Dataset: seal_diving_depth

Name: Diving behavior of harbor seals, specifically the number of dives per depth range made by seals, determined by satellite-linked time-depth recorder (TDR) and GPS receivers, near Protection Island, WA, 2009 (Seal_response_to_prey project)
Published: 2012-11-29
Keywords: oceans

Cite This Dataset

Spatial Extent: N:48.371 E:-122.683 S:48.033 W:-123.206

Project:

Responses of Seals and Sea Lions to Increased Rockfish Density (Seal_response_to_prey)

Lead Principal Investigator:

Alejandro Acevedo-Gutierrez (Western Washington University, WWU)

Co-Principal Investigator:

Jeffrey F Bromaghin (United States Geological Survey, USGS)

Steven J Jeffries (Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife)

John M Kennish (University of Alaska, Anchorage, UAA)

Monique M Lance (Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife)

Philip S. Levin (National Marine Fisheries Service, NMFS)

BCO-DMO Data Manager:

Shannon Rauch (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, WHOI BCO-DMO)

Version:

29 Nov 2012

Version Date:

2012-11-29

Validated:

Yes

Current State:

Final no updates expected

Diving behavior of harbor seals, specifically the number of dives per depth range made by seals, determined by satellite-linked time-depth recorder (TDR) and GPS receivers, near Protection Island, WA, 2009 (Seal_response_to_prey project)

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Description

In 2009, the diving behavior of harbor seals was monitored near Protection Island, in WA state. Data include the number of dives made per individual per depth range. The number of dives are summarized into four 6-hour time periods per day.

Related publications:
Thomas, AC; Lance, MM; Jeffries, SJ; Miner, BG; Acevedo-Gutierrez, A. 2011. Harbor seal foraging response to a seasonal resource pulse, spawning Pacific herring. Marine Ecology-Progress Series, v.441. p. 225. DOI: 10.3354/meps09370
Thomas, A. 2010. The behavioral response of harbor seals to seasonal prey pulses of spawning Pacific herring. MSc thesis, Department of Biology, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA. Available from Alejandro Acevedo's lab website.

Methods & Sampling

Five harbor seals were captured and tagged on Protection Island during from 12 to 13 January 2009. A combined satellite-linked time-depth recorder (TDR) and Fastloc GPS receiver (Wildlife Computers, model MK10AF) was epoxied to each animal's pelage on the dorsal midline.

The TDR sensor was set to sample every 10 seconds and record only dives greater than 2 meters in depth or greater than 30 seconds in duration. The tags summarized the TDR diving data of each animal into four 6-hour time periods: 0400 to 0959, 1000 to 1559, 1600 to 22159, and 2200 to 0359 local time (morning, day, evening, and night, respectively). During the study period, sunrise always occurred in the morning period and sunset always occurred in the evening period. Maximum dive depth histograms tallied dives into twelve depth bins: 2-10, 10-20, 20-50, 50-100, 100-150, 150-200, 200-250, 250-300, 300-350, 350-400, 400-500, and greater than 500 m.

Data Processing Description

BCO-DMO made the following modifications to the dataset:
- Changed parameter names to conform to BCO-DMO conventions;
- Replaced blanks with 'nd';
- Separated original date/time column into separate date and time columns;
- Transposed columns to rows for each of the depth bins.

Data Files

File
seal_diving_depth.csv (Comma Separated Values (.csv), 1.17 MB) MD5:def905bd0f1197d51f586c664db7f8ca Primary data file for dataset ID 3804

More Information about this dataset

Funding Sources

Funding Source	Award Number
NSF Division of Ocean Sciences	OCE-0550443

Deployments

Deployment	Synonyms	Start Date	Platform	Investigator
Seal_Captures		2007-04-04	shoreside San_Juan_Islands	Alejandro Acevedo-Gutierrez (Chief Scientist)	data info

Instruments

Wildlife Computers Time-Depth Tag (TDR)

Supplied Name: Wildlife Computers TDR

Supplied Description:

A combined satellite-linked time-depth recorder (TDR) and Fastloc GPS receiver (Wildlife Computers, model MK10AF) was epoxied to each animal's pelage on the dorsal midline.

Instrument Type

Generic Name: Wildlife Computers Time-Depth Tag (TDR)

Acronym: TDR

Generic Description:

Time depth recorders (TDR's) manufactured by Wildlife Computers, Redmond WA) are designed for studies of seals, penguins, fish, and marine mammals. Standard TDR's are mounted externally on the animal's body, where they record temperature and depth. See more information from the manufacturer.

Parameters

Date and time formats are described in python strftime() syntax.

Supplied Name	Supplied description	Supplied Units	Standard Name
seal_id	Unique seal identification.	unitless	sealname
pttno	PTT tag number.	unitless	tagid
inst	Name of the instrument. MK10 = Wildlife Computers MK10 TDR tag.	unitless	inst_model
date	Date (local time).	mm/dd/yy	date
time	Local time, 24-hour clock. The tags summarized the diving data of each animal into four 6-hour time periods.	HHMM	time_local
lat	Latitude, in decimal degrees. Positive = North.	decimal degrees	lat
lon	Longitude, in decimal degrees. Positive = East.	decimal degrees	lon
num_bins	Number of bins (depth ranges) which the data falls in.	integer	no_bcodmo_term
total_num_dives	Total number of dives recorded during the time period.	integer	no_bcodmo_term
depth	Depth range, in meters. 10 = 0-10 m, 20 = 10-20 m, 50 = 20-50 m, 100 = 50-100 m, 150 = 100-150 m, 200 = 150-200 m, 250 = 200-250 m, 300 = 250-300 m, 350 = 300-350 m, 400 = 350-400 m, 500 = 400-500 m, gt_500 = greater than 500 m.	meters	depth
num_dives	Number of dives to the specified depth range during the 6-hour time period.	unitless	no_bcodmo_term

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Dataset: seal_diving_depth