Special From Antarctica Weddell Population Project field scientist Jesse DeVoe, M.S.:
We were getting pretty nervous with the long deployment delay about the number of pups we might find on the ice when we finally arrived at the [seal pupping] colonies, and how well we'd be able to catch up. But I think we got here just in time. There were some big pups around and a few new ones, but we hadn't missed too much. We had a few big storms in the beginning that kept us from identifying precise birthdays for some of the pups, but quickly the weather improved for long enough that we were able to catch up. Right about when we got our camp pulled to Big Razorback Island, we got in our groove of hitting the north side of the Erebus Glacial Tongue one day and then the south side of the tongue the next, and repeat. That allowed us to keep up with the pupping. We are in the midst of peak pupping now. This season is in a bit of a contrast to last year's record numbers; our projection for the season puts numbers close to the long term average.
05 November 2018
News From The Ice!
30 October 2018
29 October 2018
Check Out the Aspiring Ecologist Field Blog by Jesse DeVoe!!
One of the Best Sources for all things 2018 Erebus Bay Weddell seal pupping season,* the field research team's work with the seals, and daily life of the 2018 Antarctica field team on the Ice, is the stunning field blog the Aspiring Ecologist created and produced by project scientist and field crew co-leader Jesse DeVoe M.S. Wonderful work, Jesse!!
* Our other fantastic source for amazing photos of moms and pups--lots of pups--and great up-to-date info on the research team's work, is our Weddell Project Instagram Presence!! We'll be featuring the Project Instagram Presence produced and curated by Project Lead Scientist Prof. Jay Rotella and his daughter Sophie in an upcoming post!
- Mary Lynn Price
18 October 2018
2018 Antarctica Field Crew Now On The Ice!
The entire 2018 Antarctica Field Team for the Erebus Bay Weddell Seal Population Dynamics Project has arrived on The Ice!
"We’re all on the ice now and hope to get camp out on Monday - after a lengthy weather delay, things are improving rapidly," notes lead project scientist Professor Jay Rotella of the Montana State University-Bozeman Ecology Department.
Four members of the 2018 Field Team celebrate their first steps on the Ice of the season in the photo below...
One of the Project's longtime researchers and field crew leaders, Kaitlin Macdonald, successfully defended her Master of Science degree at MSU very recently and successfully submitted her final thesis the day before she headed south to Antarctica to begin this 2018 Weddell seal pupping season!
We want to congratulate Kaitlin (shown in the photo below by 2018 field team specialist Shane Petch getting off the plane this season in Antarctica) on her hard-earned and well-deserved accomplishment! She will receive her Master of Science degree in December, 2018 and continue on the Weddell Seal Project as a Ph.D. student beginning in January of this season. Congratulations Kaitlin!
In the photo below, 2018 Antarctica Field Team members from left to right: Jesse DeVoe, Shane Petch, Victor Villalobos, Kit Cunningham, Kaitlin Macdonald, and Alissa Anderson. Photo by Jesse DeVoe.
Also a member of the 2018 Field Team this season is photographer extraordinaire William Link of the US Geological Survey, whose Weddell photos from a previous season were spectacular and the story went completely viral. Longtime Field Team Member, Crew Leader, and recipient of an M.S. from MSU Jesse DeVoe is also back this season! Jesse's imaging is simply superb, as is his wonderful Aspiring Ecologist Blog which we hope he starts up again soon this season!
Among the many tasks the field team accomplishes near the beginning of the season is the sorting, counting, and assembling of the small tags that are affixed to the hind flippers of this population of Weddell seals. In the photo above the members of the 2018 field team are prepping the tags in the utility loading dock near the project's work lab. This season represents 50 years of this very project gathering data on these seals, resulting in a longterm population data set that is unique in the scientific community. The Weddell population project has the distinction of the very early-assigned science group designation, B-009.
In an upcoming field blog post we'll introduce you to the entire 2018 Antarctica Team! We expect this to be another fascinating Erebus Bay Weddell seal pupping season and encourage viewers to check back regularly for new updates, science stories, new project scientific publications, fantastic imagery from the Team on the Ice, and much much more!
05 October 2018
The 2018 Weddell Seal Pupping & Science Season Opens!
Welcome to the 2018 Antarctica Weddell Seal Population Study Field Blog!
