The NOAA IR serves as an archival repository of NOAA-published products including scientific findings, journal articles, guidelines, recommendations, or other information authored or co-authored by NOAA or funded partners.
As a repository, the NOAA IR retains documents in their original published format to ensure public access to scientific information.
i
Are the diets of sympatric Pygoscelid penguins more similar than previously thought?
-
2022
-
-
Source: Polar Biol 45, 1559–1569 (2022)
[PDF-1.86 MB]
Details:
-
Journal Title:Polar Biology
-
Personal Author:
-
NOAA Program & Office:
-
Description:In recent years, functional changes in Southern Ocean are becoming more noticeable, due to climate change and increasing human impacts, including a growing fishery that is concentrating in the Antarctic Peninsula (AP) region. Antarctic krill Euphausia superba is often the primary prey species for animals such as Pygoscelis penguins, a sentinel species for ecosystem monitoring and management. During the last two decades in the AP gentoo penguin numbers (Pygoscelis papua) have increased and their range has shifted southward, in contrast to the decline in numbers of Adélie (P. adeliae) and chinstrap (P. antarcticus) penguins. Given divergent population trends, the goal of this study was to examine differences in their diet, and size structure of Antarctic krill recovered from penguin diet samples. The study is based on diet samples collected during the austral summers on King George Island (South Shetland Islands) where P. adeliae, P. antarcticus, and P. papua breed in mixed colonies. Results indicate that the penguins consumed krill of similar sizes during the breeding period. In contrast to prior diet studies, we found higher proportions of krill in the gentoo diet and changes in the percentage of krill in the diet relative obtained during 1970s. The similarity in diets among all three species suggests that the availability prey items (e. g., fishes) may be changing and driving higher dietary overlap. Moreover, we also check differences in krill length among penguin individuals and we did not find any statistically significant differences. We also found plastic debris in penguin stomachs during both summers.
-
Keywords:
-
Source:Polar Biol 45, 1559–1569 (2022)
-
DOI:
-
Format:
-
Document Type:
-
Place as Subject:
-
License:
-
Rights Information:CC BY
-
Compliance:Submitted
-
Main Document Checksum:
-
Download URL:
-
File Type:
