Skua and plant dispersal: Lessons from the Argentine Islands - Kyiv Peninsula region in the maritime Antarctic ...
Birds are one of the most likely dispersal vectors for plants in Antarctica. We studied the nesting behavior of south polar skua (Catharacta maccormicki) and brown skua (Catharacta antarctica lonnbergi) to assess their potential role in ornithochory in the Argentine Islands - Kyiv Peninsula region....
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Dataset |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Dryad
2022
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.hx3ffbgdr https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.hx3ffbgdr |
| Summary: | Birds are one of the most likely dispersal vectors for plants in Antarctica. We studied the nesting behavior of south polar skua (Catharacta maccormicki) and brown skua (Catharacta antarctica lonnbergi) to assess their potential role in ornithochory in the Argentine Islands - Kyiv Peninsula region. Nest samples were collected during 2009-2020 years in the Argentine Islands - Kyiv Peninsula region including all islands and coasts of the Graham Land from the Lemaire Channel to the islands of Berthelot Islands from north to south and extending from west to east from the Roca Islands, Cruls Islands, Rasmussen Point to the coast. We found that skuas utilize different nest building materials, including bryophytes, vascular plants (hairgrass Deschampsia antarctica), and lichens. In south polar skua nests, mosses and lichens dominate in the nest material; in brown skuas Deschampsia antarctica and mosses dominate. Both bird species likely collect nest components from nearby vegetation formations (<1 m distant). We ... : Our fieldwork was done in the maritime Antarctic, in the Argentine Islands-Kyiv Peninsula region. The study area included all islands and coastlines of Graham Coast from Lemaire Channel to Berthelot Islands on the north-south direction with Roca Islands, Cruls Island, Rasmussen Point on the west-east direction side. Field surveys and sampling were done during seven seasons between 2009 and 2020. The name of each scientific season includes two years (for example 2009/2010), because the main scientific work is carried out from December to April. In every season the majority of samples from south polar skua nests were collected on Galindez Island where the Ukrainian Antarctic station “Academic Vernadsky” is located. We estimate that the island holds at most 30 south skua nests per season. Depending on the ice situation in different years the sampling was also carried out on other islands in the Argentine Islands archipelago and nearby sites. The number of south polar skua and brown skua nests examined varied ... |
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