Marine predators at South Georgia: an overview of recent bio-logging studies

There is a unique diversity and density of land-based marine predators breeding at Bird Island, South Georgia, operating at a wide variety of spatial and temporal scales. These provide exceptional opportunities for bio-logging studies, the objectives of which have been to investigate trophic interactions in ecosystem contexts (including applications in fisheries and environmental management and conservation). Associated data from studies on feeding ecology, reproductive performance and population dynamics provide valuable contextual information for bio-logging analyses. An associated ship-based offshore marine science programme also provides vital information about the local and regional biological and physical environment, which is both complex and highly variable. Further developments of our bio-logging studies at South Georgia face a number of important challenges. These include:* acquiring samples large enough for statistical analysis;* replicating study sites and/or populations in order to characterize population and species behaviour;* collecting simultaneous data from multiple sensors or devices in order to interpret foraging behaviour;* acquiring key collateral data on prey and environment at appropriate spatial and temporal scales to understand foraging dynamics in context.We illustrate approaches to address some of these challenges from recent studies of the South Georgia marine ecosystem.

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