We have a great season ahead for both the Erebus Bay Weddell seals that return every year to pup and the scientists who return year after year, pupping season after pupping season, to study, better understand, and conserve these magnificent Antarctic marine predators! Much of the Weddell seal population study Antarctica field crew is now in Christchurch, New Zealand awaiting their flight South to U.S. Antarctic Base McMurdo Station, enduring multiple weather delays.
Some upcoming 2018 Antarctica Field Blog highlights include the return to the Ice as a new Montana State University M.Sc. degree holder Weddell seal population scientist Kaitlin McDonald! Also the Weddell seal population project begins its 50th year of gathering data on the Erebus Bay Weddell seal population, as several veteran project researchers return to the Ice again this landmark year.
Also, geologist and USGS photographer extraordinaire William Link is returning to the Ice this season to delight us with more of his amazing imaging!
We'll be following rare older Weddell moms and discovering their ancestry and offspring, announcing new scientific papers recently published by the project, and showcasing our latest project video on How Weddell Moms Matter To Their Pups. Much, much more to come so please check back frequently!
This population ecology science group is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and supported through the United States Antarctic Program (USAP).
-Mary Lynn Price
18 December 2017
An Extraordinary Erebus Bay Weddell Seal Pupping Season!
Special to the WeddellSealScience.com Antarctica Field Blog from Jesse DeVoe and Kaitlin Macdonald:
Thanksgiving brought not only a replenishing break from the field and camp life for the crew, but also a much needed break in the weather. From turkey day onward, conditions and visibility remained decent enough to catch up on things and finish out the season strong.
One of our primary goals each season is to tag all the pups in the study area. This allows us to keep track of which mothers give birth to which pups, as well as the survival and reproduction of each pup into the future.
The final tally of tagged pups this season was in the mid 700s! We were also able to finish up the re-weighing of the pups selected for the mass study, which is focused on understanding the investment of moms in their pups during the nursing period and what that might mean for the future of that pup. This is the third and last re-weighing of these pups, representing their weaning weight at 35 days old (right around the time the mom's wean their pups and leave them). We've nearly forgotten what the freshly-born pups used to look like now that they have tripled their body mass and have molted their lanugo (fluffy pup fur) in favor of a smooth, finely-patterned coat.
The pups this season averaged 66.92 lbs. at birth and 214.4 lbs. at weaning. We collected mass data on 135 pups and weighed a total of 54,457 lbs. of seal pups! As part of this study, we used photogrammetry to estimate the mother's mass (turns out it's really hard to get a 800 lb. animal on a weigh scale) which entails taking 360 degrees-worth of photos around the mom. Lastly, we completed 6 surveys of the study area, where we record every seal we can find on top of the ice to estimate the population size. During one survey we surveyed 1,570 tagged seals which exceeds the greatest number we sighted during any one survey in the past 10 years! We were able to visit the hard to reach North Base and South Base seal colonies (these are located in areas that require a good hike) and flew our 2nd and last mission to the White Island colony, where we tagged 6 pups during the season.
Our huts were pulled off the ice on Dec. 9, and saying goodbye to the seals and our Big Razorback home of 2 months (really it is the seals home and we are the visitors) is always a melancholy moment. We spent 3-4 days pulling all the bamboo flagged routes across the study area, collapsing many miles of roads into several bundles of flagged bamboo poles.
Thanks to a solid crew and the incredible support we received from the workforce in McMurdo, we had a very successful season. Half of our crew (Alissa, Aubrey, and Thomas) redeployed for New Zealand on Dec. 9, and the rest (Kaitlin, Shane, and Jesse) remained on station to clean, sort, organize, inventory, and return field gear until Dec. 15. Thanks to all our blog readers and we'll see you next season!
- Jesse DeVoe & Kaitlin Macdonald
11 December 2017
Meet Our 2017 Erebus Bay Weddell Seal Population Study Team!
