Feeding ecology of chinstrap penguins Pygoscelis antarctica at Livingston Island (Antarctic)

Dissertação de mestrado em Ecologia, apresentada ao Departamento de Ciências da Vida da Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade de Coimbra. Antarctic and Southern Ocean marine ecosystems have been changing for the past 30 years, along with the global climate change. The most evident chang...

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Main Author: Dimitrijević, Danijela
Other Authors: Xavier, José Carlos Caetano, Ramos, Jaime
Format: Master Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10316/31219
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spelling ftunivcoimbra:oai:estudogeral.sib.uc.pt:10316/31219 2023-05-15T14:00:29+02:00 Feeding ecology of chinstrap penguins Pygoscelis antarctica at Livingston Island (Antarctic) Dimitrijević, Danijela Xavier, José Carlos Caetano Ramos, Jaime 2015 http://hdl.handle.net/10316/31219 eng eng DIMITRIJEVIC, Danijela - Feeding ecology of chinstrap penguins Pygoscelis antarctica at Livingston Island (Antarctic) . Coimbra : [s.n.], 2015. Dissertação de mestrado em Ecologia http://hdl.handle.net/10316/31219 201671689 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Pygoscelis antarctica Ecologia alimentar krill do Antártico Isótopos estáveis Cadeia alimentar marinha Ilha Livingston info:eu-repo/semantics/masterThesis 2015 ftunivcoimbra 2022-08-11T13:58:00Z Dissertação de mestrado em Ecologia, apresentada ao Departamento de Ciências da Vida da Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade de Coimbra. Antarctic and Southern Ocean marine ecosystems have been changing for the past 30 years, along with the global climate change. The most evident changes are on the Western Antarctic Peninsula, which is warming four times faster than the average rate of Earth‘s overall warming. Within the Antarctic Peninsula region, one of the penguin species used to monitor Southern Ocean food web changes is the chinstrap penguin (Pygoscelis antarctica). The main objective of this study is to assess the feeding ecology of chinstrap penguins in Livingston Island. This is done by comparing the diets from adult chinstrap penguins (through fecal samples; scats) and chicks (through stomach contents from naturally died chicks). To complement these analyses, different tissues (i.e. feathers, blood, flesh and nails) were collected from adult penguins and dead chicks and used for stable isotope analyses of 15N and 13C. Also a snapshot of the marine food web around Livingston Island is provided, in order to assess chinstrap penguin trophic level in comparison with other organisms through the stable isotopic analyses of typical, key organisms found in Livingston Island (i.e. algae, krill, seabirds, seals). Crustaceans, specifically Antarctic krill comprised the diet 100% by frequency of occurrence, by mass and by number of both adults and chicks chinstrap penguins. This confirmed that Antarctic krill dominates the diet of chinstrap penguins at least during the breeding period. The mean size of collected Antarctic krill was 38.66 ± 2.56 mm for adults and 39.87 ± 2.69 mm for chicks. Different tissues reflect different time scales of stable isotope incorporation. For adults, feathers were more enriched in stable isotope ratios of nitrogen and carbon than blood, and reflect the diet form the previous year after the breeding season, while blood reflects the most recent diet. High significant ... Master Thesis Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Krill Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Chinstrap penguin Livingston Island Pygoscelis antarctica Southern Ocean Universidade de Coimbra: Estudo Geral Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Ilha Livingston ENVELOPE(-60.500,-60.500,-62.600,-62.600) Livingston Island ENVELOPE(-60.500,-60.500,-62.600,-62.600) Southern Ocean The Antarctic
institution Open Polar
collection Universidade de Coimbra: Estudo Geral
op_collection_id ftunivcoimbra
language English
topic Pygoscelis antarctica
Ecologia alimentar
krill do Antártico
Isótopos estáveis
Cadeia alimentar marinha
Ilha Livingston
spellingShingle Pygoscelis antarctica
