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apex predators besides seabirds depend on fish for food. FOCI has
cooperated with the National Marine Mammal Laboratory in visualizing the
horizontal (top) and vertical (bottom) extent of foraging trips made by
transmitter-equipped northern fur seals living in the Pribilof Islands.
Analysis of these tracks with respect to bathymetry and other oceanographic
variables may shed light on the foraging patterns of fur seals and other
marine mammals whose abundances have declined precipitously in the last
decade.
To summarize, the ecosystem is
a marriage of the physical and biological environments. Disturbance
to one can cause disturbance to the other. When studying an element
of the ecosystem, therefore, it is important to understand the dynamics
of that element with respect to the whole ecosystem.
How does FOCI do this with pollock?
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