Ocean temperature measured by elephant seal-CTDs in the Southern Ocean with links to datasets

The potential effects of ocean warming on marine predators are largely unknown, though the impact on the distribution of prey in vertical space may have far reaching impacts on diving predators such as southern elephant seals. We used data from satellite-tracked southern elephant seals from Marion Island to investigate the relationship between their dive characteristics (dive depths, dive durations and time-at-depth index values) and environmental variables (temperature at depth, depth of maximum temperature below 100 m, frontal zone and bathymetry) as well as other demographic and behavioural variables (migration stage, age-class, track day and vertical diel strategy). While other variables, such as bathymetry and vertical diel strategy also influenced dive depth, our results consistently indicated a significant influence of temperature at depth on dive depths. This relationship was positive for all groups of animals, indicating that seals dived to deeper depths when foraging in warmer waters. Female seals adjusted their dive depths proportionally more than males in warmer water. Dive durations were also influenced by temperature at depth, though to a lesser extent. Results from time-at-depth indices showed that both male and female seals spent less time at targeted dive depths in warmer water, and were presumably less successful foragers when diving in warmer water. Continued warming of the Southern Ocean may result in the distribution of prey for southern elephant seals shifting either poleward and/or to increasing depths. Marion Island elephant seals are expected to adapt their ranging and diving behaviour accordingly, though such changes may result in greater physiological costs associated with foraging.

(Table 3) Stable isotope composition of sof t tissues of specimens from the Sea of Okhotsk

We discovered and investigated several cold-seep sites in four depth zones of the Sea of Okhotsk off Northeast Sakhalin: outer shelf (160-250 m), upper slope (250-450 m), intermediate slope (450-800 m), and Derugin Basin (1450-1600 m). Active seepage of free methane or methane-rich fluids was detected in each zone. However, seabed photography and sampling revealed that the number of chemoautotrophic species decreases dramatically with decreasing water depth. At greatest depths in the Derugin Basin, the seeps were inhabited by bacterial mats and bivalves of the families Vesicomyidae (Calyptogena aff. pacifica, C. rectimargo, Archivesica sp.), Solemyidae (Acharax sp.) and Thyasiridae (Conchocele bisecta). In addition, pogonophoran tubeworms of the family Sclerolinidae were found in barite edifices. At the shallowest sites, on the shelf at 160 m, the seeps lack chemoautotrophic macrofauna; their locations were indicated only by the patchy occurrence of bacterial mats. Typical seep-endemic metazoans with chemosynthetic symbionts were confined to seep sites at depths below 370 m. A comparative analysis of the structure of seep and background communities suggests that differences in predation pressure may be an important determinant of this pattern. The abundance of predators such as carnivorous brachyurans and asteroids, which can invade seeps from adjacent habitats and efficiently prey on sessile seep bivalves, decreased very pronouncedly with depth. We conclude from the obvious correlation with the conspicuous pattern in the distribution of seep assemblages that, on the shelf and at the upper slope, predator pressure may be high enough to effectively impede any successful settlement of viable populations of seep-endemic metazoans. However, there was also evidence that other depth-related factors, such as bottom-water current, sedimentary regimes, oxygen concentrations and the supply of suitable settling substrates, may additionally regulate the distribution of seep fauna in the area. As a consequence of the pronounced pattern in the distribution of seep communities, their ecological significance as food sources of surrounding background fauna increased with water depth. Isotopic analyses suggest that in the Derugin Basin seep colonists feed on chemoautotrophic seep organisms, either directly or by preying on metazoans with chemosynthetic symbionts. In contrast, seep organisms apparently do not contribute to the nutrition of the adjacent background fauna on the shelf and at the slope. In this area, elevated epifaunal abundances at seep sites were caused primarily by the availability of suitable settling substrates rather than by an enrichment of food supply.

(Table 2) Concentrations of persistant organic pollutants in the yolk of glaucous gull eggs, Bjørnøya, Svalbard archipelago

It is largely unknown if and how persistent organic pollutants (POPs) affect the transfer of maternal hormones to eggs. This occurs despite an increasing number of studies relating environmental conditions experienced by female birds at the time of egg formation to maternal hormonal effects. Here we report the concentrations of maternal testosterone, 17beta-estradiol and major classes of POPs (organochlorines, brominated flame retardants and metabolically-derived products) in the yolk of unincubated, third-laid eggs of the glaucous gull (Larus hyperboreus), a top-predator in the Arctic marine environment. Controlled for seasonal and local variation, positive correlations were found between the concentrations of certain POPs and testosterone. Contaminant-related changes in the relative concentrations of testosterone and 17beta-estradiol were also observed. In addition, yolk steroid concentrations were associated with contaminant profiles describing the proportions of different POPs present in the yolk. Eggs from nests in which two sibling eggs hatched or failed to hatch differed in POP profiles and in the relative concentrations of testosterone and 17beta-estradiol. Although the results of this correlative study need to be interpreted with caution, they suggest that contaminant-related changes in yolk steroids may occur, possibly affecting offspring performance over and above toxic effects brought about by POPs in eggs.

