BACKGROUND Identification of key foraging habitats of aquatic top predators is essential for designing effective management and conservation strategies. The Baltic ringed seal (Phoca hispida botnica) interacts with anthropogenic activities and knowledge of its spatial ecology is needed for planning population management and mitigating interactions with coastal fisheries. We investigated habitat...

The study of marine mammal energetics can shed light on how these animals might adapt to changing environments. Their physiological potential to adapt will be influenced by extrinsic factors, such as temperature, and by intrinsic factors, such as sex and reproduction. We measured the standard metabolic rate (SMR) of males and females of three Australian otariid species (two Australian fur seals...

Understanding the variability of foraging behavior within a population of predators is important for determining their role in the ecosystem and how they may respond to future ecosystem changes. However, such variability has seldom been studied in harbor seals on a fine spatial scale (<30 km). We used a combination of standard and Bayesian generalized linear mixed models to explore how environm...

BACKGROUND Worldwide, adult harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) typically limit their movements and activity to <50 km from their primary haul-out site. As a result, the ecological impact of harbor seals is viewed as limited to relatively small spatial scales. Harbor seals in the Pacific Northwest are believed to remain <30 km from their primary haul-out site, one of several contributing factors to t...

In this paper, we present some numerical results related to the properties of the cavitations flow thin lubricant film which occurs between two contact surfaces of an axial-symmetrical tribological system (called radial seal surfaces). First, in the frame of Reynolds’ model assumptions we get the homogenized equation generalized for the case when moving contact surfaces (rotor) has roughness pr...

Hydraulic seals using compacted sand–bentonite blocks are an important part of the closure phase of deep geological disposal facilities for the isolation of many categories of radioactive wastes. An understanding of the hydromechanical behaviour of these seals and the ability to model their behaviour is a key contribution to safety cases and licence applications. This work reports the developme...

Elevated Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) concentrations have been detected in high trophic level wildlife and have been associated with endocrine disruption and other adverse health effects. Recent evidence indicates that harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) inhabiting Puget Sound, WA are approximately seven times more contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) than those inhabiting the ...

It is not known precisely how marine mammals are able to maintain muscle function during active swimming in breath-hold dives, when ventilation stops and heart rate falls. Examination of muscle biochemistry and histochemistry can provide information on the relative importance of different metabolic pathways, the contractile potential of the muscle fibres, the oxygen storage capacity of the musc...