The life history of male southern elephant seals: trade-offs at the population and individual level

Abstract

The central goal of ecology is understanding and predicting the spatio-temporal dynamics of populations. Population capitalist breeder, the male southern elephant seal (SES., using mark-recapture data from a long term (34 years. study at Marion Island. Specifically, to initiate these investigations we ask: What are the recruitment ecology thus deals specifically with the factors that control the growth rates, abundances and distributions of populations. This is especially true for marine predators that are wide-ranging and come into contact with a number of ocean habitats throughout their life cycle. Changes in their population dynamics may reflect large-scale changes in ecosystem structure and function. The survival and recruitment probabilities of a population are bound and limited by trade-offs. Trade-offs exist between two or more life history traits when an increase in one trait that improves fitness results in a decrease in another trait that reduces fitness. We investigate these trade-offs in the life history of an extreme polygamous and survival probabilities of male SES at Marion Island using multi-event population models? In addition, how do trade-offs between current reproduction and survival influence future recruitment? We predict that mortality rates are greatest for sub-adult males as only a few percentage of the adult males in the population end up breeding. These few breeding males are likely to be of greater individual quality than bachelor males as preliminary data shows that they maintain their breeding status for several years. Ages 8 & 9 are likely to be responsible for the highest breeding probability in the population given their years of experience and substantial investment in reproduction. - Abstract as displayed in the - Abstract booklet. The presentation on the day may differ from the - Abstract.