Seabird?s pulsed abundance modulates breeding season ecology and mercury exposure of a highly associated bird of prey
Abstract: The massive concentration of seabirds in small terrestrial habitats for breeding can encompass a pulsed, predictable, and high-quality feeding resource for terrestrial predators. The Striated caracara (Phalcoboenus australis) is a globally Near Threatened raptor specialized in the exploita...
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ftdatacite:10.48448/vkjr-9x28 2023-05-15T13:56:43+02:00 Seabird?s pulsed abundance modulates breeding season ecology and mercury exposure of a highly associated bird of prey 3rd World Seabird Conference 2021 Balza, Ulises 2021 https://dx.doi.org/10.48448/vkjr-9x28 https://underline.io/lecture/34651-seabirdquestions-pulsed-abundance-modulates-breeding-season-ecology-and-mercury-exposure-of-a-highly-associated-bird-of-prey unknown Underline Science Inc. Ecology FOS Biological sciences Animal Science MediaObject article Conference talk Audiovisual 2021 ftdatacite https://doi.org/10.48448/vkjr-9x28 2022-02-09T11:22:26Z Abstract: The massive concentration of seabirds in small terrestrial habitats for breeding can encompass a pulsed, predictable, and high-quality feeding resource for terrestrial predators. The Striated caracara (Phalcoboenus australis) is a globally Near Threatened raptor specialized in the exploitation of seabird colonies during breeding season. In a 4 Km2 bay in Isla de los Estados, Argentina, near 300,000 seabirds breed between September and late March. In order to understand the level of dietary dependence on local marine resources, we examined breeding behavior and intra-specific variation in the trophic niche of caracaras during breeding season using stable isotope and pellet analysis. All nests of caracaras were associated mainly with the rockhopper penguin (Eudyptes chrysocome) colony on the island. Isotopic niche varied with, age, breeding status, and, year, but in all cases over 75% of their diet came from seabird colonies. Pellet analysis showed a similar pattern, with down feathers, feathers and eggs of penguins present in over 80% of the samples. Mercury (Hg) analysis in feathers suggest high levels of contamination, with adult feathers averaging over 26 mg/kg. Rockhopper penguins have been reported to present high levels of Hg in the area, thus this high dependence of caracaras on penguin prey represents a higher vulnerability for this caracara population. Overall, seabirds, and especially rockhopper penguins, appears to modulate trophic ecology and mercury exposure of its main terrestrial predator. Authors: Ulises Balza¹, Nicolás Lois², Klemens Pütz³, Michael Polito⁴, Rebecka Brasso⁵, Andrea Raya-Rey¹ ¹Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas (CADIC-CONICET), ²Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires (IEGEBA-CONICET), ³Antarctic Research Trust, ⁴Louisiana State University, ⁵Weber State University Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Rockhopper penguin DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) Antarctic Austral Argentina Ulises ENVELOPE(-61.483,-61.483,-64.400,-64.400) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) |
op_collection_id |
ftdatacite |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Ecology FOS Biological sciences Animal Science |
spellingShingle |
Ecology FOS Biological sciences Animal Science 3rd World Seabird Conference 2021 Balza, Ulises Seabird?s pulsed abundance modulates breeding season ecology and mercury exposure of a highly associated bird of prey |
topic_facet |
Ecology FOS Biological sciences Animal Science |
description |
Abstract: The massive concentration of seabirds in small terrestrial habitats for breeding can encompass a pulsed, predictable, and high-quality feeding resource for terrestrial predators. The Striated caracara (Phalcoboenus australis) is a globally Near Threatened raptor specialized in the exploitation of seabird colonies during breeding season. In a 4 Km2 bay in Isla de los Estados, Argentina, near 300,000 seabirds breed between September and late March. In order to understand the level of dietary dependence on local marine resources, we examined breeding behavior and intra-specific variation in the trophic niche of caracaras during breeding season using stable isotope and pellet analysis. All nests of caracaras were associated mainly with the rockhopper penguin (Eudyptes chrysocome) colony on the island. Isotopic niche varied with, age, breeding status, and, year, but in all cases over 75% of their diet came from seabird colonies. Pellet analysis showed a similar pattern, with down feathers, feathers and eggs of penguins present in over 80% of the samples. Mercury (Hg) analysis in feathers suggest high levels of contamination, with adult feathers averaging over 26 mg/kg. Rockhopper penguins have been reported to present high levels of Hg in the area, thus this high dependence of caracaras on penguin prey represents a higher vulnerability for this caracara population. Overall, seabirds, and especially rockhopper penguins, appears to modulate trophic ecology and mercury exposure of its main terrestrial predator. Authors: Ulises Balza¹, Nicolás Lois², Klemens Pütz³, Michael Polito⁴, Rebecka Brasso⁵, Andrea Raya-Rey¹ ¹Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas (CADIC-CONICET), ²Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires (IEGEBA-CONICET), ³Antarctic Research Trust, ⁴Louisiana State University, ⁵Weber State University |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
3rd World Seabird Conference 2021 Balza, Ulises |
author_facet |
3rd World Seabird Conference 2021 Balza, Ulises |
author_sort |
3rd World Seabird Conference 2021 |
title |
Seabird?s pulsed abundance modulates breeding season ecology and mercury exposure of a highly associated bird of prey |
title_short |
Seabird?s pulsed abundance modulates breeding season ecology and mercury exposure of a highly associated bird of prey |
title_full |
Seabird?s pulsed abundance modulates breeding season ecology and mercury exposure of a highly associated bird of prey |
title_fullStr |
Seabird?s pulsed abundance modulates breeding season ecology and mercury exposure of a highly associated bird of prey |
title_full_unstemmed |
Seabird?s pulsed abundance modulates breeding season ecology and mercury exposure of a highly associated bird of prey |
title_sort |
seabird?s pulsed abundance modulates breeding season ecology and mercury exposure of a highly associated bird of prey |
publisher |
Underline Science Inc. |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://dx.doi.org/10.48448/vkjr-9x28 https://underline.io/lecture/34651-seabirdquestions-pulsed-abundance-modulates-breeding-season-ecology-and-mercury-exposure-of-a-highly-associated-bird-of-prey |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-61.483,-61.483,-64.400,-64.400) |
geographic |
Antarctic Austral Argentina Ulises |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Austral Argentina Ulises |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Rockhopper penguin |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Rockhopper penguin |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.48448/vkjr-9x28 |
_version_ |
1766264304260087808 |