Biometrics, fatty acid composition and stable isotopic ratios of five seabird species from Kongsfjorden, Svalbard ...

• Main Authors: Wold, Anette, Jæger, Iris, Hop, Haakon, Gabrielsen, Geir W, Falk-Petersen, Stig
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2011
• Subjects: Biological sample; International Polar Year 2007-2008 IPY; Alle alle; Black-legged Kittiwake; brünnich's guillemot; Fulmarus glacialis; Glaucous Gull; International Polar Year; IPY; Kongsfjord*; Kongsfjorden; Larus hyperboreus; little auk; Northern Fulmar; rissa tridactyla; Svalbard; Uria lomvia; uria
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.818002; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.818002

Marine birds are important predators in the marine ecosystem, and dietary studies can give useful information about their feeding ecology, food webs and oceanographic variability. The aim of this study was to increase our understanding of the diet and trophic level of the seabirds breeding in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard. We have used fatty acids and stable isotopes, both of which integrate diet information over space and time, to determine trophic relationships in marine food webs. Fatty acid compositions of muscle from Little auk (Alle alle), Brünnich's guillemot (Uria lomvia), Black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla), Northern fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis) and Glaucous gull (Larus hyperboreus) were determined and compared with their prey species. Canonical analysis (CA) showed that fatty acid composition differed among the five seabird species. Little auk, Black-legged kittiwake and Northern fulmar had high levels of the Calanus markers 20:1n9 and 22:1, indicating that these seabirds are a part of the Calanus ... : Data extracted in the frame of a joint ICSTI/PANGAEA IPY effort, see http://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.150150 ...