Data from: The stress hormone corticosterone in a marine top-predator reflects short-term changes in food availability ...

• Main Authors: Barrett, Robert T., Erikstad, Kjell Einar, Sandvik, Hanno, Myksvoll, Mari S., Jenni-Eiermann, Susi, Kristensen, Ditte L., Moum, Truls, Reiertsen, Tone K., Vikebø, Frode, Myksvoll, Mari
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2016
• Subjects: CORT; prey abundance; Alcidae; food availability; Gadidae; larval drift model; Uria aalge; Barents Sea; Hornøya; Norway; Gadus morhua; uria
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.cb5h8; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.cb5h8

In many seabird studies, single annual proxies of prey abundance have been used to explain variability in breeding performance, but much more important is probably the timing of prey availability relative to the breeding season when energy demand is at a maximum. Until now, intraseasonal variation in prey availability has been difficult to quantify in seabirds. Using a state-of-the-art ocean drift model of larval cod Gadus morhua, an important constituent of the diet of common guillemots Uria aalge in the southwestern Barents Sea, we were able to show clear, short-term correlations between food availability and measurements of the stress hormone corticosterone (CORT) in parental guillemots over a 3-year period (2009–2011). The model allowed the extraction of abundance and size of cod larvae with very high spatial (4 km) and temporal resolutions (1 day) and showed that cod larvae from adjacent northern spawning grounds in Norway were always available near the guillemot breeding colony while those from more ... : Guillemot measurementsBiometry, phenology and CORT measurements of adult and juvenile common guillemots on Hornøyaguillemt.csvCod larvae abundancesAbundances and weights of cod larvae from different spawning grounds around the guillemot colony at Hornøya, by date and yearcod.csv ...