Sexual and individual foraging segregation in Gentoo penguins Pygoscelis papua from the Southern Ocean during an abnormal winter
Knowledge about sexual segregation and gender-specific, or indeed individual specialization, in marine organisms has improved considerably in the past decade. In this context, we tested the “Intersexual Competition Hypothesis” for penguins by investigating the feeding ecology of Gentoo penguins duri...
Published in: | PLOS ONE |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Public Library of Science
2017
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/99788/ https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0174850 https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/99788/1/journal.pone.0174850.pdf |
id |
ftunivcardiff:oai:https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk:99788 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftunivcardiff:oai:https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk:99788 2023-05-15T13:51:23+02:00 Sexual and individual foraging segregation in Gentoo penguins Pygoscelis papua from the Southern Ocean during an abnormal winter Thuesen, Erik V. Xavier, José C. Trathan, Philip N. Ceia, Filipe R. Tarling, Geraint A. Adlard, Stacey Fox, Derren Edwards, Ewan W. J. Vieira, Rui P. Medeiros Mirra, Renata De Broyer, Claude Cherel, Yves 2017-03-31 application/pdf https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/99788/ https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0174850 https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/99788/1/journal.pone.0174850.pdf en eng Public Library of Science https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/99788/1/journal.pone.0174850.pdf Thuesen, Erik V., Xavier, José C., Trathan, Philip N., Ceia, Filipe R., Tarling, Geraint A., Adlard, Stacey, Fox, Derren, Edwards, Ewan W. J., Vieira, Rui P., Medeiros Mirra, Renata https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/view/cardiffauthors/A023189U.html, De Broyer, Claude and Cherel, Yves 2017. Sexual and individual foraging segregation in Gentoo penguins Pygoscelis papua from the Southern Ocean during an abnormal winter. PLoS ONE 12 (3) , e0174850. 10.1371/journal.pone.0174850 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0174850 file https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/99788/1/journal.pone.0174850.pdf doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0174850 cc_by CC-BY QL Zoology Article PeerReviewed 2017 ftunivcardiff https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0174850 2022-09-25T20:58:17Z Knowledge about sexual segregation and gender-specific, or indeed individual specialization, in marine organisms has improved considerably in the past decade. In this context, we tested the “Intersexual Competition Hypothesis” for penguins by investigating the feeding ecology of Gentoo penguins during their austral winter non-breeding season. We considered this during unusual environmental conditions (i.e. the year 2009 had observations of high sea surface and air temperatures) in comparison with the long term average at Bird Island, South Georgia. Through conventional (i.e. stomach contents) and stable isotopic values from red blood cells, plasma and feathers of both male and female Gentoo penguins, we showed that there were significant differences between sexes, with males feeding mainly on fish (54% by mass) followed by crustaceans (38%) whereas females fed mainly on crustaceans (89% by mass) followed by fish (4%). Themisto gaudichaudii was the most important crustacean prey for males (64% by mass; 82% by number; 53% by frequency of occurrence) and females (63% by mass; 77% by number; 89% by frequency of occurrence), contrasting with all previous studies that found Antarctic krill Euphausia superba were generally the main prey. Stable isotopic data showed that, in terms of habitat use (based on δ 13C), there were significant differences in short-term carbon signatures between males and females (based on plasma and red blood cells), suggesting that both sexes explored different habitats, with females exploring more offshore pelagic waters and males feeding more in coastal benthic waters. Based on δ 15N, males fed on significantly higher trophic level than females (based on plasma and red blood cells), in agreement with our diet results., Thus, Gentoo penguins behave in a similar manner to other non-breeding penguins species (e.g. king, macaroni and rockhopper penguins), albeit at a smaller spatial scale (as they do not disperse as these other penguins do), in that they have a wider habitat and trophic niche ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Krill Bird Island Euphausia superba Pygoscelis papua Southern Ocean Cardiff University: ORCA (Online Research @ Cardiff) Antarctic Austral Bird Island ENVELOPE(-38.060,-38.060,-54.004,-54.004) Southern Ocean PLOS ONE 12 3 e0174850 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Cardiff University: ORCA (Online Research @ Cardiff) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivcardiff |
language |
English |
topic |
QL Zoology |
spellingShingle |
QL Zoology Thuesen, Erik V. Xavier, José C. Trathan, Philip N. Ceia, Filipe R. Tarling, Geraint A. Adlard, Stacey Fox, Derren Edwards, Ewan W. J. Vieira, Rui P. Medeiros Mirra, Renata De Broyer, Claude Cherel, Yves Sexual and individual foraging segregation in Gentoo penguins Pygoscelis papua from the Southern Ocean during an abnormal winter |
