African penguin (Spheniscus demersus) distribution during the non-breeding season : preparation for, and recovery from, a moulting fast
Little is currently known about the spatial ecology of the endangered African penguin during the non-breeding season. As foraging success during this period is critical to adult survival, this project explores their dispersal patterns, as well as the degree of overlap with commercial purse-seine fis...
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University of Cape Town
2016
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20525 https://open.uct.ac.za/bitstream/11427/20525/1/thesis_sci_2016_roberts_jennifer.pdf |
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ftunivcapetownir:oai:localhost:11427/20525 2023-05-15T15:44:40+02:00 African penguin (Spheniscus demersus) distribution during the non-breeding season : preparation for, and recovery from, a moulting fast Roberts, Jennifer Ryan, Peter G Pichegru, Lorien Wanless, Ross M Hagen, Christina 2016 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20525 https://open.uct.ac.za/bitstream/11427/20525/1/thesis_sci_2016_roberts_jennifer.pdf eng eng University of Cape Town Faculty of Science Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20525 https://open.uct.ac.za/bitstream/11427/20525/1/thesis_sci_2016_roberts_jennifer.pdf Ornithology Biological Conservation Master Thesis Masters MSc 2016 ftunivcapetownir 2022-09-13T05:50:34Z Little is currently known about the spatial ecology of the endangered African penguin during the non-breeding season. As foraging success during this period is critical to adult survival, this project explores their dispersal patterns, as well as the degree of overlap with commercial purse-seine fisheries which target the same prey. African penguins from two colonies (Bird Island, Algoa Bay, south coast and Dassen Island, west coast) were tracked over 3 non-breeding seasons using Platform Terminal Transmitters and Global Positioning System devices to explore their pre- and post-moult dispersal patterns. Dispersal trips varied greatly between individuals, but there were still significant differences in the dispersal patterns found between islands and between life history-stages at Dassen Island. Bird Island penguins tended to make frequent, short trips, returning to their breeding colony in between, whereas Dassen Island penguins followed one of two strategies: either making few (up to 3) very long trips (up to 4000km), or adopting a central-place foraging pattern based at a point along the coast, distant from their breeding colony. At Dassen Island a clear spatial divide is evident with most pre-moulters dispersing south whereas most post-moult birds dispersed north, off the west coast. Bird Island penguins all moulted at their breeding colony and seldom visited either the adjacent coastline or other islands. During pre-moult, Dassen Island birds often spent nights close to shore along the coast or at other colonies and about a quarter of them moulted at another colony, most often at Stony Point, on the mainland east of Cape Point. Five dispersal patterns (defined in terms of the direction and distance of the furthest point reached) were identified for birds from Dassen Island and there is some indication that different dispersal patterns have distinct survival implications. Over 60% of PTT loss (a proxy for penguin mortality) occurred in a small area in the northern part of St Helena Bay, offshore from ... Master Thesis Bird Island University of Cape Town: OpenUCT Bird Island ENVELOPE(-38.060,-38.060,-54.004,-54.004) St. Helena ENVELOPE(8.575,8.575,63.621,63.621) Stony Point ENVELOPE(-62.933,-62.933,-64.913,-64.913) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Cape Town: OpenUCT |
op_collection_id |
ftunivcapetownir |
language |
English |
topic |
Ornithology Biological Conservation |
spellingShingle |
Ornithology Biological Conservation Roberts, Jennifer African penguin (Spheniscus demersus) distribution during the non-breeding season : preparation for, and recovery from, a moulting fast |
topic_facet |
Ornithology Biological Conservation |
description |
Little is currently known about the spatial ecology of the endangered African penguin during the non-breeding season. As foraging success during this period is critical to adult survival, this project explores their dispersal patterns, as well as the degree of overlap with commercial purse-seine fisheries which target the same prey. African penguins from two colonies (Bird Island, Algoa Bay, south coast and Dassen Island, west coast) were tracked over 3 non-breeding seasons using Platform Terminal Transmitters and Global Positioning System devices to explore their pre- and post-moult dispersal patterns. Dispersal trips varied greatly between individuals, but there were still significant differences in the dispersal patterns found between islands and between life history-stages at Dassen Island. Bird Island penguins tended to make frequent, short trips, returning to their breeding colony in between, whereas Dassen Island penguins followed one of two strategies: either making few (up to 3) very long trips (up to 4000km), or adopting a central-place foraging pattern based at a point along the coast, distant from their breeding colony. At Dassen Island a clear spatial divide is evident with most pre-moulters dispersing south whereas most post-moult birds dispersed north, off the west coast. Bird Island penguins all moulted at their breeding colony and seldom visited either the adjacent coastline or other islands. During pre-moult, Dassen Island birds often spent nights close to shore along the coast or at other colonies and about a quarter of them moulted at another colony, most often at Stony Point, on the mainland east of Cape Point. Five dispersal patterns (defined in terms of the direction and distance of the furthest point reached) were identified for birds from Dassen Island and there is some indication that different dispersal patterns have distinct survival implications. Over 60% of PTT loss (a proxy for penguin mortality) occurred in a small area in the northern part of St Helena Bay, offshore from ... |
author2 |
Ryan, Peter G Pichegru, Lorien Wanless, Ross M Hagen, Christina |
format |
Master Thesis |
author |
Roberts, Jennifer |
author_facet |
Roberts, Jennifer |
author_sort |
Roberts, Jennifer |
title |
African penguin (Spheniscus demersus) distribution during the non-breeding season : preparation for, and recovery from, a moulting fast |
title_short |
African penguin (Spheniscus demersus) distribution during the non-breeding season : preparation for, and recovery from, a moulting fast |
title_full |
African penguin (Spheniscus demersus) distribution during the non-breeding season : preparation for, and recovery from, a moulting fast |
title_fullStr |
African penguin (Spheniscus demersus) distribution during the non-breeding season : preparation for, and recovery from, a moulting fast |
title_full_unstemmed |
African penguin (Spheniscus demersus) distribution during the non-breeding season : preparation for, and recovery from, a moulting fast |
title_sort |
african penguin (spheniscus demersus) distribution during the non-breeding season : preparation for, and recovery from, a moulting fast |
publisher |
University of Cape Town |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20525 https://open.uct.ac.za/bitstream/11427/20525/1/thesis_sci_2016_roberts_jennifer.pdf |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-38.060,-38.060,-54.004,-54.004) ENVELOPE(8.575,8.575,63.621,63.621) ENVELOPE(-62.933,-62.933,-64.913,-64.913) |
geographic |
Bird Island St. Helena Stony Point |
geographic_facet |
Bird Island St. Helena Stony Point |
genre |
Bird Island |
genre_facet |
Bird Island |
op_relation |
http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20525 https://open.uct.ac.za/bitstream/11427/20525/1/thesis_sci_2016_roberts_jennifer.pdf |
_version_ |
1766379049104441344 |