Crabeater seals have historically been quite successful . Their population ranges around15 million , and conservationists have n’t had to interest too much about them — until now . mood change is quickly change the habitat of these cute south-polar critters , and a newstudyshows that these seals will have to work hard for their nutrient in a warm world .
Despite the name , these ice - loving animal eat krill . In fact , that ’s about all they corrode . So the team follow seal and attend at their foraging patterns to omen krill home ground and send off how that might change move forward .
Published in the journal Nature Climate Change on Monday , the unexampled newspaper publisher uses climate models and tracker data from 42 crabeater seal collected in 2001 , 2002 , and 2007 . To get the seal data point , researchers fit out these cute fellas with tags that tracked their location and diving behavior . Some tags could even collect temperature and salinity data on the waters the seals were in .
Researchers used data from tracking studies of crabeater seals to infer the distribution of krill and project how it is likely to change in the future.Photo:Dan Costa(University of California, Santa Cruz)
https://gizmodo.com/scientists-are-sticking-cameras-on-whales-to-explore-th-1843003426
All this helped them understand what ’s going on around the westerly portion of the Antarctic Peninsula . That part is one of the fastest warming parts of the continent , and just earlier this year , set Antarctica’srecord high temperature . Multiple ice shelves have crumble here as well , though that ’s been partly drive by born processes , and sea ice hasdeclined in the neighborhood .
The results show that increase heat and loss of sea ice ( which serve keep the sunshine ’s heat out of the piss ) could reduce krill populations and push them to try tax shelter farther south . That ’s bad word for these seal that hump to hang out near the glide on the ice-skating rink where krill are typically found these solar day . If the krill move away from coastal waters — as the models in this study predict — the crabeater seals will need to float farther to find them and eat .
We love you, oh big one.Photo:Dan Costa(University of California, Santa Cruz)
The animals may expend more vigor in search of a food source that may be less abundant . But realise the changes here is crucial not just for the seals ’ luck , but krill and other animals that bank on it as the base of the food chain .
“ The shift in krill habitat away from coastal weewee in the north has big implications for mintage like penguin and fur seals , which ca n’t make long foraging trips because they have to number back to kingdom to feed their offspring , ” author Luis Huckstadt , a research worker in the Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of California at Santa Cruz , say in a statement .
The seals could still change path in the future tense if this does take place . The scientists suggest that crabeater seals may get seeking new food sources . That could protect them in the long run , especially if krill populations do go down . However , it ’s indecipherable if the seals could adapt quickly enough .
The Arctic and Antarctic are ground zero for the mood crisis . These nether regions of the world are feeling the impacts of warming in a way the rest of the world just has n’t yet . The implications on wildlife are lineal as ocean water ice melting and waters grow warner . What happens there , though , also affects where we live from fishery to the peril position by land ice melting . Changing human habitats could prove a little more tricky than swimming to a new destination in hunting of some krill .
AntarcticaconservationScience
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