Practical method of estimating fresh mass of Adélie penguin eggs

• Published in: Polar Biology
• Main Authors: Ancel, André, Beaulieu, Michaël
• Other Authors: Département Ecologie, Physiologie et Ethologie (DEPE-IPHC), Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien (IPHC), Université Louis Pasteur - Strasbourg I-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Louis Pasteur - Strasbourg I-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2009
• Subjects: fresh egg mass; allometric relationship; Pygoscelis adeliae; antarctica; [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology; [SDV.BID.EVO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biodiversity/Populations and Evolution [q-bio.PE]; Antarc*; Antarctica; Polar Biology
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-00384674; https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-009-0644-z

International audience Fresh egg mass (FEM) is an important measure as it relates to many allometric relationships. Adélie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) eggs, as other bird eggs, begin to lose weight as soon as they are laid but their linear dimensions remain constant. The FEM of an Adélie penguin's egg can be estimated within 1% from the relationship FEM = 0.564 x LW2, where L is the length and W is the width. The constant 0.564 was calculated by weighing the eggs after replacing the air cell with water. The calculated mean egg mass agrees well with that obtained by weighing eggs after replacement of the air cell with water (r2 = 0.996). This method of estimating FEM based on linear measurements is easily applicable in the field.