Space use by South Polar Skua during the breeding season at Svarthammaren, Antarctica
South Polar Skua is a seabird feeding on both marine resources and on other seabirds’ egg and chicks. There are few studies investigating South Polar Skua space use during breeding season and how it is affected by sex or phenology. This study was carried out during the breeding season 2012-2013 at S...
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UiT Norges arktiske universitet
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ftunivtroemsoe:oai:munin.uit.no:10037/7142 2023-05-15T13:58:43+02:00 Space use by South Polar Skua during the breeding season at Svarthammaren, Antarctica Swärd, Johan Nils 2014-11-17 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/7142 eng eng UiT Norges arktiske universitet UiT The Arctic University of Norway https://hdl.handle.net/10037/7142 URN:NBN:no-uit_munin_6739 openAccess Copyright 2014 The Author(s) VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Zoology and botany: 480::Ecology: 488 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480::Økologi: 488 BIO-3950 Master thesis Mastergradsoppgave 2014 ftunivtroemsoe 2021-06-25T17:54:08Z South Polar Skua is a seabird feeding on both marine resources and on other seabirds’ egg and chicks. There are few studies investigating South Polar Skua space use during breeding season and how it is affected by sex or phenology. This study was carried out during the breeding season 2012-2013 at Svarthammaren in Dronning Maud Land (71° 53′ S, 05° 10′ E). 56 GPS loggers were used to track 48 individuals during incubation and chick rearing period of skua and petrel. At Svarthammaren, South Polar Skua use petrels as their only available food resource with no competitors. We investigated how sex and phenology (skua and petrel incubation and chick rearing periods) affected South Polar Skuas main activities, such as hunting effort (i.e., area used in the petrel colony), time spent on nest defense, and bathing activity. Indeed, petrels defend themselves by spitting oil on their attackers, which affects feathers and flight ability of skua. Skua time budgets depended on prey phenology and differed between sexes. During petrel incubation time, females spent more time around the nest area than males and both skua partners had higher bathing activity during petrel chick-rearing period. Both sexes invested more in hunting effort during the chick-rearing period compared to incubation. The results were mostly in line with previous studies, that skua chick phenology affects their hunting effort and skua had higher bathing activity when they were more exposed for oily attacks. However, we also found that prey phenology affected on skua nest attendance to higher degree than expected, which we believed were based on prey availability. Master Thesis Antarc* Antarctica Dronning Maud Land South Polar Skuas University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive Dronning Maud Land Svarthammaren ENVELOPE(14.247,14.247,65.671,65.671) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtroemsoe |
language |
English |
topic |
VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Zoology and botany: 480::Ecology: 488 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480::Økologi: 488 BIO-3950 |
spellingShingle |
VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Zoology and botany: 480::Ecology: 488 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480::Økologi: 488 BIO-3950 Swärd, Johan Nils Space use by South Polar Skua during the breeding season at Svarthammaren, Antarctica |
topic_facet |
VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Zoology and botany: 480::Ecology: 488 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480::Økologi: 488 BIO-3950 |
description |
South Polar Skua is a seabird feeding on both marine resources and on other seabirds’ egg and chicks. There are few studies investigating South Polar Skua space use during breeding season and how it is affected by sex or phenology. This study was carried out during the breeding season 2012-2013 at Svarthammaren in Dronning Maud Land (71° 53′ S, 05° 10′ E). 56 GPS loggers were used to track 48 individuals during incubation and chick rearing period of skua and petrel. At Svarthammaren, South Polar Skua use petrels as their only available food resource with no competitors. We investigated how sex and phenology (skua and petrel incubation and chick rearing periods) affected South Polar Skuas main activities, such as hunting effort (i.e., area used in the petrel colony), time spent on nest defense, and bathing activity. Indeed, petrels defend themselves by spitting oil on their attackers, which affects feathers and flight ability of skua. Skua time budgets depended on prey phenology and differed between sexes. During petrel incubation time, females spent more time around the nest area than males and both skua partners had higher bathing activity during petrel chick-rearing period. Both sexes invested more in hunting effort during the chick-rearing period compared to incubation. The results were mostly in line with previous studies, that skua chick phenology affects their hunting effort and skua had higher bathing activity when they were more exposed for oily attacks. However, we also found that prey phenology affected on skua nest attendance to higher degree than expected, which we believed were based on prey availability. |
format |
Master Thesis |
author |
Swärd, Johan Nils |
author_facet |
Swärd, Johan Nils |
author_sort |
Swärd, Johan Nils |
title |
Space use by South Polar Skua during the breeding season at Svarthammaren, Antarctica |
title_short |
Space use by South Polar Skua during the breeding season at Svarthammaren, Antarctica |
title_full |
Space use by South Polar Skua during the breeding season at Svarthammaren, Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Space use by South Polar Skua during the breeding season at Svarthammaren, Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Space use by South Polar Skua during the breeding season at Svarthammaren, Antarctica |
title_sort |
space use by south polar skua during the breeding season at svarthammaren, antarctica |
publisher |
UiT Norges arktiske universitet |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10037/7142 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(14.247,14.247,65.671,65.671) |
geographic |
Dronning Maud Land Svarthammaren |
geographic_facet |
Dronning Maud Land Svarthammaren |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica Dronning Maud Land South Polar Skuas |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica Dronning Maud Land South Polar Skuas |
op_relation |
https://hdl.handle.net/10037/7142 URN:NBN:no-uit_munin_6739 |
op_rights |
openAccess Copyright 2014 The Author(s) |
_version_ |
1766267057688543232 |