Schröder, Henning; Held, Christoph; Bornemann, Horst (2025): Under water video footage from Weddell seal NEU2022_wed_a_f_03_1 taken by seal mounted cameras during expedition ANT-Land_2022_SEAEIS (NEU2022) [dataset bundled publication]. PANGAEA, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.983209
Always quote citation above when using data! You can download the citation in several formats below.
Published: 2025-06-20 • DOI registered: 2025-06-20
Abstract:
SEAls and cryobenthic communities at the Ekström Ice Shelf (SEAEIS) applies biologging technologies for studying the foraging ecology of Weddell seals with a direct link to the investigation of cryobenthic invertebrate communities beneath the Ekström Ice Shelf at Atka Bay. Incidences of cryobenthic communities beneath ice shelves are rare and recent discoveries. Combined seal- and ROV-borne imagery and novel sampling technologies led to the discovery of a cryobenthic isopod community (Antarcturus cf. spinacoronatus Schultz 1978), being attached head-down to the underside of floating shelf ice at Drescher Inlet (Riiser-Larsen Ice Shelf) at depths of around 80-150 m (Watanabe et al. 2006; Bornemann et al. 2016). These "hanging gardens" may represent a food horizon where seals could benefit from a local hotspot of high biologic activity. The presence of isopod aggregations explained a multimodal distribution of the seals' dive depths known from earlier investigations at Drescher Inlet, and could probably also be indicative for increased abundances of seals in Areas of Ecological Significance (AES) at the interface between shelf and sea ice. However, the question whether the aforementioned findings are representative for the far-ranging high Antarctic ice shelves or even unique remains open, and factors contributing to AES and their stability over time are largely unexplored. Therefore, we proposed a synoptic field study at Atka Bay (Neumayer Station III), where earlier deployments of satellite-linked data loggers also showed a mode in the distribution of bottom times spent at water depths corresponding to the underside of the floating shelf ice, thus supporting the hypothesis of ice shelf associated foraging.
Related to:
Bornemann, Horst; Schröder, Henning; Held, Christoph (2024): Seals and cryo-benthic communities at the Ekström Ice Shelf (SEAEIS). in: Regnery J, Matz T, Köhler P & Wesche C. Expeditions to Antarctica: ANT-Land 2022/23 NEUMAYER STATION III, Kohnen Station and Field Campaigns. Berichte zur Polar- und Meeresforschung = Reports on polar and marine research, Bremerhaven, Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung, 784, 217 pp, 141-164, https://doi.org/10.57738/BzPM_0784_2024
References:
Regnery, Julia; Matz, Thomas; Köhler, Peter; Wesche, Christine (2024): Expeditions to Antarctica: ANT-Land 2022/23 NEUMAYER STATION III, Kohnen Station and Field Campaigns. Berichte zur Polar- und Meeresforschung = Reports on Polar and Marine Research, 784, 217 pp, https://doi.org/10.57738/BzPM_0784_2024
Watanabe, Yuuki; Bornemann, Horst; Liebsch, Nikolai S; Plötz, Joachim; Sato, Katsufumi; Naito, Yasuhiko; Miyazaki, Nobuyuki (2006): Seal-mounted cameras detect invertebrate fauna on the underside of an Antarctic ice shelf. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 309, 297-300, https://doi.org/10.3354/meps309297
Project(s):
Coverage:
Latitude: -70.675400 * Longitude: -7.679120
Date/Time Start: 2022-12-06T08:03:53 * Date/Time End: 2022-12-06T20:07:52
License:
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY-4.0) (License comes into effect after moratorium ends)
Size:
2 datasets
Download Data (login required; moratorium until 2027-05-18)
Datasets listed in this bundled publication
- Schröder, H; Held, C; Bornemann, H (in review): Dive depth profile of Weddell seal NEU2022_wed_a_f_03_1, deployment head left, 10Hz. https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.983277
- Schröder, H; Held, C; Bornemann, H (in review): Dive depth profile of Weddell seal NEU2022_wed_a_f_03_1, deployment head right, 10Hz. https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.983276