The 2017 Erebus Bay Weddell Seal Population Study
Principal Investigators and Field Research Team:
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Dr. Jay Rotella, Lead Principal Investigator |
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Dr. Robert Garrott, Co-Principal Investigator Bob is a Professor in the Ecology Department at Montana State University and member of the MSU Fish and Wildlife Ecology and Management Program. His work focuses on the abiotic and biotic ecological processes that influence mammalian populations and communities, in both terrestrial and marine ecosystems, and contributing to basic science as well as applied wildlife management and conservation through collaborations with state and federal natural resource agencies. Bob received his PhD in Wildlife Conservation, University of Minnesota, 1990. More on Bob. |
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Dr. Donald Siniff, Co-Principal Investigator Don is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior at the University of Minnesota where his work has centered on the population dynamics of large mammals. Don's research has focused on the population characteristics of three species of Antarctic seals, concentrating on a long-term program on Weddell seals with shorter term studies on the crabeater and leopard seals of the Antarctic. He has also studied sea otters in Alaska and California since 1975. Don received his PhD from the University of Minnesota, 1967. More on Don.
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Kaitlin Macdonald, Weddell seal research field team crew leader Kaitlin Macdonald is a current MSU MS student being advised by Jay Rotella and Robert Garrott and a project co-leader with Terrill for the field crew. She has worked on Montana State University research projects since 2012 and joined the Weddell seal project in 2014 and is now in her 4th year on the Weddell seal project. Kaitlin has also done field work with mountain ungulates and small mammals. She received her B.A. in Environmental Studies and her B.S. in Economics from Montana State University in 2010.
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Jesse DeVoe, Weddell seal research field team co-crew leader Jesse received his MS from MSU, and works as a researcher. He began working with the Weddell seal field research team on the Weddell seal project in 2010. His ecology work includes field data collection techniques and analyses, developing research projects, writing scientific papers, digital imaging and science communication. Jesse received his MS in Biological Sciences, Fish and Wildlife Management from MSU, 2009. Check out Jesse's Aspiring Ecologist blog.
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Alissa Anderson, Weddell seal research field team Alissa graduated with her bachelor’s from the University of Montana in 2012 and works seasonal wildlife field jobs in western Montana and central Idaho. She is most happy being in the mountains watching critters big and small going about their business.
Aubrey Power, Weddell seal research field team Aubrey graduated from Montana State University in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in Fish and Wildlife Management. She has worked with various wildlife in Montana and Idaho including woodpeckers, hoary marmots, and bighorn sheep. Aubrey enjoys exploring alpine environments, backpacking, and mountain biking. When she’s not outdoors she pursues art and enjoys illustrating wildlife. She hopes to return to school for a Master’s degree in wildlife management pertaining to small mammal ecology. Check out Aubrey's Wandering Weddell blog.
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Shane Petch, Weddell seal research field team Shane recently completed his bachelor’s degree in wildlife management at Montana State University, and is looking forward to beginning his Master’s degree on the Weddell seal project this spring. Shane is originally from western Colorado and enjoys playing trumpet and exploring Montana’s wild places. |
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Thomas Sutton, Weddell seal research field team Thomas graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Fish and Wildlife Ecology and Management at Montana State University. He is interested in understanding how to conserve and manage wildlife populations in an ever-changing biosphere. Thomas is originally from east Tennessee, and enjoys biking, hiking, and anything else that gets him outside.
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Jeremy Schmidt, Weddell seal team author and multimedia book specialist Jeremy Schmidt is a renowned author, photographer, and multimedia book producer. He spent seven years living in Yellowstone, working as a winterkeeper, ranger, and photographer. He has written numerous books on the Rockies, Yellowstone, and more! Info on Jeremy's many publications here.
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Mary Lynn Price, Weddell seal project video and digital specialist Mary Lynn has been working with the Weddell seal project since 2010 as a public outreach and informal science education video and multimedia producer. Her digital production background includes short format videos for news and science organizations, educational institutions, film festivals, art galleries, and internet projects. She developed and maintains the Weddell Seal Science multimedia web portal, and produces short Weddell project videos for public outreach and informal science education. She has deployed to Antarctica 4 times to produce videos since 2008 when she first participated in an International Polar Year project producing short video portraits of woman working in Antarctica. Her recent work also includes 360 Virtual Reality production, and working with 4K stereoscopic 3D underwater footage for natural history cinematographers. More on Mary Lynn.
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02 December 2017
Project Stereo 3D Science Video Magazine Write-up
Our recent stereoscopic 3D short science video on Weddell seal pups and swimming behavior (please see below) is covered in the latest edition of the National Stereoscopic Association's Stereo World Magazine, as part of their write-up on the recent 3D-Con 2017, held in Anaheim, California.
