Pinnipeds and El Niño
Pinnipeds and El Niño

Author: Fritz Trillmich

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 299

ISBN-13: 3642763987

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El Niño is a meteorological and oceanographic phenomenon, which occurs at irregular intervals in the eastern tropical Pacific. Its most obvious characteristic is the warming of surface waters, which causes enormous disturbances of the marine environment. A severe Niño may also affect continental systems worldwide. This book gathers in a comprehensive way the information available on the effects of the exceptionally strong 1982-83 Niño on a group of marine mammals, the pinnipeds. It presents an analysis of the effects of environmental stress on the populations of top predators. Data and interpretations are based on a most unusual collection of long-term studies of pinniped population dynamics, behavior and ecology which spanned the El Niño event. The responses of pinniped populations to the El Niño disturbance of the marine ecosystem also has important implications for the management and conservation of marine mammal populations.

Global Ecological Consequences of the 1982-83 El Niño-Southern Oscillation
Global Ecological Consequences of the 1982-83 El Niño-Southern Oscillation

Author: P.W. Glynn

Publisher: Elsevier

Published: 1990-09-06

Total Pages: 587

ISBN-13: 0080870902

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El Niño is a meteorologic/oceanographic phenomenon that occurs sporadically (every few years) at low latitudes. It is felt particularly strongly in the eastern Pacific region, notably from the equator southwards along the coasts of Ecuador and Peru. The El Niño is a component of the ENSO (El Niño Southern Oscillation) which accentuates the intimate and causal connection between atmospheric and marine processes. Obvious manifestations of El Niño in the eastern Pacific are anomalous warming of the sea; reduced upwelling; a marked decline in fisheries, and high rainfall with frequent flooding.The 1982/83 El Niño was exceptionally severe, and was probably the strongest warming of the equatorial Pacific Ocean to occur during this century. The warming was intense and spread over large parts of the Pacific Ocean and penetrated to greater depths than usual. Many eastern Pacific coral reefs that had exhibited uninterrupted growth for several hundred years until 1983 were devasted by the disturbance and are now in an erosional mode. Marine species were adversely affected. The consequent depletion of the plant food base resulted in significant reductions in stocks of fish, squid etc. This led to a mass migration and near-total reproductive failure of marine birds at Christmas Island.Emphasis in this volume is placed on disturbances to benthic communities; littoral populations; terrestrial communities and extratropical regions.

The Behaviour of Pinnipeds
The Behaviour of Pinnipeds

Author: D. Renouf

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 424

ISBN-13: 9401131007

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We teach our students of behavioural science that one first defines a research problem, and then the most appropriate animal is selected to investigate hypotheses. The reverse order of events is improper: a particular class of animals should not be studied for its own sake. In the case of the Pinnipeds (seals, sea lions, fur seals and walruses) the organism and the problem are essentially the same. The research questions presented in this volume in one way or another relate to survival in two worlds, the ocean for foraging, and the terrain at its edge or frozen above it for breeding. The evolution of Pinniped behaviour and the mechanisms which underlie it are a consequence of having to cope with two seemingly incompatible sets of environmental constraints. The physiological adaptations for concomitant functioning in two media with very different physical characteristics have produced correlated behav ioural modifications. The energetic demands of reproduction and foraging are idiosyncratic because each activity occurs on opposite sides of the air/water interface. As a result, the mating system must reconcile aquatic design for such functions as locomotion and thermoregulation, with the terrestrial requirements for successful pupping. Similarly, the ecology of this dual habitat prescribes the rules governing the behaviour of the neonate and its interactions with its mother.

Human Ecology And Climatic Change
Human Ecology And Climatic Change

Author: David L. Peterson

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2020-03-06

Total Pages: 360

ISBN-13: 131783707X

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The Far North, a land of extreme weather and intense beauty, is the only region of North America whose ecosystems have remained reasonably intact. Humans are newcomers there and nature predominates. As is widely known, recent changes in the Earth's atmosphere have the potential to create rapid climatic shifts in our life-time and well into the future. These changes, a product of southern industrial society, will have the greatest impact on ecosystems at northern latitudes, which until now have remained largely undisturbed. In this fragile balance, as terrestrial and aquatic habitats change, animal and human populations will be irrevocably altered.

Human Impacts on Seals, Sea Lions, and Sea Otters
Human Impacts on Seals, Sea Lions, and Sea Otters

Author: Todd J. Braje

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2011-03-23

Total Pages: 329

ISBN-13: 0520948971

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For more than ten thousand years, Native Americans from Alaska to southern California relied on aquatic animals such as seals, sea lions, and sea otters for food and raw materials. Archaeological research on the interactions between people and these marine mammals has made great advances recently and provides a unique lens for understanding the human and ecological past. Archaeological research is also emerging as a crucial source of information on contemporary environmental issues as we improve our understanding of the ancient abundance, ecology, and natural history of these species. This groundbreaking interdisciplinary volume brings together archaeologists, biologists, and other scientists to consider how archaeology can inform the conservation and management of pinnipeds and other marine mammals along the Pacific Coast.

Marine Mammals Ashore
Marine Mammals Ashore

Author: Joseph R. Geraci

Publisher: National Aquarium in Baltimore

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 386

ISBN-13: 0977460908

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Comprehensive manual for understanding and carrying out marine mammal rescue activities for stranded seals, manatees, dolphins, whales, or sea otters.