Provisioning behaviour of Macaroni Penguins Eudyptes chrysolophus

• Published in: Ibis
• Main Authors: Barlow, Kate E., Croxall, John P.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2002
• Subjects: Eudyptes chrysolophus
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1474-919x.2002.00046.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1046%2Fj.1474-919X.2002.00046.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1046/j.1474-919X.2002.00046.x

Understanding how parental expenditure reflects food availability and influences reproductive output is a key part of studies of breeding performance. Provisioning behaviour is an important aspect of parental expenditure. We show that Macaroni Penguins Eudyptes chrysolophus have clear sex‐specific differences in provisioning behaviour. Females provision chicks throughout rearing and at higher rates than males, which only participate in the later stages. Female provisioning is consistent throughout chick‐rearing and appears to relate to a threshold rate governing whether or not chicks survive. The additional expenditure by males (but not females) during the crèche period influenced chick growth and fledging mass of survivors. We suggest a very simple model to account for these sex‐specific differences and effects. Interannual variation in parental expenditure resulted in differences in reproductive output between years. Years of lowest expenditure resulted in lowest growth rate of chicks. Sex‐specific differences in provisioning were similar among years, however, with a consistent proportion of expenditure by males.