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Weaning mass variation of southern elephant seals at King George Island and its possible relationship with “El Niño” and “La Niña” Events

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 April 2004

D.F. Vergani ,
Z.B. Stanganelli  and
D. Bilenca
D.F. Vergani
Affiliation:
Centro Nacional Patagónico, CENPAT-CONICET, Boulevard Alm. Brown 3500, (9120) Puerto Madryn, Chubut, Argentina
Z.B. Stanganelli
Affiliation:
Elephant Seals Project, Rivadavia 1241, (9120) Puerto Madryn, Chubut Argentina
D. Bilenca
Affiliation:
Departamento de Cs. Biológicas, Fac. de Cs. Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Universitaria, Pabellon II, 4 Piso, (1428) Buenos Aires, Argentina
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Abstract

Possible effects of “El Niño” Southern Oscillation (ENSO) components “El Niño”and “La Niña“ on populations of southern elephant seals, Mirounga leonina L., are considered in this study. Information on pup weaning mass, collected at King George Island, South Shetland Islands, over a ten-year period (1985–94) was analysed with respect to the occurrence of ENSO and recent research in feeding ecology of this population in the Bellinghausen Sea. Weaning mass of elephant seals was found to be higher during “La Niña” and a lower during “El Niño”. Differences in weaning mass between sexes varied in different proportions during El Niño and La Niña. The teleconnection between tropical Pacific anomalies and the Bellinghausen Sea deserves further research, and our results suggest a way to study this phenomenon using data of elephant seal pups weaning mass as indicators of changes in food availability.

Keywords

El NiñoENSOLa NiñaMirounga leoninasouthern elephant sealsweaning mass
Type
Papers—Life Sciences and Oceanography
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 13 , Issue 1 , March 2001 , pp. 37 - 40
Copyright
© Antarctic Science Ltd 2001

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