Satellite telemetry informs PCB source apportionment in a mobile, high trophic level marine mammal: the ringed seal (Pusa hispida).

Marine mammals are typically poor indicators of point sources of environmental contaminants as a consequence of their often complex feeding ecologies and extensive movements, all of which mask the contributions of specific inputs. The release of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) by a military radar station into Saglek Bay, Labrador (Canada) has contaminated marine sediments, bottom-feeding fish, seabirds, and some ringed seals, but attributing the PCBs in the latter highly mobile animals to this source is exceedingly difficult. In addition to the application of such tools as stable isotopes (δ(15)N and δ(13)C) and univariate and multivariate statistical exploration of contaminant patterns and ratios, we used satellite telemetry to track the movements of 13 seals in their transient use of different feeding areas. Reduced size of home range and core area (i.e., areas of concentrated use), as well as increased time in coastal inlets, were important determinants of increased PCB concentrations in seals reflecting the contribution of Saglek Bay. Seals were classified into the same feeding groups using both space use and their contaminant burdens 85% of the time, highlighting the link between feeding ecology and exposure to PCBs. While the PCB source at Saglek provided a strong local signal in a remote environment, this first use of satellite telemetry demonstrates the utility of evaluating space-use strategies to better understand contaminant exposure, and more specifically the contribution of contaminant hotspots to mobile predators.

Recursive filtering for zero offset correction of diving depth time series with GNU R package diveMove.

Zero offset correction of diving depth measured by time-depth recorders is required to remove artifacts arising from temporal changes in accuracy of pressure transducers. Currently used methods for this procedure are in the proprietary software domain, where researchers cannot study it in sufficient detail, so they have little or no control over how their data were changed. GNU R package diveMove implements a procedure in the Free Software domain that consists of recursively smoothing and filtering the input time series using moving quantiles. This paper describes, demonstrates, and evaluates the proposed method by using a "perfect" data set, which is subsequently corrupted to provide input for the proposed procedure. The method is evaluated by comparing the corrected time series to the original, uncorrupted, data set from an Antarctic fur seal (Arctocephalus gazella Peters, 1875). The Root Mean Square Error of the corrected data set, relative to the "perfect" data set, was nearly identical to the magnitude of noise introduced into the latter. The method, thus, provides a flexible, reliable, and efficient mechanism to perform zero offset correction for analyses of diving behaviour. We illustrate applications of the method to data sets from four species with large differences in diving behaviour, measured using different sampling protocols and instrument characteristics.

Ecosystem regime shifts have not affected growth and survivorship of eastern Beaufort Sea belugas.

Large-scale ocean-atmosphere physical dynamics can have profound impacts on the structure and organization of marine ecosystems. These changes have been termed "regime shifts", and five different episodes have been detected in the North Pacific Ocean, with concurrent changes also occurring in the Bering and Beaufort Seas. Belugas from the Eastern Beaufort Sea (EBS) use the Bering Sea during winter and the Beaufort Sea during summer, yet the potential effects of regime shifts on belugas have not been assessed. We investigated whether body size and survivorship of EBS belugas harvested in the Mackenzie River delta region between 1993 and 2003 have been affected by previous purported regime shifts in the North Pacific. Residuals from the relationship between body length and age were calculated and compared among belugas born between 1932 and 1989. Residual body size was not significantly related to birth year for any regime, nor to the age group individuals belonged to during any regime. The percentage deviation in number of belugas born in any given year that survived to be included in the hunt (survivorship) did not show any significant trend within or between regimes. Accounting for lags of 1-5 years did not reveal any evidence of delayed effects. Furthermore, neither population index was significantly related to changes in major climatic variables that precede regime shifts. Our results suggest that EBS beluga body size and survivorship have not been affected by the major regime shifts of the North Pacific and the adjacent Bering and Beaufort Seas. EBS belugas may have been able to modify their diet without compromising their growth and survivorship. Diet and reproductive analyses over large and small time scales can help understand the mechanisms enabling belugas to avoid significant growth and reproductive effects of past regime shifts.