Gynaikothrips uzeli (Zimmermann) y Androthrips ramachandrai Karny (Thysanoptera, Phlaeothripidae), primeras citas para la Argentina

Se cita por primera vez para la Argentina Gynaikotrhrips uzeli y Androthrips ramachandrai en agallas sobre hojas de Ficus benjamina en la Provincia de Misiones. La primera de estas especies es fitófago inductor de agallas y la segunda presumiblemente predadora. Se brinda una descripción breve y se ilustran ambas especies.

(Table 1) Lipid content and organohalogen contaminant concentration in captive sledge dogs (Canis familiaris) and wild female polar bears (Ursus maritimus) from Greenland

The limited knowledge and/or the inability to control physiological condition parameters that influence the fate of organohalogen contaminants (OHCs) has been the foremost confounding aspect in monitoring programs and health risk assessments of wild top predators in the Arctic such as the polar bear (Ursus maritimus). In the present comparative study, we used a potential surrogate Canoidea species for the East Greenland polar bear, the captive sledge dog (Canis familiaris), to investigate some factors that may influence the bioaccumulation and biotransformation of major chlorinated and brominated OHCs in adipose tissue and blood (plasma) of control (fed commercial pork fat) and exposed (fed West Greenland minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) blubber) adult female sledge dogs. Furthermore, we compared the patterns and concentrations of OHCs and their known or suggested hydroxylated (OH) metabolites (e.g., OH-PCBs) in sledge dogs with those in adipose tissue and blood (plasma) of East Greenland adult female polar bears, and blubber of their main prey species, the ringed seal (Pusa hispida). The two-year feeding regime conducted with sledge dogs led to marked differences in overall adipose tissue (and plasma) OHC residue accumulation between the control and exposed groups. Characteristic prey-to-predator OHC bioaccumulation dynamics for major PCB and PBDE congeners (patterns and concentrations) and biotransformation capacity with respect to PCB metabolite formation and OH-PCB retention distinguished, to some extent, captive sledge dogs and wild polar bears. Based on the present findings, we conclude that the use of surrogate species in toxicological investigations for species in the Canoidea family should be done with great caution, although they remain essential in the context of contaminants research with sensitive arctic top carnivore species such as the polar bear.

Water temperature measured in Independence Bay, Pisco, Peru

Independencia Bay can be considered as one of the most productive invertebratc fishing grounds worldwide. One of the most important exploited species is the scallop (Argopecten purpuratus) with strong catching fluctuations related to El Nino and La Nina events and to inadequate Management strategies. During strong warming periods annual landings reach up to 50000 t in an area of about 150 km**2 and during cold years they remain around 500 to 1000 t. This study analyses the changes in scallop landings at Independencia Bay observed during the last two decades and discusses the main factors affecting the scallop proliferations during the EI Nino events. In this way data on landings, sea surface temperature and those related to growth, reproduction, predation, mean density and oxygen concentration from published and unpublished Papers are used. The relationship between annual catches and average water temperature over the preceding reproductive period of the scallop over the past 20 year's period, showed that scallop production is affected positively only with strong EI Nino such as those of 1983 and 1998. Our review showed that the scallop stock proliferation can be traced to the combined effect of (1) an increase in reproductive output through an acceleration of gonad maturation and a higher spawning frequency; (2) a shortening of the larval period and an increase in larval survival; (3) an increase in the individual growth performance; (4) an increase in the juvenile and adult survival through reduction of predator biomass; (5) an increase in carrying capacity of the scallop banks due to elevated oxygen levels.

(Table 1) Stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic ratios of potential prey species of bearded seals (Erignathus barbatus), Svalbard

Changing patterns of sea-ice distribution and extent have measurable effects on polar marine systems. Beyond the obvious impacts of key-habitat loss, it is unclear how such changes will influence ice-associated marine mammals in part because of the logistical difficulties of studying foraging behaviour or other aspects of the ecology of large, mobile animals at sea during the polar winter. This study investigated the diet of pregnant bearded seals (Erignathus barbatus) during three spring breeding periods (2005, 2006 and 2007) with markedly contrasting ice conditions in Svalbard using stable isotopes (d13C and d15N) measured in whiskers collected from their newborn pups. The d15N values in the whiskers of individual seals ranged from 11.95 to 17.45 per mil, spanning almost 2 full trophic levels. Some seals were clearly dietary specialists, despite the species being characterised overall as a generalist predator. This may buffer bearded seal populations from the changes in prey distributions lower in the marine food web which seems to accompany continued changes in temperature and ice cover. Comparisons with isotopic signatures of known prey, suggested that benthic gastropods and decapods were the most common prey. Bayesian isotopic mixing models indicated that diet varied considerably among years. In the year with most fast-ice (2005), the seals had the greatest proportion of pelagic fish and lowest benthic invertebrate content, and during the year with the least ice (2006), the seals ate more benthic invertebrates and less pelagic fish. This suggests that the seals fed further offshore in years with greater ice cover, but moved in to the fjords when ice-cover was minimal, giving them access to different types of prey. Long-term trends of sea ice decline, earlier ice melt, and increased water temperatures in the Arctic are likely to have ecosystem-wide effects, including impacts on the forage bases of pagophilic seals.