Rodríguez-Rafael, E.D., M.d.l.C., García-Aguilar, F., Galván-Magaña & F.R., Elorriaga-Verplancken (2023). Decline of one of the southernmost northern elephant seal (Mirounga angustirostris) colonies and its relationship with a warm sea environment. Ciencias Marinas. 49: e3361. DOI: 10.7773/cm.y2023.3361.
Eunice Donají Rodríguez-Rafael 1, María de la Concepción García-Aguilar 2, Felipe Galván-Magaña 1 y Fernando Ricardo Elorriaga-Verplancken 1
Over several decades, air temperature and sea surface temperature (SST)have increased in the northeastern Pacific, as has the frequency of large-scalewarm anomalies in SST. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impactof these warm anomalies on the production of northern elephant seal (Miroungaangustirostris; NES) pups from the colony of the San BenitoArchipelago, located in the central-western region of the Baja CaliforniaPeninsula. Pup and adult female counts from the 2002 to 2019 breeding seasonswere compiled to determine the trend in the abundance of the colony and itscurrent state. In addition, birth rate variations during the study period wereassessed. Likewise, the presence of warm anomaly events in the SST in thepotential foraging area of adult females (PFA) was analyzed. The San Benitocolony decreased at an average annual rate of 3.6% from 2002 to 2019, with anestimated abundance of 4,723 individuals (95% CI: 3,821–5,615) in 2019.However, the birth rate remained constant (mean 0.68 ± 0.08), even thoughseveral warm anomaly events associated with El Niño and The Blob phenomena weredetected in the PFA. Our results suggest that large-scale warm anomalies in theSST do not severely impact NES pup production, thus the decline of the SanBenito colony since the late 1900s could be due to other environmental factors,such as the increase in air temperature associated with climate change.
Palabras clave: climate change; Pinnipeds; Population trend; pup production; sea surface temperature anomalies
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