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A 1,500-year record of Antarctic seal populations in response to climate change

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Abstract

The historical seal populations at King George Island, Antarctica, for the past 1,500 years, have been estimated from the seal-hair abundance, bio-element concentrations, total organic carbon (TOC) and total nitrogen (TN) in one terrestrial sediment sequence influenced by seal excrement. Prior to human interference, the seal populations exhibited dramatic fluctuations with two peaks during 750–500 and 1400–1100 years before present (yr B.P.) and two troughs during 1100–750 and 500–200 yr B.P. A tentative comparison of the seal populations and historical climates in the Antarctic Peninsula region suggests that the seal populations may be linked to climate-related factors such as sea-ice coverage and atmospheric temperature.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Polar Office of the National Oceanic Bureau of China for support and assistance. This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant nos. 40231002 and 40076032). We especially thank Dr. Dominic A. Hodgson and an anonymous reviewer for their critical comments and careful corrections on the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Polar Environment, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, Anhui, P. R. China

    Liguang Sun, Xiaodong Liu, Xuebin Yin, Renbin Zhu, Zhouqing Xie & Yuhong Wang

  2. Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi’an, 710075, Shanxi, P. R. China

    Liguang Sun

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  1. Liguang Sun
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  2. Xiaodong Liu
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  3. Xuebin Yin
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Correspondence to Liguang Sun.

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Sun, L., Liu, X., Yin, X. et al. A 1,500-year record of Antarctic seal populations in response to climate change. Polar Biol 27, 495–501 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-004-0608-2

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