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Sexual segregation in juvenile Antarctic fur seals

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Abstract

Sexual segregation, the differential space, habitat or resource use by males and females, can have profound implications for conservation, as one sex may be more vulnerable to environmental and anthropogenic stressors. The drivers of sexual segregation, such as sex differences in body size, breeding constraints, and social behaviour, have been well studied in adults but are poorly understood in immature animals. To determine whether sexual segregation occurs in juvenile Antarctic fur seals, Arctocephalus gazella, and investigate the underlying drivers, we deployed Global Location Sensors on 26 males and 19 females of 1–3 years of age at Bird Island, South Georgia. Sexual segregation occurred in foraging distribution, primarily in latitude, with females foraging closer to South Georgia and the Polar Front, and males foraging further south near the Antarctic Peninsula. This segregation was particularly evident in Feb–Apr and May–Nov, and males spent more time hauled out than females in May–Nov. Although juveniles have no immediate reproductive commitments, reproductive selection pressures are still likely to operate and drive sex differences in body size, risk-taking, and social roles. These factors, coupled with prey distribution, likely contributed to sexual segregation in juvenile Antarctic fur seals. Consequently, male and female juveniles may compete with different fisheries and respond differently to environmental change, highlighting the importance of considering sex and age groups in species conservation efforts.

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Data Availability

The datasets for the current study are available from the British Antarctic Survey Polar Data Centre.

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Acknowledgements

We sincerely thank all of the British Antarctic Survey Scientists and Zoological Field Assistants that contributed to this study by deploying and retrieving GLS loggers from juvenile Antarctic fur seals at Bird Island, South Georgia. We would like to acknowledge the use of the University of Exeter's Advanced Research Computing facilities, and we thank Dr Manmohan Sharma for his assistance with using the linux server for the original version of this manuscript. Additional thanks to Dr Kimberley Bennett and Dr Robbie McDonald for their valuable feedback on the original version of this manuscript for K Jones’ PhD thesis.

Funding

This study was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council Capability Fund and the Natural Environment Research Council Great Western Four + Doctoral Training Partnership (NE/L002434/1).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. British Antarctic Survey, High Cross, Madingley road, Cambridge, UK

    Kayleigh A. Jones, Norman Ratcliffe, Anne-Sophie Bonnet-Lebrun & Iain J. Staniland

  2. University of Exeter, Exeter, UK

    Kayleigh A. Jones

  3. The Lyell Centre, Heriot‐Watt University, Edinburgh, UK

    Stephen C. Votier

  4. Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research, Potsdam, Germany

    Simeon Lisovski

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  1. Kayleigh A. Jones
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  2. Norman Ratcliffe
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  3. Stephen C. Votier
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  4. Simeon Lisovski
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  5. Anne-Sophie Bonnet-Lebrun
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  6. Iain J. Staniland
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Contributions

IJS conceived the study. All co-authors advised on analyses. IJS, NR and SL provided extracts of code to process GLS data, and ASBL provided code to calculate the Utilisation Distribution Overlap Index. KAJ analysed the data and wrote the manuscript. All co-authors edited and provided feedback on the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Kayleigh A. Jones.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All applicable institutional and/or national guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed.

Additional information

Communicated by Mathew Samuel Crowther.

We found that reproductive selection pressures are likely to operate in juveniles, driving sex differences in body size, risk-taking, and social roles, and leading to sexual segregation.

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Jones, K.A., Ratcliffe, N., Votier, S.C. et al. Sexual segregation in juvenile Antarctic fur seals. Oecologia 197, 339–352 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-021-04983-y

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