The Weddell Population Study was well represented at this year's annual event by having our recent 3D short science film named an "Official Selection" and screened before a large and lively audience at 3D-Con's Stereo Theater.
The images shown above are frame grabs from the stereo film, and can be viewed with common 3D viewers. Some 3D fans can relax their eyes in such a way that they can merge the two pictures directly on the page and "freeview" the images as 3D. (Try it!)
Above is a YouTube version of the film screened. This version can be viewed in stereo 3D using simple, inexpensive VR goggles like Cardboard, or more sophisticated headwear now available from numerous manufacturers. For a simple approach, set the 3D video to play full screen on our WeddellSealScience YouTube Channel using your smart phone. Push Play, then close the viewer's cover over the smart phone and enjoy Antarctica's Weddell seals in 3D. Film features project lead scientist Dr. Jay Rotella, Jesse DeVoe, MS, and a whole lot of adorable Weddell seal pups!
The Weddell seal population study Antarctica field team has been prototyping various forms of more immersive imagery for a couple of years now, and is looking forward to presenting some of these efforts in the coming pupping seasons.
- Mary Lynn Price
Video and Multimedia Specialist,
Erebus Bay, Antarctica Weddell Seal Population Study
26 November 2017
Season Update from Jesse DeVoe
In the photo above members of the 2017 Antarctica field team gather in the kitchen hut to update the study's database and write reports.
20 November 2017
Great Photos from Weddell Seal Field Team Blogs & Instagram!
More photos from the Ice by can be viewed on blogs by Weddell seal population study field team members Jesse DeVoe and Aubrey Power, and on the WeddellSealScience Instagram page maintained by lead scientist Dr. Jay Rotella and his daughter Sophie.
The beautiful weddellsealscience Instagram page includes great photos and facts about Weddell seals:
Field team member Aubrey Power's wonderful Wandering Weddell blog also has great photos and interesting updates:
More information and great photos on the Antarctica field season and the seal moms and pups can be found on Jesse DeVoe's fantastic The Aspiring Ecologist blog:
Please check out these great resources for more Weddell mom and pup photos and information on the seals, the field team, and working in Antarctica!
14 November 2017
What a Weddell Pupping Season!
Dr. Jay Rotella, lead scientist on the project, summarizes the goals and accomplishments of the Weddell Seal Population Study field work this season:
The Erebus Bay population of Weddell seals in Antarctica’s Ross Sea is the most southerly mammal population in the world. The study population is ideal for increasing understanding of population dynamics of long-lived species because population members have strong site fidelity, are readily approached and tagged during the pup-rearing period, and have been intensively studied since 1968.
The photo above by field team member and writer/imager Jeremy Schmidt includes the entire 2017 field team. From left to right are Jesse DeVoe, lead scientist Dr. Jay Rotella, Kaitlin Macdonald, Thomas Sutton, Aubrey Power, Shane Petch, Alissa Anderson, and Jeremy Schmidt (triggering the camera to get the shot). The team is standing in front of Big Razorback Island, with the majestic live volcano Mt. Erebus in the background.
Recent analyses have found that differences in maternal identity, age, body reserves, and reproductive experience are directly linked to variation in offspring phenotype through maternal effects. Thus, pups vary widely with respect to birth dates, body mass, and the amount of time they spend in the water before weaning.
Further variation results because young born in different years can experience very different environmental conditions. During the 2017-2021 field seasons, our project has the broad objective of evaluating the importance of diverse sources of variation in pup characteristics to a pup’s subsequent survival and reproduction. We are also continuing the long-term monitoring of the population and maintaining and updating the long-term database of information on the study population.
Seals and mom/pup pairs dot the ice at a Weddell seal pupping colony near a glacier.
The current season has been very successful so far. We have tagged most of the pups by now and it’s clear that pup production will be above average this year. We have also completed 2 surveys of all animals that are on the ice surface and have 4 more surveys to complete by mid-December. The field team consists of two returning members and four people who are experiencing their first field season in Antarctica. Our crew leader, Kaitlin Macdonald, is doing an excellent job of leading the team and gaining great experience at organizing and leading the project successfully. All members of the team are doing a great job and have learned a lot so far. It looks to be another very productive and interesting season. We greatly appreciate all the support we receive from personnel at NSF and ASC both at McMurdo and back in the U.S. as this is truly a team effort that relies on the skills and efforts of a lot of different people.
