Exploitation of distant marginal ice zones by king penguins during winter

• Published in: Marine Ecology Progress Series
• Main Authors: Bost, Charles-André, Charrassin, Jean-Benoit, Clerquin, Y., Ropert‐coudert, Yan, Le Maho, Yvon
• Other Authors: Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé (CEBC), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire d'océanographie dynamique et de climatologie (LODYC), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre d'écologie et physiologie énergétiques (CEPE), National Insitute of Polar Research, National Institute of Polar Research Tokyo (NiPR), Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE), Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3 (UPVM)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Centre international d'études supérieures en sciences agronomiques (Montpellier SupAgro)-École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD France-Sud )-Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier (Montpellier SupAgro)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2004
• Subjects: Marginal ice zone; King penguins; Feeding ecology; Satellite tracking; [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology; [SDE.ES]Environmental Sciences/Environment and Society; [SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes; Antarc*; Antarctic; Crozet Islands; King Penguins
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-00186812; https://doi.org/10.3354/meps283293

International audience We investigated the use of Antarctic waters by king penguins in a 2 yr study based on the satellite tracking of 10 penguins from the Crozet Islands (SW Indian Ocean). All the penguins travelled towards the pack ice, with 3 of them ending their journey at the edge between the marginal ice and the dense pack ice. The mean maximum foraging range and minimal distance travelled were 1620 and 4095 km, respectively. The effect of the satellite transmitter (PTT) attachment on foraging trip duration and colony attendance was much more important in winter in comparison to the summer. The penguins spent around 24% of their trip at sea in the marginal ice zone. They explored the ice-covered habitat non-randomly as revealed by compositional analysis. The marginal ice was more used than free ice and floes areas. The strategy of travelling towards the marginal ice zone during winter ensures that the penguins have access to predictable feeding areas at a time when food availability is very low in the polar frontal zone. The diet of king penguins when foraging in Antarctic waters is unknown but may be different to their summer food at the Polar Front.