RESUMEN
Our understanding of how air-breathing marine predators cope with environmental variability is limited by our inadequate knowledge of their ecological and physiological parameters. Because of their wide distribution along both coasts of the sub-continent, South American sea lions (Otaria byronia) provide a valuable opportunity to study the behavioral and physiological plasticity of a marine predator in different environments. We measured the oxygen stores and diving behavior of South American sea lions throughout most of its range, allowing us to demonstrate that diving ability and behavior vary across its range. We found no significant differences in mass-specific blood volumes of sea lions among field sites and a negative relationship between mass-specific oxygen storage and size, which suggests that exposure to different habitats and geographical locations better explains oxygen storage capacities and diving capability in South American sea lions than body size alone. The largest animals in our study (individuals from Uruguay) were the shallowest and shortest duration divers, and had the lowest mass-specific total body oxygen stores, while the deepest and longest duration divers (individuals from southern Chile) had significantly larger mass-specific oxygen stores, despite being much smaller animals. Our study suggests that the physiology of air-breathing diving predators is not fixed, but that it can be adjusted, to a certain extent, depending on the ecological setting and or habitat. These adjustments can be thought of as a 'training effect': as the animal continues to push its physiological capacity through greater hypoxic exposure, its breath-holding capacity increases.
Asunto(s)
Aire , Buceo/fisiología , Conducta Predatoria/fisiología , Respiración , Leones Marinos/fisiología , Aerobiosis , Animales , Peso Corporal , Geografía , Oxígeno/sangre , América del SurRESUMEN
Apex marine predators alter their foraging behavior in response to spatial and/or seasonal changes in natural prey distribution and abundance. However, few studies have identified the impacts of aquaculture that represents a spatially and temporally predictable and abundant resource on their foraging behavior. Using satellite telemetry and stable isotope analysis we examined the degree of spatial overlap between the South American sea lion (SASL) and salmon farms, and quantify the amount of native prey versus farmed salmonids in SASL diets. We instrumented eight SASL individuals with SRDL-GPS tags. Vibrissae, hair and skin samples were collected for δ13C and δ15N analyses from five of the tagged individuals and from four males captured in a haul-out located adjacent to salmon farms. Tracking results showed that almost all the foraging areas of SASL are within close proximity to salmon farms. The most important prey for the individuals analyzed was farmed salmonids, with an estimated median (±SD) contribution of 19.7 ± 13.5 and 15.3 ± 9.6 for hair and skin, respectively. Using vibrissae as a temporal record of diet for each individual, we observed a remarkable switch in diet composition in two SASL, from farmed salmonids to pelagic fishes, which coincided with the decrease of salmon production due to the infectious salmon anemia virus that affected salmon farms in Chile at the end of 2008. Our study demonstrates the usefulness of integrating stable isotope derived dietary data with movement patterns to characterize the impacts of a non-native prey on the foraging ecology of an apex marine predator, providing important applied implications in situations where interactions between aquaculture and wildlife are common.