11 November 2017
Weddell Pup Births Over the Top: Update from the Ice
This beautiful seal's-eye-view of a Weddell mom and pup napping by Jesse DeVoe shows the close bonding that takes place between mom and pup during the nursing period. Photo obtained under NMFS Permit No. 21158.
In our latest update from the ice, field team co-crew leader Jesse DeVoe reports that the number of Weddell pups born in the Erebus Bay study area this season has been amazing: "Peak pupping has come and gone and, man, it has been a productive year for the seals!" So many pups have been born this season that the field team is now focusing on the female pups, as they are the subject of most of the study's population and mass dynamics research. It has been a very productive season for the entire 2017 Antarctica field team!
The photo above by field team member and writer/imager Jeremy Schmidt includes the entire 2017 field team. From left to right are Jesse DeVoe, lead scientist Dr. Jay Rotella, Kaitlin Macdonald, Thomas Sutton, Aubrey Power, Shane Petch, Alissa Anderson, and Jeremy Schmidt (triggering the camera to get the shot). The team is standing in front of Big Razorback Island, with the majestic live volcano Mt. Erebus in the background.
Notes Jesse, "We have a strong and fun team this year. Everyone works hard with the mentality that they are on a team (a strong team spirit) and collecting some very cool data. In some ways, not having internet in camp has been great. There is much more interaction and discussion than otherwise, from my experience. In other ways, not so great, like in getting emails out and communicating with McMurdo support groups."
Internet connection at the remote sea ice camp has not been established this year due to the placement of the camp in front of Big Razorback Island. So it's a real treat to get updates from the ice this season!
01 November 2017
Pupping Season Peaking, News Update From the Ice!
Special from Antarctica field team co-crew leader, researcher, and science communicator, Jesse DeVoe. Jesse's latest blog post on the Aspiring Ecologist, highlights the work of the field research team and the lives of the Weddell seals that are the subject of this nearly 50 year old study of the Erebus Bay Weddell seal population. Here's the latest news from the Ice!
29 October 2017
How Moms Matter To Weddell Seal Pups
Following is an adaptation of a Weddell Seal Science article on the importance of maternal effects to Weddell seal pup survival--how Weddell moms matter to their pups' survival to adulthood to have a pup of their own. We have a number of select posts and articles on Weddell seals and the project's population study work curated in our WeddellSealScience.com web portal's Select Articles section.
- Mary Lynn Price
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Weddell seal pups are born on top of the sea ice in Antarctica, and spend a lot of time with their moms in their first 45 days or so. They’re nursing, getting fat on their moms' milk, and learning how to swim with their moms' help. And they’re probably learning how Weddell seals behave by watching their moms and other seals interact around the colony.
But when the pups are around 50 days old, their moms leave them on their own to survive with what they’ve learned and the weight they’ve gained from all that nursing. The fact is that only around 20% of the female pups born in a cohort—born in the study area pupping colonies during the same pupping season—will survive to around 7 or 8 years old, which is when most females start having pups. During that time they will grow in size from a small adorable pup to an animal the size of a horse, and must be healthy enough to gain enough weight to be able to produce a pup and do the really big job of caring for that pup (like giving up half of their body weight during the pup-nursing period).
What makes the difference between surviving, growing, and being healthy enough to have a pup themselves—or dying before they’re old enough to do that? It turns out that who a pup's mom is can make an important difference in whether that pup survives to reproduce, or doesn't.
In one way, all Weddell moms are exceptional. They are among the relatively small group of females that live long enough to return to the colonies and reproduce. But within that small group of Weddell females that return to give birth, there are a lot of differences among those moms; and those differences can have an important influence on whether their pups survive to return, and have pups of their own. What scientists working over the years on this National Science Foundation funded Weddell seal population study have learned has come about as the result of a nearly 5 decade-long population study and its extensive multi-generation database.
The ways these project scientists have learned about what differences in Weddell seal moms can mean to their pups, is the result of decades of tagging nearly every new seal pup born in the study area to know how many pups are born each year, who their moms are, how much some of the pups weigh at birth, at the mid-nursing period, and then at weaning, as well as how much some of the moms weigh when they come in and give birth. The scientists are very interested in learning more about how much weight the moms lose during the nursing period.
