1. Australian Antarctic Data Centre
2. Discover and Manage Data
3. Records
4. ASAC_100

Description

Metadata record for data from ASAC Project 100
See the link below for public details on this project.

From the abstract of one of the referenced papers:

Between November 1988 and March 1989, scats were collected from three species of fur seals (Arctocephalus forsteri, A. gazella and A. tropicalis) at the northern end of Macquarie Island and from A. forsteri between January and March 1989 at the southern end. All fed mainly on fish. For A. gazella/A. tropicalis an average of 99.2% of scats in monthly collections contained fish remains, while for A. forsteri the figure for North Head was 100% and for Hurd Point was 94.9%. Arctocephalus forsteri at Hurd Point took less fish and more penguins than at North Head and there were significant differences in the composiiton of the fish diet in two of three months. At North Head, the fish diet of A. gazella/A. tropicalis differed significantly from that of A. forsteri in three of the five months studied. Food resources for fur seals around Macquarie Island are considered to be less available than they are around Heard Island.

Quality

The dates provided in temporal coverage are approximate only.

Fur seal scats were collected at North Head and at Hurd Point, which are at opposite ends of Macquarie Island, from November 1988 to March 1989. Scats collected from territories containing both A. gazella and A. tropicalis were not distinguished between the species and are referred to in this study as coming from A. gazella/A. tropicalis. Eighteen scats were also collected in 1986/87.

Because of the topography and the high number of seals, it was not possible to clear all of the scats from each site each month. Therefore, only fresh scats were collected. Scats were kept separate, and were returned frozen to the laboratory for analysis. They were broken open in water in a sieve of 1.0 mm mesh. Fish otoliths were extracted for identification and measurement, and the residue was sorted beneath a dissecting microscope for identifiable remains.

Further information is available from the paper available for download.

Access

A pdf copy of one of the referenced papers is available for download from the provided URL to AAD staff only.

Temporal Coverages

• Start date: 1988-11-01 - Stop date: 1995-03-31

Spatial Coverages

Science Keywords

• EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES
• EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES > MAMMALS

Use Constraints

This data set conforms to the CCBY Attribution License
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Please follow instructions listed in the citation reference at the provided URL when using these data.