Breeding seasons of oceanic birds in a subarctic colony
We studied the breeding seasons of marine birds on the Semidi Islands, western Gulf of Alaska, from 1976 to 1983. Distributions of laying or hatching observed in 11 species during 1–7 years are presented; less detailed information is available on the breeding schedules of three species. The combined...
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Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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Canadian Science Publishing
1990
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z90-247 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z90-247 |
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crcansciencepubl:10.1139/z90-247 2024-06-23T07:57:03+00:00 Breeding seasons of oceanic birds in a subarctic colony Hatch, Scott A. Hatch, Martha A. 1990 http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z90-247 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z90-247 en eng Canadian Science Publishing http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining Canadian Journal of Zoology volume 68, issue 8, page 1664-1679 ISSN 0008-4301 1480-3283 journal-article 1990 crcansciencepubl https://doi.org/10.1139/z90-247 2024-06-13T04:10:49Z We studied the breeding seasons of marine birds on the Semidi Islands, western Gulf of Alaska, from 1976 to 1983. Distributions of laying or hatching observed in 11 species during 1–7 years are presented; less detailed information is available on the breeding schedules of three species. The combined laying period of 14 species lasted 3 months from mid-April to mid-July; the first eggs of the earliest and latest species were laid about 9 weeks apart. Mean laying dates varied by 2–16 days in nine species observed in 2 or more years. Although the egg-laying sequence of species was largely preserved from year to year, we found little evidence of concordant annual variation in breeding seasons. Species that fed lower in the food chain tended to breed earlier than those that fed at higher trophic levels. Early laying was correlated with longer laying periods, both within and between species. With the exception of three puffin species, birds with similar food habits exhibited less overlap in hatching and fledging dates than laying dates. A test for nonrandom dispersion of breeding times failed to find evidence for competitive avoidance of breeding overlap in piscivores or planktivores. Species may not have timed their egg laying to provide for maximum food availability during chick rearing. Rather, the comparative analysis of breeding schedules suggests that breeding times were determined more by the food requirements of laying females. Young females laying relatively late probably account for the right-skewed distributions of egg laying observed in this and other studies of colonial seabirds. Article in Journal/Newspaper Subarctic Alaska Canadian Science Publishing Gulf of Alaska Canadian Journal of Zoology 68 8 1664 1679 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Canadian Science Publishing |
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crcansciencepubl |
language |
English |
description |
We studied the breeding seasons of marine birds on the Semidi Islands, western Gulf of Alaska, from 1976 to 1983. Distributions of laying or hatching observed in 11 species during 1–7 years are presented; less detailed information is available on the breeding schedules of three species. The combined laying period of 14 species lasted 3 months from mid-April to mid-July; the first eggs of the earliest and latest species were laid about 9 weeks apart. Mean laying dates varied by 2–16 days in nine species observed in 2 or more years. Although the egg-laying sequence of species was largely preserved from year to year, we found little evidence of concordant annual variation in breeding seasons. Species that fed lower in the food chain tended to breed earlier than those that fed at higher trophic levels. Early laying was correlated with longer laying periods, both within and between species. With the exception of three puffin species, birds with similar food habits exhibited less overlap in hatching and fledging dates than laying dates. A test for nonrandom dispersion of breeding times failed to find evidence for competitive avoidance of breeding overlap in piscivores or planktivores. Species may not have timed their egg laying to provide for maximum food availability during chick rearing. Rather, the comparative analysis of breeding schedules suggests that breeding times were determined more by the food requirements of laying females. Young females laying relatively late probably account for the right-skewed distributions of egg laying observed in this and other studies of colonial seabirds. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Hatch, Scott A. Hatch, Martha A. |
spellingShingle |
Hatch, Scott A. Hatch, Martha A. Breeding seasons of oceanic birds in a subarctic colony |
author_facet |
Hatch, Scott A. Hatch, Martha A. |
author_sort |
Hatch, Scott A. |
title |
Breeding seasons of oceanic birds in a subarctic colony |
title_short |
Breeding seasons of oceanic birds in a subarctic colony |
title_full |
Breeding seasons of oceanic birds in a subarctic colony |
title_fullStr |
Breeding seasons of oceanic birds in a subarctic colony |
title_full_unstemmed |
Breeding seasons of oceanic birds in a subarctic colony |
title_sort |
breeding seasons of oceanic birds in a subarctic colony |
publisher |
Canadian Science Publishing |
publishDate |
1990 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z90-247 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z90-247 |
geographic |
Gulf of Alaska |
geographic_facet |
Gulf of Alaska |
genre |
Subarctic Alaska |
genre_facet |
Subarctic Alaska |
op_source |
Canadian Journal of Zoology volume 68, issue 8, page 1664-1679 ISSN 0008-4301 1480-3283 |
op_rights |
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1139/z90-247 |
container_title |
Canadian Journal of Zoology |
container_volume |
68 |
container_issue |
8 |
container_start_page |
1664 |
op_container_end_page |
1679 |
_version_ |
1802650499593273344 |