Over the past 6 years researchers have also been using small temperature/time recording tags on some female pups to measure how much time those pups spend in the water, where they can develop swimming skills, learn to avoid larger animals, dive and search for food, and other important skills for life on their own.
For female pups born 10 years ago or more, the researchers will be able to assess which pups have survived to come back and produce pups of their own. This can be done because for this special population it is possible to tag and record every mom-pup pair every pupping season. The individual tags on the animals let the researchers know who’s who, how old they are, who their mothers are, and how many pups they’ve had to date. For female seals that received small temperature/time recording tags when they were pups (the small red tag in the photo above), the scientists will also know how much time those seals spent in the water when they were pups.
Using these data, the researchers apply powerful statistical methods to study what differences in moms can mean to their pups’ future survival and reproductive adulthood. Here’s some of what the scientists have learned about the ways in which moms differ, how they matter to their pups, and what makes a good mom.
First, a pup would want a mom that was born into a large birth cohort herself as such females typically experienced good environmental conditions early in life, making them prone to success later in life. Then, a pup would want a mom who came into the breeding colonies in the years before her first pup birth to possibly learn more seal behavioral skills from moms already having pups.
A pup would want a mom who, the year before that pup was born, had come into the colonies to select a good male to mate with, while she synchronized her breeding cycle with the other females. This way the pup would be born when the rest of the pups in that cohort were being born the next pupping season, which can be important for many reasons.
A pup would want its mom to have good marine conditions with plenty of food resources after she mated so that her pregnancy would begin. Weddell seal females are what are known as “delayed implanters”—the fertilized egg doesn’t implant in the mom’s womb until a month or longer after she mates. She somehow physiologically “chooses” whether the egg will implant to allow the embryo to begin to develop. Studies suggest that the availability of marine resources—food— and the female’s resulting physiological condition affect whether or not the fertilized egg will implant.
A pup would want its mom to be of prime age—somewhere in her early to mid teens—as that’s when females tend to have (1) experience at raising pups, (2) their maximal body weight, and (3) no obvious signs of age-related deterioration. The Weddell seal population scientists have learned over the course of this long-term study that Weddell females give birth to their first pups at different ages. Some give birth as early as 5 years old, but most females have their first pup around 7 or 8 years old. Those females that give birth earlier in life seem to be especially good at producing pups regularly over their lifetime and are more apt to produce pups that thrive.
The average mom will have around 7 pups over a typical lifespan of 16 years or so. She would have 1 to 2 pups about every 3 years. Yet some moms live much longer—into their 20s, and even 30s. Some females never do have a pup, while some have many pups over a longer lifetime. In the study area, there was one mom who was 31 years old and had 22 pups during her lifetime!
So moms differ a lot as to when they first give birth, how long they live, and how many pups they give birth to over their lifetimes. What project scientists have learned is that your ideal mom would likely be a mom that started having pups at an early age, has had lots of experience raising pups previously, and is of prime age.
A pup would also like its mom to have skipped having a pup the previous year so that she is in great body condition with lots of stored energy in the form of more body fat the year the pup is born. After it's born, the pup would want a mother who spends lots of time with her pup nursing—transferring lots of weight to her pup throughout the nursing period.
A Weddell pup would want its mom to have lots of experience raising pups so she is good at helping her pup learn to swim when the pup is around 1 to 2 weeks old, and will do a good job raking the sea ice with her front teeth to make ice ramps that can help her pup get into and, especially, out of the water. Since raking ice can wear down a mom’s teeth over the years, a pup would want a prime age mom with good, sharp teeth.
When a Weddell pup is born, it will weigh anywhere from 40 to 70 pounds. After the roughly 35 to 45 day nursing period, it will weigh anywhere from the low 100s up to 300 pounds, or more! The project scientists have learned that how much a pup weighs when it's weaned is related to characteristics of the pup's mom.
One difference among Weddell moms affecting how much weight their pups gain is the age of the mom. Pups of younger moms start out lighter and tend to gain less weight. Pups of the oldest moms also start out lighter, but have mothers near the end of their lives that invest heavily in their pups and wean their pups at similar weights to pups from prime-age moms. So, the scientists hypothesize that a pup should be better off with a mom of prime age or older and hope to test that idea in the coming years.
