Vultures of the seas: hyperacidic stomachs in wandering albatrosses as an adaptation to dispersed food resources, including fishery wastes
International audience Animals are primarily limited by their capacity to acquire food, yet digestive performance also conditions energy acquisition, and ultimately fitness. Optimal foraging theory predicts that organisms feeding on patchy resources should maximize their food loads within each patch...
Published in: | PLoS ONE |
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Main Authors: | , , , |
Other Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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HAL CCSD
2012
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00706855 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00706855/document https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00706855/file/pone.0037834.pdf https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0037834 |
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Archive ouverte HAL (Hyper Article en Ligne, CCSD - Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe) |
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ftccsdartic |
language |
English |
topic |
[SDE]Environmental Sciences [SDV.BID.EVO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biodiversity/Populations and Evolution [q-bio.PE] |
spellingShingle |
[SDE]Environmental Sciences [SDV.BID.EVO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biodiversity/Populations and Evolution [q-bio.PE] Grémillet, David Prudor, Aurélien Le Maho, Yvon Weimerskirch, Henri Vultures of the seas: hyperacidic stomachs in wandering albatrosses as an adaptation to dispersed food resources, including fishery wastes |
topic_facet |
[SDE]Environmental Sciences [SDV.BID.EVO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biodiversity/Populations and Evolution [q-bio.PE] |
description |
International audience Animals are primarily limited by their capacity to acquire food, yet digestive performance also conditions energy acquisition, and ultimately fitness. Optimal foraging theory predicts that organisms feeding on patchy resources should maximize their food loads within each patch, and should digest these loads quickly to minimize travelling costs between food patches. We tested the prediction of high digestive performance in wandering albatrosses, which can ingest prey of up to 3 kg, and feed on highly dispersed food resources across the southern ocean. GPS-tracking of 40 wandering albatrosses from the Crozet archipelago during the incubation phase confirmed foraging movements of between 475-4705 km, which give birds access to a variety of prey, including fishery wastes. Moreover, using miniaturized, autonomous data recorders placed in the stomach of three birds, we performed the first-ever measurements of gastric pH and temperature in procellariformes. These revealed surprisingly low pH levels (average 1.5060.13), markedly lower than in other seabirds, and comparable to those of vultures feeding on carrion. Such low stomach pH gives wandering albatrosses a strategic advantage since it allows them a rapid chemical breakdown of ingested food and therefore a rapid digestion. This is useful for feeding on patchy, natural prey, but also on fishery wastes, which might be an important additional food resource for wandering albatrosses. |
author2 |
Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE) Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-École pratique des hautes études (EPHE) Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Centre international d'études supérieures en sciences agronomiques (Montpellier SupAgro)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3 (UPVM)-Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier (Montpellier SupAgro) Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro)-Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD France-Sud ) Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology University of Cape Town Centre d'études biologiques de Chizé (CEBC) Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Département Ecologie, Physiologie et Ethologie (DEPE-IPHC) Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien (IPHC) Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) IPEV programme 109 |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Grémillet, David Prudor, Aurélien Le Maho, Yvon Weimerskirch, Henri |
author_facet |
Grémillet, David Prudor, Aurélien Le Maho, Yvon Weimerskirch, Henri |
author_sort |
Grémillet, David |
title |
Vultures of the seas: hyperacidic stomachs in wandering albatrosses as an adaptation to dispersed food resources, including fishery wastes |
title_short |
Vultures of the seas: hyperacidic stomachs in wandering albatrosses as an adaptation to dispersed food resources, including fishery wastes |
title_full |
Vultures of the seas: hyperacidic stomachs in wandering albatrosses as an adaptation to dispersed food resources, including fishery wastes |
title_fullStr |
Vultures of the seas: hyperacidic stomachs in wandering albatrosses as an adaptation to dispersed food resources, including fishery wastes |
title_full_unstemmed |
Vultures of the seas: hyperacidic stomachs in wandering albatrosses as an adaptation to dispersed food resources, including fishery wastes |
title_sort |
vultures of the seas: hyperacidic stomachs in wandering albatrosses as an adaptation to dispersed food resources, including fishery wastes |
