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- Southern elephant seals residing on Kerguelen Island, a sub-Antarctic island, are serving to to assemble details about the Southern Ocean with data-logging units connected to their hair.
- As an illustration, the elephant seals have helped collect information on sea ice formation, ocean and ice shelf interactions, and frontal system dynamics.
- The Southern Ocean offers many ecosystem companies for the planet, however the area is quickly altering attributable to local weather change.
At first of every yr, southern elephant seals residing on Kerguelen Island above Antarctica shed the thick mat of their winter fur, whereas rising in a recent layer of pores and skin and hair. As soon as this new hair is in place, scientists select a number of the seals on which to affix funny-looking electrical bins adorned with antennae.
When the elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) dive into the icy waters of the Southern Ocean to hunt, the electrical bins collect an assortment of details about the marine atmosphere, from water temperature to salinity to oxygen ranges. In near-real-time, the units transmit this info to satellites hundreds of miles above the planet, which beam it again all the way down to Earth to look on scientists’ laptop screens.
Clive McMahon, an Antarctic ecologist on the Sydney Institute of Marine Science in Australia, says elephant seals are taking part in an important function in understanding the altering dynamics of the Southern Ocean, also called the Antarctic Ocean, attributable to human-induced local weather change.
“If we all know what’s occurring within the Excessive Antarctic Ocean, we’ve a significantly better grasp of world local weather processes,” he stated in a press release. “Acquiring excessive latitude observations is essential. Elephant seals can dive as much as 2000 meters [6,600 feet] and have the unbelievable capacity to entry platforms like coastal cabinets that different platforms are unable to simply attain.”
The Southern Ocean is understood to be one of many world’s most essential carbon sinks, with almost half of all carbon dioxide uptake occurring in its waters, in line with one examine. The waters round Antarctica additionally assist to handle the Earth’s extra warmth and regulate the worldwide local weather. But this similar area can also be one of the crucial quickly altering oceans attributable to local weather change, and plenty of scientists concern that it will be unable to carry out the identical ecosystem companies because the world shifts into a brand new state.
Extra analysis is required to know the altering dynamics of the Southern Ocean, notably in locations the place it’s troublesome to deploy conventional scientific devices, similar to locations with giant quantities of ice cowl. That is the place animals like elephant seals are available in.
“Digital tags connected to marine animals … have augmented the capability of ocean observing by sampling in excessive environments,” McMahon advised Mongabay in an e-mail.
The elephant seal program is run by the Animal-Borne Ocean Sensors (AniBOS) community staff in collaboration with the World Ocean Observing System (GOOS). For the reason that program’s inception almost 20 years in the past, scientists working with AniBOS have tagged about 40 southern elephant seals to get info that may assist us perceive local weather change, and likewise in regards to the habits of elephant seals themselves.
To connect the units to the elephant seals, the researchers first want to securely anesthetize these giant animals, a few of which may weigh properly over 3,000 kilograms (6,600 kilos).
“Now we have developed a extremely easy approach for delivering the anesthetic which is protected for the animals and for the researchers,” McMahon stated. “The units are connected to the seal’s hair solely and we’ve no proof that the process is in any manner painful. Additionally the seals are asleep throughout the 30 minute procedures.”
He added that their analysis has proven that the units seem to don’t have any damaging results on the animals’ talents to outlive.
Elephant seals aren’t the one animal that scientists have used to assemble information. Based on a latest paper led by McMahon, researchers have connected related units to seabirds, turtles, sharks and narwhals.
McMahon stated the elephant seal program has already contributed information on sea ice formation, Antarctic backside water formation, ocean and ice shelf interactions, frontal system dynamics, modifications within the seals’ predation, and Antarctic mass water traits.
As a result of success of the elephant seal program in gathering information for scientific functions, McMahon stated he hopes the examine will proceed lengthy into the long run.
“Whereas we’ve learnt lots about our oceans and the animals in them, there stays an unlimited quantity that continues to be to be studied and the research that we want and needs to be doing are actually solely restricted by our imaginations and the funding we’re keen to make in creating new devices,” he stated.
Citations:
Cavanagh, R. D., Melbourne-Thomas, J., Grant, S. M., Barnes, D. Ok., Hughes, Ok. A., Halfter, S., … Hill, S. L. (2021). Future danger for Southern Ocean ecosystem companies beneath local weather change. Frontiers in Marine Science, 7. doi:10.3389/fmars.2020.615214
McMahon, C. R., Roquet, F., Baudel, S., Belbeoch, M., Bestley, S., Blight, C., … Woodward, B. (2021). Animal Borne Ocean Sensors – AniBOS – A vital part of the worldwide ocean observing system. Frontiers in Marine Science. doi:10.3389/fmars.2021.751840
Takahashi, T., Sweeney, C., Hales, B., Chipman, D., Newberger, T., Goddard, J., … Sutherland, S. (2012). The altering carbon cycle within the Southern Ocean. Oceanography, 25(3), 26-37. doi:10.5670/oceanog.2012.71
Correction (02/12/2022): This text was up to date to say that Clive McMahon is at present working on the Sydney Institute of Marine Science.
Banner picture caption: Elephant seal with data-logging machine linked to it. Picture by Clive McMahon / Sydney Institute of Marine Science.
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