| Summary: | Dissertação de Mestrado em Ecologia, apresentada ao Departamento de Ciências da Vida da Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade de Coimbra, Climate change has been affecting the Southern Ocean, particularly in the Antarctic Peninsula where the rate of temperature increase is around 3.5 ºC per century. This warming is affecting the duration and extent of the formation of sea ice, and ice shelves, which are known to play an important role in the recruitment and replenishment of stock of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba). Antarctic krill is the keystone species of the food web in the Southern Ocean, and its low availability may have a negative impact in the reproductive output of Antarctic top predators such as penguins, fur seals and albatrosses. Antarctic krill is caught by fisheries that are managed by the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), who define precautionary catch limits taking into account the food requirements of top predators such as penguins. One of the species used to monitor changes in the Antarctic is the Gentoo penguins Pygoscelis papua, due to their ecological relevance in the Southern Ocean. P. papua are distributed in a broad range of areas that include islands in the sub-Antarctic and Antarctic regions whose feeding habits in the Antarctic localities consist mainly of Antarctic krill. Furthermore, being a year round resident and having a limited foraging range, P. papua is considered a key species to the CCAMLR program regarding the monitoring of fluctuations in the local availability of Antarctic krill. Furthermore, there is a need to develop CCAMLR methods to reduce handling penguins while assessing their diet. The aims of this study are to characterize the diet of P. papua in Hannah Point, Livingston Island (South Shetland Islands, Antarctic Peninsula) using fresh dead chicks (that died from natural causes), using their body tissues (feathers, nails, flesh) and stomach contents, in order to assess their trophic level and habitat ...
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