the water column. Males foraged mainly to the south of Heard Island in winter usually diving deep by day, feeding on scattering layers. In summer males also fed on the shelf, presumably to the north and east of Heard Island on K. anderssoni at shallow depths primarily at night. Although diet studies provided little evidence of feeding on crustaceans, diving data indicate that some males may travel to Antarctic waters in winter to feed on krill. The fields in this dataset are: Months Species Scats Time foraging Number of Dives Time Submerged (minutes) Mean Dive Duration (minutes) Maximum Depth (metres)

Metadata record for data from ASAC Project 2753 See the link below for public details on this project. Public Weddell and southern elephant seals are high-order predators living in the Antarctic marine ecosystem. Their place in that ecosystem is the result of a long history of evolutionary adaptation to a challenging and changing environment. The objective of this study is to understand how Weddell and elephant seals have adapted and are responding to today's rapidly changing Antarctic environment. This study will use current and innovative approaches in demographic (population) analyses and diet techniques to analyse changes in the seals' demographic parameters and historical aspects of their ecology. Project objectives: Objective 1. Seek a greater understanding of the links between climate based environmental parameters and Weddell seal demographic performance. Objective 2. Test the hypothesis that the foraging ecology and presence of male southern elephant seals hauling out along the Antarctic coast are regulated by variation in the extent and concentration of coastal sea-ice. Objective 3. Examine contemporary and historical dietary shifts in an Antarctic marine predator by using a non-invasive technique, stable isotope analyses. Objective 4. Construct models of potential population performance for Weddell and southern elephant seals with predicted climate change Taken from the 2008-2009 Progress Report: Progress against objectives: The first season of field work was conducted at Casey in December 2008. This comprised of surveys of the region to locate breeding and moulting haulouts, weighing and flipper tagging of Weddell seal pups and flipper tagging of sub adult elephant seals. Specifically: Tagging Leptonychotes weddellii. A total of 30 pups were flipper tagged. Tagging: 46 sub-adult male Mirounga leonina in Browning Peninsula region. Aerial survey of the Casey fast-ice conducted on 30/1/2009. Conducted at 1000, 500, 300 ft. A total of 33 seals counted. Taken from the 2009-2010 Progress Report: Progress against objectives: 1. Observations of tagged Weddell seals made in the Vestfold Hills during the breeding season. 2. Counts were made of elephant seals at Davis station 3. No progress made due to postponement of project at Casey 4. Data collected on Weddell and elephant seals at Davis. No modelling undertaken in this year

Abstract from ANARE Research Notes 72 The Antarctic fur seal Arctocephalus gazella has increased in numbers at Heard Island since the Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE) station was established in 1947. Increases have also been recorded at other breeding sites in the South Atlantic and South Indian Oceans this century, particularly at South Georgia. In the 1987-88 summer, fur seals at Heard Island were counted in several age and sex categories. The aims of the project were to determine the location of pupping sites, the extent of the pupping season and the size of the population, and to record the changes in numbers of animals ashore during the summer. Maps of the colonies and main haul-out areas, together with descriptions of census areas and tabulations of counts, provide a basis for future comparison. This dataset contains the results from surveys of Antarctic Fur Seals (Arctocephalus gazella) on Heard Island during the summer of 1987-1988. As well as habitat descriptions, age, sex, count of adults and pups were determined. The three major aims of the study include: to determine accurately the location of pupping sites; to determine the extent of the pupping season, the median date of birth and the number of pups born; and to census fur seals on as much of the island as possible in order to determine the number of animals ashore and to document changes in numbers during the summer. The results are listed in the document, which includes detailed tabulations of counts made at colonies and major haul-out sites on Macquarie Island during summer 1987-88, and descriptions and maps of these locations. Tagging, mainly of pups, was also undertaken, and a total of 234 pups, 8 under-yearlings, 9 yearlings, 2 juveniles and 1 sub-adult male were tagged. Counts at 3-day intervals (pups) were made between 25 November and 19 December 1987, and major censuses were made between 19 December 1987 and 25 February 1988. The fields in this dataset are: Locality Age Class Date Colony Bulls Cows Pups

