Review of the current distribution of southern elephant seals in the eastern South Pacific

作者：Jorge Acevedo, Anelio Aguayo‐Lobo, JL Brito, Daniel Torres, Benjamín Cáceres, Alejandro Vila, Marco Cardeña, Paola Acuña · 发表于：New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research · 年份：2016 · DOI：10.1080/00288330.2015.1132746 · 被引用次数：23 · 研究领域：Marine animal studies overview、Polar Research and Ecology、Avian ecology and behavior

ABSTRACT The eastern South Pacific southern elephant seal population was extinguished by extensive hunting and the current presence of this species in this area is not well understood. We reviewed existing records from the 1900s to 2014 in the eastern South Pacific, as well as tagged seals and movement records in order to assess the potential immigration source of these individuals. A total of 409 confirmed sightings were compiled, ranging from the southern tip of South America (Cape Horn Archipelago) as far north as Ecuador, including some oceanic island groups. The evidence shows also that recolonisation of its former Pacific distribution has started, with slow population growth in three incipient pupping sites in southern Chile (south of 51°S). Although the source of all of the individuals in the growing colonies is unknown, evidence from tags and satellite tagging indicates that some seals come from subpopulations on the Peninsula Valdes and the Falkland/Malvinas Islands, although mtDNA analysis showed, preliminarily, a greater genetic relationship only with the Falkland/Malvinas Islands rookery.