Complementing and validating the biologging data used to indicate trophic and diversity hotspots in the southern ocean

Triple HS, Inc. (doing business as H.T. Harvey & Associates) received a $332,658 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation's Division of Polar Programs (CFDA 47.078) awarded September 1, 2025, with completion anticipated by August 31, 2026. The primary deliverable is a research validation study that combines at-sea survey data with biologging data collected from marine mammals and seabirds in the Ross Sea to ground-truth and refine biologging methodologies for predicting indicator species distributions and identifying biodiversity hotspots in the Southern Ocean.

The project addresses a critical gap in polar marine research by establishing the robustness of biologging data—information gathered from micro-electronic animal-borne devices—as a tool for Antarctic marine conservation and ecosystem-based management. Rather than relying solely on traditional ship-based surveys (which are costly and logistically challenging in remote Antarctic regions), the research validates how biologging can effectively identify trophic and diversity hotspots, establish protected ocean areas, and inform fishery and marine food web monitoring strategies. This research supports the National Science Foundation's Polar Programs objective of advancing fundamental knowledge of polar ecosystems and strengthening scientific understanding of regions where research is best conducted on-site.

Abstract

Indicator species are often used to reveal trends and trophic ?hotspots? For fishery and marine food web monitoring and can be particularly useful in the remote southern ocean due to the cost and accessibility of ship-based marine research. Biologging, the use of micro-electronic animal borne devices, is increasingly being applied to detect areas of species abundance and diversity and can be important for management efforts. An essential component to effective utilization of biologging is ground-truthing of the patterns, to establish the robustness of the data and the conclusions being drawn from IT. This project aims to use at sea survey data and biologging data collected on marine mammals and sea birds in the ross sea to validate and refine how biologging information can predict indicator species distributions and identify areas of importance for biodiversity. Antarctic marine conservation strategies have focused on the identification and protection of bird/animal breeding colonies through national and international initiatives. However, foraging areas are also important, and ecosystem-based management involves establishing protected ocean areas where fishing is either excluded or tightly controlled. Seabird and marine mammal prevalence and distribution are often used as ecological indicators reflecting stability, change and spatial patterns in marine food webs. These patterns can signal ?hotspots? Of prey availability at scales from localized prey aggregations to broader oceanographic features such as fronts and upwelling plumes. At-sea surveys of seabird and marine mammal distributions have traditionally served to inform these decisions, but more recently telemetry tracking of individuals is being applied to the process. While biologging is a promising strategy, IT is potentially a biased view due to the small sample size, being primarily focused on breeding adults, and limited to animals that are accessible to researchers (spatial bias). This project aims to ground-truth biologging data with at-sea data to better understand how well biologging describes the entire population, which will help to improve the effectiveness of southern ocean conservation and management. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.- subawards are not planned for this award.