Metadata record for data from ASAC Project 257 See the link below for public details on this project. From the abstracts of some of the referenced papers: Anatomical and physiological studies of southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina), particularly in the post-natal period, raise questions of relative musculature growth, control of metabolism, circulation and temperature regulation, which could be important in our understanding of these processes in mammals and of their contribution to adaptation to environmental extremes. The diving behaviour of 14 adult southern elephant seals was investigated using time depth recorders. Each of the seals performed some dives that were longer than its theoretical aerobic dive limit. Forty-four percent of all dives made by post-moult females exceeded the calculated limit compared with 7% of those made by postbreeding females and less than 1% of those made by adult males. The extended dives displayed characteristics that suggested they were predominantly foraging dives, although some were apparently rest dives. Dives longer than the calculated aerobic limits often occurred in bouts; the longest consisted of 63 consecutive dives and lasted 2 days. Postmoult females performed longer bouts of extended dives than postbreeding females. Extended surface periods (longer than 30 min) were not related to the occurrence of extended dives or bouts of extended dives. The possible physiological mechanisms that permit such prolonged continuous dives are discussed. Southern elephant seals may increase the aerobic capacity of dives by lowering their metabolism to approximately 40% of the resting metabolic rate on long dives. There is substantial interseal variability in the methods used to cope with long dives. Some animals appear to use phsyiological strategies that allow them to prolong the time available to them at the bottom of a dive, while others use alternative strategies that may limit the time available at the bottom of their dives. Fourteen time-depth-temperature recorders were recovered from adult southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) returning to Macqaurie Island to breed or moult. The resulting temperature/depth profiles indicated that all four males spent most of their time in waters lying over the Antarctic Continental Shelf, whereas only one of the ten females spent any time there. Five of the females foraged just off the Antarctic Continental Shelf, and the other five remained near the Antarctic Polar Front. 1) Mark-resight data were analysed for thirteen cohorts from a declining population of southern elephant seals branded at Macquarie Island between 1951 and 1965. 2) First year survival was essential stable during the 1950s at about 46% for females and 42% for males. There was a dramatic fall in first year survival during the 1960s, declinging to less than 2% for both sexes in 1965. Post-year-1 survival did not change between the 1950s and the 1960s. 3) Comparisons with a stable population of southern elephant seals at South Georgia indicated that both first year and adult survival were lower in the Macquarie Island population. There were no changes in the age at first breeding of the Macquarie Island seals during the study, but this was on average 1 year later than at South Georgia. 4) It is hypothesised that the current decline in elephant seal numbers at several of their major breeding islands is due to the populations returning to pre-sealing levels after they had risen to abnormally high levels with the end of commercial exploitation early this century. 5) Possible tests of the hypothesis include studying the diet and foraging behaviour of southern elephant seals to gain an understanding of the predator-prey relationships, continuing to census the Macquarie Island population to determine if the population levels out at around the estimated pre-sealing levels, and monitoring northern elephant seal populations which were also severely exploited but are currently increasing

Although the most abundant of all mammalian predators in the Antarctic marine ecosystem, crabeater seals are also one of the least understood. The most fundamental question of all - how many are there? - is the focus of an extensive international collaborative program (the Antarctic Pack-ice Seal Program, or APIS). This study supplements APIS by providing additional data on the diving behaviour and food requirements of crabeater seals, that can be used in conjunction with census data to provide information on the role of crabeater seals in the antarctic ecosystem. Winter densities and distributions of Crabeater seals were collected during 1999. Crabeater seals were most often encountered on the shelf break. The data collected include numbers of seals sighted per hour in relation to the amount of time the ship spent in each 0.5 degree grid square. This study is the first to describe the winter distribution of crabeater seals (Lobodon carcinophagus) in East Antarctica. The study was conducted in the Mertz Glacier Polynya region from July to August 1999. In total 89 crabeater seals were seen in 26 groups which ranged in size from 1 to 35 animals (mean = 3.2). The mean observed haulout density along a 200m wide strip transect was 0.108 seals per square kilometre, or 0.042 groups per square kilometre. Crabeater seals were not uniformly distributed in the polynya but selected areas of stable ice over shallow (less than 1000m) waters. We used a generalised linear model to assess the relationship of seal distribution to the physical attributes of sea ice concentration, thickness, and ocean depth. We found that ice thickness and ocean depth were the most important determinants of seal distribution. Crabeater seals occurred in areas where the ice affords them a stable haulout platform while allowing them access to Antarctic krill that live directly beneath the ice.