ORIGINAL PAPER

• Main Author: Karel Weidinger
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1997
• Subjects: Cape Petrel
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.494.8968; http://www.zoologie.upol.cz/Weidinger-polar-biol-1998.pdf

29%. Predation by skuas accounted for 76 % of all nesting failures. Direct attacks prevailed over opportu-nistic predation. Intensity of observer disturbance alone could not account for the inter-colony variation in pre-dation rate, which tended to increase with colony size, presence of nearby breeding skuas and local availability of other prey species (penguins). Predation was signifi-cantly lower on nests that could be attacked only, or more easily, from the air and nests with close neigh-bours. Selective predation on nests in which relatively narrower eggs were laid was independent of nest-site characteristics and laying date, suggesting an eect of parental age/experience on breeding success through antipredator behaviour. Development of oil-spitting behaviour in growing chicks balanced the parental at-tendance and eort in nest defence, which declined as chick age increased. Increased predation on lighter but not smaller chicks may reflect the lower ability of such chicks to defend themselves by spitting stomach oil. Seasonal variations of predation rate on Cape petrel nests did not result from predator swamping by numbers of simultaneously active nests, but rather reflected tem-poral availability of alternative prey. Success of all phases of nesting declined with later laying date.