Flying and terrestrial animals should spend energy to move while supporting their weight against gravity. On the other hand, supported by buoyancy, aquatic animals can minimize the energy cost for supporting their body weight and neutral buoyancy has been considered advantageous for aquatic animals. However, some studies suggested that aquatic animals might use non-neutral buoyancy for gliding ...

Ringed seals collected from the Kara Sea in the Russian Arctic during 1995 were analyzed for persistent organochlorines (OCs) such as DDTs, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), chlordane compounds (CHLs), hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs), and hexachlorobenzene to understand the present status of contamination. Noticeably higher levels of DDTs and PCBs were detected in ringed seals from the Russian Ar...

This project investigated population status, habitat use and trophic interactions of harbor seals in Prince William Sound (PWS), Alaska. Aerial counts to monitor population trend indicated a 3.3% annual decline during 1990-1999. Counts were 20% lower in 1999 than in 1990, and >50% lower than in 1988. We sampled 390 seals during 1992-2000 and satellite-tagged 47 non-pups and 27 pups. Most tagged...

As part of the Puget Sound Ambient Monitoring Program of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, serum samples from 380 harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) were tested for antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii in the modified agglutination test (MAT) incorporating formalin-fixed tachyzoites and mercaptoethanol. Antibodies to T. gondii were found in 29 of 380 (7.6%) seals with titers of 1:25 in 13, ...

A new hypothesis that pressure compartmentation in basins can be caused by capillary seals is presented and discussed. Capillary seals form when a non-wetting fluid phase is generated within or introduced into grain-size layered sediments that are finegrained enough that gravitational separation of the phases does not occur. Experiments show that such seals can be formed in the laboratory. Thes...

Harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) inhabiting Puget Sound (WA, USA) recently were found to be seven times more contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) than those inhabiting the adjacent Strait of Georgia (BC, Canada). We carried out a food basket approach to approximate realistic dietary exposures of both new (e.g., polybrominated diphenyl ethers [PBDEs]) and legacy (e.g., dichlorodipheny...