Biotic and physical forces as determinants of Adélie penguin population location and size
Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) are among the most thoroughly studied wild animals, which is remarkable considering they are sea-ice obligates, living only in the Antarctic, one of the most remote regions on Earth. Building on several decades of research on the Ross and Beaufort Island metapopu...
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ftunivauckland:oai:researchspace.auckland.ac.nz:2292/5621 2023-05-15T13:58:52+02:00 Biotic and physical forces as determinants of Adélie penguin population location and size Ballard, Grant 2010-01-15T00:12:14Z http://hdl.handle.net/2292/5621 unknown ResearchSpace@Auckland PhD Thesis - University of Auckland UoA2002114 Whole document restricted. Items in ResearchSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated. https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/docs/uoa-docs/rights.htm Copyright: The author Thesis 2010 ftunivauckland 2013-12-07T08:44:01Z Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) are among the most thoroughly studied wild animals, which is remarkable considering they are sea-ice obligates, living only in the Antarctic, one of the most remote regions on Earth. Building on several decades of research on the Ross and Beaufort Island metapopulation, I have focused on understanding the underlying mechanisms related to colony size and growth patterns. I have found that life for a penguin at a large colony is extremely competitive, and that the ultimate size of these colonies is determined by the trade-off between the needs of parents and chicks, with penguins at large colonies approaching an energetic limit not reached at smaller colonies. However, some individuals are consistently able to utilize the available resources within these limits more efficiently than others by diving more deeply and recovering more quickly, especially when environmental conditions are less favorable. It is likely that these individuals thereby exhibit increased fitness in terms of their genetic contribution to the population. At smaller colonies, this kind of advantage does not necessarily translate to increased fitness, since there appear to be ample resources for all, or for none, depending more closely on simple yet extreme physical environmental stochasticity. Finally, in the larger context of Adélie penguin life-history throughout the annual cycle, they are confronting large scale changes in their environment that have been occurring for millennia, but which are currently in an unusual state of flux. Ultimately a lack of sufficient daylight overlapping the region of sea ice that is accessible to them during the inter-breeding period may constrain their populations. Thesis Antarc* Antarctic Beaufort Island Pygoscelis adeliae Sea ice University of Auckland Research Repository - ResearchSpace Antarctic Beaufort Island ENVELOPE(166.833,166.833,-76.933,-76.933) The Antarctic |
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University of Auckland Research Repository - ResearchSpace |
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ftunivauckland |
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Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) are among the most thoroughly studied wild animals, which is remarkable considering they are sea-ice obligates, living only in the Antarctic, one of the most remote regions on Earth. Building on several decades of research on the Ross and Beaufort Island metapopulation, I have focused on understanding the underlying mechanisms related to colony size and growth patterns. I have found that life for a penguin at a large colony is extremely competitive, and that the ultimate size of these colonies is determined by the trade-off between the needs of parents and chicks, with penguins at large colonies approaching an energetic limit not reached at smaller colonies. However, some individuals are consistently able to utilize the available resources within these limits more efficiently than others by diving more deeply and recovering more quickly, especially when environmental conditions are less favorable. It is likely that these individuals thereby exhibit increased fitness in terms of their genetic contribution to the population. At smaller colonies, this kind of advantage does not necessarily translate to increased fitness, since there appear to be ample resources for all, or for none, depending more closely on simple yet extreme physical environmental stochasticity. Finally, in the larger context of Adélie penguin life-history throughout the annual cycle, they are confronting large scale changes in their environment that have been occurring for millennia, but which are currently in an unusual state of flux. Ultimately a lack of sufficient daylight overlapping the region of sea ice that is accessible to them during the inter-breeding period may constrain their populations. |
format |
Thesis |
author |
Ballard, Grant |
spellingShingle |
Ballard, Grant Biotic and physical forces as determinants of Adélie penguin population location and size |
author_facet |
Ballard, Grant |
author_sort |
Ballard, Grant |
title |
Biotic and physical forces as determinants of Adélie penguin population location and size |
title_short |
Biotic and physical forces as determinants of Adélie penguin population location and size |
title_full |
Biotic and physical forces as determinants of Adélie penguin population location and size |
title_fullStr |
Biotic and physical forces as determinants of Adélie penguin population location and size |
title_full_unstemmed |
Biotic and physical forces as determinants of Adélie penguin population location and size |
title_sort |
biotic and physical forces as determinants of adélie penguin population location and size |
publisher |
ResearchSpace@Auckland |
publishDate |
2010 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/2292/5621 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(166.833,166.833,-76.933,-76.933) |
geographic |
Antarctic Beaufort Island The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Beaufort Island The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Beaufort Island Pygoscelis adeliae Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Beaufort Island Pygoscelis adeliae Sea ice |
op_relation |
PhD Thesis - University of Auckland UoA2002114 |
op_rights |
Whole document restricted. Items in ResearchSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated. https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/docs/uoa-docs/rights.htm Copyright: The author |
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