publisher |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00706855 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00706855/document https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00706855/file/pone.0037834.pdf https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0037834 |
geographic |
Southern Ocean |
geographic_facet |
Southern Ocean |
genre |
Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Southern Ocean |
op_source |
ISSN: 1932-6203 EISSN: 1932-6203 PLoS ONE https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00706855 PLoS ONE, Public Library of Science, 2012, 7 (6), pp.e37834. ⟨10.1371/journal.pone.0037834⟩ |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0037834 hal-00706855 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00706855 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00706855/document https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00706855/file/pone.0037834.pdf doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0037834 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0037834 |
container_title |
PLoS ONE |
container_volume |
7 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
e37834 |
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1766207272491417600 |
spelling |
ftccsdartic:oai:HAL:hal-00706855v1 2023-05-15T18:25:40+02:00 Vultures of the seas: hyperacidic stomachs in wandering albatrosses as an adaptation to dispersed food resources, including fishery wastes Grémillet, David Prudor, Aurélien Le Maho, Yvon Weimerskirch, Henri Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE) Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-École pratique des hautes études (EPHE) Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Centre international d'études supérieures en sciences agronomiques (Montpellier SupAgro)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3 (UPVM)-Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier (Montpellier SupAgro) Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro)-Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD France-Sud ) Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology University of Cape Town Centre d'études biologiques de Chizé (CEBC) Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Département Ecologie, Physiologie et Ethologie (DEPE-IPHC) Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien (IPHC) Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) IPEV programme 109 2012-06-06 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00706855 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00706855/document https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00706855/file/pone.0037834.pdf https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0037834 en eng HAL CCSD Public Library of Science info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0037834 hal-00706855 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00706855 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00706855/document https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00706855/file/pone.0037834.pdf doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0037834 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess ISSN: 1932-6203 EISSN: 1932-6203 PLoS ONE https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00706855 PLoS ONE, Public Library of Science, 2012, 7 (6), pp.e37834. ⟨10.1371/journal.pone.0037834⟩ [SDE]Environmental Sciences [SDV.BID.EVO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biodiversity/Populations and Evolution [q-bio.PE] info:eu-repo/semantics/article Journal articles 2012 ftccsdartic https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0037834 2021-11-21T00:01:03Z International audience Animals are primarily limited by their capacity to acquire food, yet digestive performance also conditions energy acquisition, and ultimately fitness. Optimal foraging theory predicts that organisms feeding on patchy resources should maximize their food loads within each patch, and should digest these loads quickly to minimize travelling costs between food patches. We tested the prediction of high digestive performance in wandering albatrosses, which can ingest prey of up to 3 kg, and feed on highly dispersed food resources across the southern ocean. GPS-tracking of 40 wandering albatrosses from the Crozet archipelago during the incubation phase confirmed foraging movements of between 475-4705 km, which give birds access to a variety of prey, including fishery wastes. Moreover, using miniaturized, autonomous data recorders placed in the stomach of three birds, we performed the first-ever measurements of gastric pH and temperature in procellariformes. These revealed surprisingly low pH levels (average 1.5060.13), markedly lower than in other seabirds, and comparable to those of vultures feeding on carrion. Such low stomach pH gives wandering albatrosses a strategic advantage since it allows them a rapid chemical breakdown of ingested food and therefore a rapid digestion. This is useful for feeding on patchy, natural prey, but also on fishery wastes, which might be an important additional food resource for wandering albatrosses. Article in Journal/Newspaper Southern Ocean Archive ouverte HAL (Hyper Article en Ligne, CCSD - Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe) Southern Ocean PLoS ONE 7 6 e37834 |