Dataset: seal_dive_time_per_temp

Name: Diving behavior of harbor seals, specifically the proportion of time spent per temperature range, determined by satellite-linked time-depth recorder (TDR) and GPS receivers, for dives made by harbor seals near Protection Island, WA, 2009
Published: 2012-11-30
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:

30 Nov 2012

Version Date:

2012-11-30

Restricted:

Validated:

Yes

Current State:

Final no updates expected

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

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Description

In 2009, the diving behavior of harbor seals was monitored near Protection Island, in WA state. Data include the percent of time spent by individual seals at different temperature ranges. The diving data 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.

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 temperature bins.

Data Files

File
seal_dive_time_per_temp.csv (Comma Separated Values (.csv), 1.38 MB) MD5:86c97ed6f5cbc21fd3081d8353122abd Primary data file for dataset ID 3808

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_pcnt_time	Sum of all pcnt_time_at_temp values (approx. 100).	integer	no_bcodmo_term
temp	Temperature range. -5 = -5 degrees or below, 0 = -5 to 0 degrees C, 2.5 = 0 to 2.5 degrees C, 3 = 2.5 to 3 degrees C, 5 = 3 to 5 degrees C, 7.5 = 5 to 7.5 degrees C, 10 = 7.5 to 10 degrees C, 12.5 = 10 to 12.5 degrees C, 15 = 12.5 to 15 degrees C, 17.5 = 15 to 17.5 degrees C, 20 = 17.5 to 20 degrees C, 22.5 = 20 to 22.5 degrees C, 30 = 22.5 to 30 degrees C, gt_30 = greater than 30 degrees C.	degrees Celsius	temp
pcnt_time_at_temp	Proportionate amount of time the individual spent at the temperature range during the 6-hour time period.	%	no_bcodmo_term

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Dataset: seal_dive_time_per_temp