Ecologia alimentar
krill do Antártico
Isótopos estáveis
Cadeia alimentar marinha
Ilha Livingston
Dimitrijević, Danijela
Feeding ecology of chinstrap penguins Pygoscelis antarctica at Livingston Island (Antarctic)
topic_facet Pygoscelis antarctica
Ecologia alimentar
krill do Antártico
Isótopos estáveis
Cadeia alimentar marinha
Ilha Livingston
description Dissertação de mestrado em Ecologia, apresentada ao Departamento de Ciências da Vida da Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade de Coimbra. Antarctic and Southern Ocean marine ecosystems have been changing for the past 30 years, along with the global climate change. The most evident changes are on the Western Antarctic Peninsula, which is warming four times faster than the average rate of Earth‘s overall warming. Within the Antarctic Peninsula region, one of the penguin species used to monitor Southern Ocean food web changes is the chinstrap penguin (Pygoscelis antarctica). The main objective of this study is to assess the feeding ecology of chinstrap penguins in Livingston Island. This is done by comparing the diets from adult chinstrap penguins (through fecal samples; scats) and chicks (through stomach contents from naturally died chicks). To complement these analyses, different tissues (i.e. feathers, blood, flesh and nails) were collected from adult penguins and dead chicks and used for stable isotope analyses of 15N and 13C. Also a snapshot of the marine food web around Livingston Island is provided, in order to assess chinstrap penguin trophic level in comparison with other organisms through the stable isotopic analyses of typical, key organisms found in Livingston Island (i.e. algae, krill, seabirds, seals). Crustaceans, specifically Antarctic krill comprised the diet 100% by frequency of occurrence, by mass and by number of both adults and chicks chinstrap penguins. This confirmed that Antarctic krill dominates the diet of chinstrap penguins at least during the breeding period. The mean size of collected Antarctic krill was 38.66 ± 2.56 mm for adults and 39.87 ± 2.69 mm for chicks. Different tissues reflect different time scales of stable isotope incorporation. For adults, feathers were more enriched in stable isotope ratios of nitrogen and carbon than blood, and reflect the diet form the previous year after the breeding season, while blood reflects the most recent diet. High significant ...
author2 Xavier, José Carlos Caetano
Ramos, Jaime
format Master Thesis
author Dimitrijević, Danijela
author_facet Dimitrijević, Danijela
author_sort Dimitrijević, Danijela
title Feeding ecology of chinstrap penguins Pygoscelis antarctica at Livingston Island (Antarctic)
title_short Feeding ecology of chinstrap penguins Pygoscelis antarctica at Livingston Island (Antarctic)
title_full Feeding ecology of chinstrap penguins Pygoscelis antarctica at Livingston Island (Antarctic)
title_fullStr Feeding ecology of chinstrap penguins Pygoscelis antarctica at Livingston Island (Antarctic)
title_full_unstemmed Feeding ecology of chinstrap penguins Pygoscelis antarctica at Livingston Island (Antarctic)
title_sort feeding ecology of chinstrap penguins pygoscelis antarctica at livingston island (antarctic)
publishDate 2015
url http://hdl.handle.net/10316/31219
long_lat ENVELOPE(-60.500,-60.500,-62.600,-62.600)
ENVELOPE(-60.500,-60.500,-62.600,-62.600)
geographic Antarctic
Antarctic Peninsula
Ilha Livingston
Livingston Island
Southern Ocean
The Antarctic
geographic_facet Antarctic
Antarctic Peninsula
Ilha Livingston
Livingston Island
Southern Ocean
The Antarctic
genre Antarc*
Antarctic
Antarctic Krill
Antarctic Peninsula
Antarctica
Chinstrap penguin
Livingston Island
Pygoscelis antarctica
Southern Ocean
genre_facet Antarc*
Antarctic
Antarctic Krill
Antarctic Peninsula
Antarctica
Chinstrap penguin
Livingston Island
Pygoscelis antarctica
Southern Ocean
op_relation DIMITRIJEVIC, Danijela - Feeding ecology of chinstrap penguins Pygoscelis antarctica at Livingston Island (Antarctic) . Coimbra : [s.n.], 2015. Dissertação de mestrado em Ecologia
http://hdl.handle.net/10316/31219
201671689
op_rights info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
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