Field metabolic rates of instrumented Adelie penguins using double-labelled water

• Published in: Journal Of Comparative Physiology B
• Main Authors: Culik, Boris M., Wilson, Rory P.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Springer 1992
• Subjects: Pygoscelis adeliae
• Online Access: https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/42067/; https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/42067/1/10.1007_BF00264819.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00264819

Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) carrying dummy instruments were used to determine field metabolic rates using double-labelled water. All penguins injected with double-labelled water showed a marked loss of body mass (-4.5%) during the period of the experiments (20–131 h), irrespective of the time of the breeding season. Total body water averaged 57.3% and water flux estimates of field metabolic rates correlated with double-labelled water estimates of field metabolic rate (r2=0.68), indicating that Adélie penguins do not ingest significant amounts of sea water. Brooding Adélie penguins had a mean field metabolic rate of 10.1 W·kg-1 and at sea a field metabolic rate of 13.3 W·kg-1, both of which compare well with previously published estimates based on time/activity budgets and respirometry. Mean field metabolic rate in penguins with crèching chicks was 14.1 W·kg-1, and the birds spent 65 h absent from the nest as opposed to previous estimates of 7.1 W·kg-1 and 21 h. The effects of weather, disturbance and manipulation on the behaviour and field metabolic rate of penguins late in the breeding season are discussed. Adélie penguins (crèching chicks) equipped with externally attached instruments spent more time absent from the nest than noninstrumented controls (76 vs 54 h), but had a lower field metabolic rate.