While with many large long-lived mammal species, scientists have learned that weaning heavier is better for offspring survival, this may be more complicated with Weddell seal pups. For Weddell pups the nursing period—when pups are closely interacting with their moms and learning new skills like how to swim and get in and out of the water, and other behavioral skills—is longer than in most other seals.
Project scientists are now studying whether there is some kind of tradeoff between how much weight a pup gains during the nursing period versus the pup swimming a lot and possibly learning more survival skills from its mom underwater, but gaining less weight due to all that activity. The scientists are using small temperature/time recording tags on some of the pups to measure how long and how often they are in the water, and weighing those pups to learn how much weight they gain, so that the researchers can later learn which pups went on to survive to have pups themselves, "recruit".
One of the most interesting aspects of differences among moms that the project scientists have recently discovered is that after all the different measurable characteristics of moms are accounted for, some moms are just better at having and raising pups than others, and this is a fixed characteristic of those moms. This fixed characteristic of just being better at having pups remains the case whether it is good year for pupping or a far more challenging year, such as when a massive iceberg blocked access to the pupping areas in the past decade.
Using all of these valuable data collected over the decades by researchers, coupled with newer, more powerful approaches to statistical modeling, project scientists are able to learn more about these characteristics of Weddell moms that influence how likely their pups are to survive and grow up to be moms themselves. And, we’ll gain an even better understanding of how maternal investment in pups relates to differences in Weddell moms and changes in the environment.
One thing is certain from this long-term population study to date: if you’re a Weddell seal pup, who your mom is can make important differences in whether you will be among the exceptional 20% of female pups to survive and return to the study area pupping colonies to have pups of your own.
28 October 2017
Field Team In High Gear, Awaiting Wireless Internet at Sea Ice Camp
With the pace of seal pup births increasing, the Antarctica field team based at the remote sea ice camp at Big Razorback Island is making continuous sweeps through the numerous Weddell seal pupping colonies to assess all the new pups and moms. The remote sea ice camp should get wireless internet connection soon, and we'll get more real-time updates from the field team when that happens. Wireless internet connection at the sea ice camp is quite amazing. Here's a video from a previous season about how the wireless connection is established, and relayed via satellite:
While we await this season's remote wireless internet connection, and with it direct contact with the field team on the ice, here's an update of what the team is doing at this point in the pupping season.
A day or so after a new pup is born, it is added to the nearly 50 year database of multi-generations of Weddell seals in the Erebus Bay study area. The pup's condition is determined and recorded, as is the location of its birth, and the identity of its mother. The pup is tagged with a very small identity tag, and weighed if its mother is a "known mom"--a Weddell female whose own birth and data are recorded in the longterm database. The pups will be re-weighed at two more points during its approximately 35 to 40 day nursing period. Genetic samples will be obtained, and some pups born to known moms will receive a small temperature/duration recording tag that will be removed at the final pup weighing near weaning time.
This small temp tag will record the surrounding temperature every 6 minutes. Because the air temperature in Antarctica is highly variable, but the water beneath the ice remains a constant 29 degrees Fahrenheit, researchers will be able to determine when the pups were in the water, and for approximately how long. Known moms will also have their mass (weight) assessed. The field team is using a less intrusive approach to assessing a seal's mass using a photogrammetric method that involves photographing the seals and using 3D computer modeling analysis to obtain their mass. At 5 to 8 points in the pupping season, the field team will do a survey of all the Weddell seals in the study area, at all the pupping colonies. This helps ensure accuracy of the season's seal census. Here is a map of the study area showing the main pupping colonies and the location of the remote sea ice field camp at Big Razorback Island.
As we await further contact from the field team, here's our latest short stereoscopic 3D video science story which received a great reception at the recent National Stereoscopic Association/International Stereoscopic Union 3D-Con Stereo Theater premiere screening:
23 October 2017
20 October 2017
17 October 2017
2nd Wave of Field Team on the Ice!
Our 2nd wave of the Weddell seal population study field team finally made it to the coldest, windiest, driest continent on Earth--Antarctica! In the photo below are Aubrey Power, Alissa Anderson, and Jesse DeVoe just after deplaning from the Air Force C-17.
The giant transport jet landed on the sea ice shelf outside McMurdo Station, and the team was driven to McMurdo on the famous "Ivan the Terra Bus".
