How to translate text using browser tools
8 February 2017 Walrus haul-out and in water activity levels relative to sea ice availability in the Chukchi Sea
Chadwick V. Jay, Rebecca L. Taylor, Anthony S. Fischbach, Mark S. Udevitz, William S. Beatty
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

An animal's energetic costs are dependent on the amount of time it allocates to various behavioral activities. For Arctic pinnipeds, the time allocated to active and resting behaviors could change with future reductions in sea ice cover and longer periods of open water. The Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) is a large Arctic pinniped that rests on sea ice or land between foraging trips to feed on the seafloor. We used behavioral data collected from radiotagged walruses in the Chukchi Sea (2008–2014) in a Bayesian generalized linear mixed effects model to estimate the probability a walrus was in water foraging, in water not foraging, or hauled out, as a function of environmental covariates. The probability of a walrus being in water increased with wind speed and decreased with air temperature, and the probability a walrus was foraging, given it was in water, increased with available benthic macrofaunal biomass. The probability of each behavior was also related to the nature and availability of haul-out substrates. The amount of time walruses spent in water foraging and hauled out was greatest when only sea ice was available, which typically occurs when walruses occupy feeding areas during summer and early autumn. This situation may be most energy efficient for walruses because it allows the highest proportion of in water energy expenditure to be allocated to foraging. Conversely, the amount of time walruses spent in water foraging and hauled out was lowest when only land was available, which typically occurs in late autumn, in years when walruses were constrained to land haul-outs because sea ice was absent over the continental shelf.

Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Society of Mammalogists. This work is written by (a) US Government employee(s) and is in the public domain in the US.
Chadwick V. Jay, Rebecca L. Taylor, Anthony S. Fischbach, Mark S. Udevitz, and William S. Beatty "Walrus haul-out and in water activity levels relative to sea ice availability in the Chukchi Sea," Journal of Mammalogy 98(2), 386-396, (8 February 2017). https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyw195
Received: 8 June 2016; Accepted: 29 November 2016; Published: 8 February 2017
RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS
Get copyright permission
Back to Top