The Influence of Environmental Factors on the Growth of Seal Pups

Environmental Factors and Growth of Seal Pups

Environmental factors have significant influence on the growth, behavior, and existence of the living organisms (Oosthuizen et al 348). Consequently, ecological aspects can influence not only the population distribution of the organisms but also impact factors like growth rates and health. The research problem identified in the scientific article is the influence of the environmental factors to limit the growth trends of seal pups relating to their weaning mass and hence health. The research question of the paper is does: does the variation in the weaning trends have an impact on the growth of the seal pup? The research topic consequently relates to the environmental growth affects for subarctic seal pups.

Population of Seal Pups and the Ecosystem

The population of the seal pups is largely affected by predators such as the penguin species that act as limiting factors to the growth and development of the population. The ecosystem that favors the population of the seal pups include habitable water temperatures, abundant food sources, and shelter to live and breed. Favorable environmental conditions are required to ensure a balance in the ecosystem consequently allowing the maintenance of the right population count in an area. The research therefore aims at discussing the possible effects of the weaning trends on the seal pup based on the variations in geographical locations as well as the temporal aspects that limit the existence of the animals in their natural ecosystems.

Methods

The methodology is designed to collect and analyze data to show the relationship between the weaning time and the health or growth of the seal pups. The two main variables are wean time (independent) and weight at the time of weaning (dependent). The data used in the research is from existing statistical information based on a study conducted to determine the effect of the geographical variation on the growth patterns of subantarctic fur seal pups. The proposed comparison in the paper includes the effects of geographical aspects on the growth of the pups as well as the influence of the variations on wean times on the selected samples as well as the influence of the sexes trends on the outcomes. The methodology from the selected scientific includes the application of a cross-sectional sampling technique to weigh sample individuals from a population of seal pups at predefined intervals. The effect of the geographic variation was investigated by carrying the research in two locations: Gough Island situated in central South Atlantic Ocean and Marion Island that is in the South Indian Ocean. The data that will be presented in graphs and tables include the weights and wean times of the seal pups. The researcher used regression analysis to evaluate the data since it is expected that the pups exhibit a constant growth rates between the ages 30 and 200 days.

Results

The analysis indicates that the weaning mass trends differed with the locations. The average mass of the seal pups at the Marion Island were higher as compared to those at the Gough Island. The study shows that there is a decreasing trend regarding the weaning mass based at both the locations with site and sex observed as the primary factors influencing the demographics at the varying geographical sites (Oosthuizen et al 347). The figure below shows the variation in trends of the weaning mass as obtained in data from different years. Weaning mass is higher in the instances of warmer temperatures.

Figure: Variation of weaning mass with years based on the different locations and sex (Oosthuizen et al 347).

The Marion Islands pups are reported to have grown by averages of between 0.040 and 0.067kg/day in the between 30 and 200 days of age depending on the year and sex. Male pups tended to grow faster as compared to the female pups. On the other hand, the Gough Island pups reported slower growth rates 0.031kg/day and 0.034kg/day for females and males respectively.

Conclusion

The outcomes from the analysis of the research article show that there is a direct correlation between the health of the pups (weight) and weaning time. The differences in the weaning mass trends observed in the two Islands show how the environmental variations affect the growth aspects of the pups. Some of the environmental factors that exert significance influence on the mass trends include the availability of food, impact of human activities like pollution, and temperature. The weaning mass is affected by factors such as the foraging success of the females during the protracted lactating. The foraging success on the other hand is subject to influences of the limiting factors that impede the availability of the appropriate resources required by the populations to grow and develop. The pulps with longer weaning have high average mass due to the prolonged lactating period to ensure a correlated supply of sufficient growth elements to the young animals. Apart from the weaning masses, the populations of the pups also vary between the two islands indicating the significant geographical and temporal factors that determine the growth aspects of the seal pups in their respective natural ecosystems. Retrospectively, ecological factors can be observed as having a significant influence on the growth and population distribution of the seal pups as well as their vitality and health in the respective environments in which the organisms inhabit.

Work Cited

Oosthuizen, W. Chris, et al. “Geographic variation in subantarctic fur seal pup growth: linkages with environmental variability and population density.” Journal of Mammalogy 97.2 (2015): 347-360.