topic_facet |
QL Zoology |
description |
Knowledge about sexual segregation and gender-specific, or indeed individual specialization, in marine organisms has improved considerably in the past decade. In this context, we tested the “Intersexual Competition Hypothesis” for penguins by investigating the feeding ecology of Gentoo penguins during their austral winter non-breeding season. We considered this during unusual environmental conditions (i.e. the year 2009 had observations of high sea surface and air temperatures) in comparison with the long term average at Bird Island, South Georgia. Through conventional (i.e. stomach contents) and stable isotopic values from red blood cells, plasma and feathers of both male and female Gentoo penguins, we showed that there were significant differences between sexes, with males feeding mainly on fish (54% by mass) followed by crustaceans (38%) whereas females fed mainly on crustaceans (89% by mass) followed by fish (4%). Themisto gaudichaudii was the most important crustacean prey for males (64% by mass; 82% by number; 53% by frequency of occurrence) and females (63% by mass; 77% by number; 89% by frequency of occurrence), contrasting with all previous studies that found Antarctic krill Euphausia superba were generally the main prey. Stable isotopic data showed that, in terms of habitat use (based on δ 13C), there were significant differences in short-term carbon signatures between males and females (based on plasma and red blood cells), suggesting that both sexes explored different habitats, with females exploring more offshore pelagic waters and males feeding more in coastal benthic waters. Based on δ 15N, males fed on significantly higher trophic level than females (based on plasma and red blood cells), in agreement with our diet results., Thus, Gentoo penguins behave in a similar manner to other non-breeding penguins species (e.g. king, macaroni and rockhopper penguins), albeit at a smaller spatial scale (as they do not disperse as these other penguins do), in that they have a wider habitat and trophic niche ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Thuesen, Erik V. Xavier, José C. Trathan, Philip N. Ceia, Filipe R. Tarling, Geraint A. Adlard, Stacey Fox, Derren Edwards, Ewan W. J. Vieira, Rui P. Medeiros Mirra, Renata De Broyer, Claude Cherel, Yves |
author_facet |
Thuesen, Erik V. Xavier, José C. Trathan, Philip N. Ceia, Filipe R. Tarling, Geraint A. Adlard, Stacey Fox, Derren Edwards, Ewan W. J. Vieira, Rui P. Medeiros Mirra, Renata De Broyer, Claude Cherel, Yves |
author_sort |
Thuesen, Erik V. |
title |
Sexual and individual foraging segregation in Gentoo penguins Pygoscelis papua from the Southern Ocean during an abnormal winter |
title_short |
Sexual and individual foraging segregation in Gentoo penguins Pygoscelis papua from the Southern Ocean during an abnormal winter |
title_full |
Sexual and individual foraging segregation in Gentoo penguins Pygoscelis papua from the Southern Ocean during an abnormal winter |
title_fullStr |
Sexual and individual foraging segregation in Gentoo penguins Pygoscelis papua from the Southern Ocean during an abnormal winter |
title_full_unstemmed |
Sexual and individual foraging segregation in Gentoo penguins Pygoscelis papua from the Southern Ocean during an abnormal winter |
title_sort |
sexual and individual foraging segregation in gentoo penguins pygoscelis papua from the southern ocean during an abnormal winter |
publisher |
Public Library of Science |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/99788/ https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0174850 https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/99788/1/journal.pone.0174850.pdf |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-38.060,-38.060,-54.004,-54.004) |
geographic |
Antarctic Austral Bird Island Southern Ocean |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Austral Bird Island Southern Ocean |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Krill Bird Island Euphausia superba Pygoscelis papua Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Krill Bird Island Euphausia superba Pygoscelis papua Southern Ocean |
op_relation |
https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/99788/1/journal.pone.0174850.pdf Thuesen, Erik V., Xavier, José C., Trathan, Philip N., Ceia, Filipe R., Tarling, Geraint A., Adlard, Stacey, Fox, Derren, Edwards, Ewan W. J., Vieira, Rui P., Medeiros Mirra, Renata https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/view/cardiffauthors/A023189U.html, De Broyer, Claude and Cherel, Yves 2017. Sexual and individual foraging segregation in Gentoo penguins Pygoscelis papua from the Southern Ocean during an abnormal winter. PLoS ONE 12 (3) , e0174850. 10.1371/journal.pone.0174850 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0174850 file https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/99788/1/journal.pone.0174850.pdf doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0174850 |
op_rights |
cc_by |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0174850 |
container_title |
PLOS ONE |
container_volume |
12 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
e0174850 |
_version_ |
1766255224323833856 |