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Logistics. Students will conduct the bulk of the field work at Punta Delgada, a research area located at about 160 km from Puerto Madryn. Participants are housed at in a well equipped, and logistically supported field research station maintained by the Marine Mammal Lab. This outstanding facility is made available to UCSC-MIRT at no cost while food, fuel and research supplies are provided at cost. The facilities are of excellent quality providing both room and meals, thus maximizing the time students may spend in the field engaged in research.
Objectives. The main scientific and training aims of this project are to: 1) take students out of the lecture hall into the field far from their culture and experience to observe animal behavior and engage in active experimentation in the natural habitat, 2) to acquaint them with an ongoing research projects on elephant seals and other marine mammals, 3) to give them an opportunity to master techniques and collect data on a specific research questions, 4) to analyze the data collected, organize the information and write a research report, and 5) to immerse them in a scientific and cultural experience that will positively influence their career pathway into biomedical research.
General Research Activities. Student learn to keep a serial log of important events during their first week in the field. From then on, the student will be assigned specific research responsibilities. Every day, students will spend 6-9 hours in the field with their team, recording data on the behavior adults and pups at different harems. On an opportunistic bases, they will help to weigh and measure weanlings, tag and mark individuals, place time-depth temperature recorders to study the diving behavior, and assist in select physiological studies under field conditions. Upon returning from the field each day, the students spend 2-3 hours transferring the data to cards, forms and computers. Twice per week, in the evenings, the teams meet project scientists to discuss research projects, logistics, reports, special problems, changes in experimental design and to put the ongoing season and total experience in perspective.
About the seals. Elephant seals run on accurate biological clocks. They are predictable with respect to time of arrival, time of parturition, copulation and departure. During their annual cycle, elephant seals have two haulout periods devoted to breeding and molt. Unlike whales and dolphins, elephant seals are tied to land for all facets of reproduction, save gestation. At Península Valdés, the breeding season starts in August and continues through December. Pregnant females begin arriving by the end of August, and reach a peak in early October. Females deliver a single pup one week after arrival, nurse it for one month while fasting, then wean their pup by returning to sea. During the last four days of nursing, the female is sexually receptive and may mate several times with one or more males. By mid-winter, virtually all adult animals are at sea foraging leaving the new born of the year who remain an additional 2-3 months before departing.
Research Tasks and Objectives
The following list of tasks will provide an overview of what is expected of MIRT students during a typical season. The list is broken down into two parts, 1)General field studies and population monitoring and 2)UCSC-MIRT Team projects, as discussed above. MIRT undergraduate students will choose one of these special projects and will work under the guidance of a faculty member, graduate student or researcher. Normally they will receive general field training prior to participating in these studies, either at the Patagonia field site with Southern elephant seals or at Ano Nuevo, the primary study rookery for the Northern species near UCSC before going to Patagonia.
General field studies on the biology of elephant seals
Identification of individuals. We will identify incoming animals from tags, and mark for future identification. Census harems daily for females and pups and census animals in non-harem areas once a week
Determine the age composition of all males once a week. We want to know if the age composition on the colony changes during the breeding season and during the history of the colony.
Estimate pup mortality. Record all pup deaths, their location, the mother of the pup, its sex, and circumstances. Measure pup (standard length), mark it so it is not counted twice and describe external wounds. If necessary, cause of death is determined by autopsy.
Observation of animals. For each harem determine daily the location and number of females, pups and principal males in attendance.
Reproductive success of females. For every marked female (all tagged, known age females will be marked), record the day she arrives, the day she gives birth, the sex of the pup, whether she is with it and nursing it daily and whether the pup is weaned in a healthy condition or dies before weaning.
Besides the importance that these components of the field-research for the general understanding of the biology of elephant seals, they are very valuable for training purposes, particularly for students that have not been exposed to elephant seals before or to field work. After several weeks of gathering basic biological data the students are better qualified to contribute or undertake more specific projects.