The reproductive performance and body condition of silver gulls (Larus novaehollandiae) during a protracted breeding season

• Main Author: Meathrel, Catherine Elizabeth
• Other Authors: Wooller, Ron
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 1991
• Subjects: Penguin Island
• Online Access: https://researchportal.murdoch.edu.au/esploro/outputs/doctoral/The-reproductive-performance-and-body-condition/991005543092707891; https://researchportal.murdoch.edu.au/view/delivery/61MUN_INST/12135981350007891/13137280580007891

Silver Gulls Lams novaehollandiae were studied on Penguin Island, south-western Western Australia, during three peaks of laying over the eight month breeding seasons of 1987 to 1990. It was hypothesized that seasonal variation in their natural, food supply, would be less during the middle laying-peak, when there is no mass stranding of littoral vegetation on beaches, and that this would be reflected in the body condition of adults as well as characteristics affecting their reproductive success. Clutch-size, egg-size and egg mass did not vary annually, seasonally, or from island to island. Egg-size and mass, however, decreased during the laying sequence. The lipid and protein content of eggs was greatest during the early laying-peak and earlier in the laying sequence, and was more variable in first-laid eggs. There appeared to be no trade-off between clutch-size, egg-size and egg quality, suggesting that the first two may be heritable, whereas egg composition may reflect the body condition of the laying female. The duration of rapid yolk deposition did not vary seasonally, but did vary between females, and averaged ten days. Less yolk was deposited, and at a slower rate, in laterlaid eggs within a clutch. Day-specific growth rings in sibling eggs differed in size, suggesting that daily, yolk deposition was not maternally influenced and unique to each follicle. Embryonic growth followed the von Bertalanffy curve, was constant seasonally and between eggs, and appeared under fixed, probably genetic, control. Eggs containing developing embryos appeared to lose less water via conductance through the shell than other larids, possibly as an adaptation to the warm, mediterranean climate. Hatching success did not vary seasonally, but did vary within clutches. Since female Silver Gulls allocated more reserves to their first-laid eggs, later, smaller and less massive eggs hatched less frequently. The mass, but not the sex, of a hatchling could be predicted from egg mass. Although sex was related to egg sequence, the overall ...