Here's a video from a previous season showing the C-17 boarding process in Christchurch, New Zealand, a trip up to the cool C-17 cockpit, the subsequent deplaning on the Sea Ice Shelf, and the drive to McMurdo Station on Ivan the Terra Bus...
The team is now finishing up training at McMurdo, and will head out to the remote sea ice camp at Big Razorback Island to join the 1st wave of the field team, Kaitlin Macdonald, Shane Petch, and Thomas Sutton, that helped get the remote sea ice camp in order after the camp pull. Here's a video of the camp pull from a previous season with imaging by Jessica Farrer...
11 October 2017
Great Team Blogs as More Field Team Members Await Flight to Antarctica
The 2nd wave of Weddell seal population study field team members, Co-crew leader Jesse DeVoe, Alissa Anderson, and Aubrey Power, have been waiting these past few days for the sea ice runway conditions to improve outside McMurdo Station before being flown from Christchurch, NZ to the Ice to re-unite with colleagues Kaitlin Macdonald, Shane Petch and Thomas Sutton already there.
So we are very excited to take this opportunity to introduce two wonderful field blogs being updated by a couple of our team members throughout the Weddell pupping season!
The first blog, the Aspiring Ecologist by Jesse DeVoe, is the longest running of the two:
Jesse DeVoe first deployed to Antarctica as part of the Weddell seal field team from 2010 through 2012. He did 3 pupping season deployments with the Weddell population study, maintaining his fantastic blog throughout. Jesse would go on to receive his MS from Montana State University-Bozeman. He returns to the Ice this season as a co-crew leader on the project. Jesse is a wonderful photographer, writer, videographer, viral video producer, and a great up-and-coming ecologist. This season he will be doing a lot of social media posting on the project, and working with some interesting immersive video approaches. All this in addition to his primary work of helping to carry out the scientific field goals of the Weddell population study this pupping season!
The second blog is brand new by 2017 Antarctica Field Team member Aubrey Power, and is named The Wandering Weddell. This is Aubrey's 1st deployment to Antarctica, and she will be sharing her experiences throughout the pupping season. More info on Aubrey is available on her very cool blog.
We will await word from the field team about the flight to Antarctica, and the 'camp pull' that is happening on the ice. The camp pull is when all the huts that make up the study's remote sea ice camp will be pulled by ice tractor to the location on the sea ice of this season's remote camp.
In the meantime, please enjoy these 2 wonderful field blogs to get a better sense of what field team members are doing and experiencing!
10 October 2017
Flagging Safe Sea Ice Routes
The advance Weddell seal population study sea ice team is finishing up some of the most fundamental work of the Antarctica field season: flagging safe routes over the sea ice to access the various Weddell seal pupping colonies. Flagging safe sea ice routes involves determining where cracks in the sea ice exist, and planning safe routes to avoid these cracks. Then flags are placed close enough together in set intervals to indicate where it's safe to travel. Crack size is determined by probing, digging, and drilling using either a power hand drill or a manual hand drill. In these photos below from field team co-crew leader and Montana State University MS student Kaitlin Macdonald, Shane is seen using the manual hand drill to flag a crack near Turtle Rock.
In the photo above Thomas and Shane are flagging a route from Turtle Rock to Big Razorback remote sea ice camp. They are using a Pisten Bully to travel along the sea ice route and set flags. Below, the flag-laden Pisten Bully with Shane and Thomas drilling ice and setting flags.
In addition to flagging safe routes to the Weddell pupping colonies, the field team also marks crack areas to stay away from. The photo below shows two black flags marking a crack radiating from Turtle Rock.
Here's a video from a previous season showing field team flagging from snowmobiles...
- Mary Lynn Price
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Recent Posts
- News From The Ice!
- Dear Viewers & Friends!
- Check Out the Aspiring Ecologist Field Blog by Jesse DeVoe!!
- 2018 Antarctica Field Crew Now On The Ice!
- The 2018 Weddell Seal Pupping & Science Season Opens!
- An Extraordinary Erebus Bay Weddell Seal Pupping Season!
- Meet Our 2017 Erebus Bay Weddell Seal Population Study Team!
- Project Stereo 3D Science Video Magazine Write-up
- Season Update from Jesse DeVoe
- Great Photos from Weddell Seal Field Team Blogs & Instagram!