Dataset Information

Identification of marine Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas for penguins around the South Shetland Islands and South Orkney Islands.

ABSTRACT: Aim:To provide a method of analyzing penguin tracking data to identify priority at-sea areas for seabird conservation (marine IBAs), based on pre-existing approaches for flying seabirds but revised according to the specific ecology of Pygoscelis penguin species. Location:Waters around the Antarctic Peninsula, South Shetland, and South Orkney archipelagos (FAO Subareas 48.1 and 48.2). Methods:We made key improvements to the pre-existing protocol for identifying marine IBAs that include refining the track interpolation method and revision of parameters for the kernel analysis (smoothing factor and utilization distribution) using sensitivity tests. We applied the revised method to 24 datasets of tracking data on penguins (three species, seven colonies, and three different breeding stages-incubation, brood, and crèche). Results:We identified five new marine IBAs for seabirds in the study area, estimated to hold ca. 600,000 adult penguins. Main conclusions:The results demonstrate the efficacy of a new method for the designation of a network of marine IBAs in Antarctic waters for penguins based on tracking data, which can contribute to an evidence-based, precautionary, management framework for krill fisheries.

SUBMITTER: Dias MP

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6238121 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Identification of marine Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas for penguins around the South Shetland Islands and South Orkney Islands.

Dias Maria P MP Carneiro Ana Paula Bertoldi APB Warwick-Evans Victoria V Harris Colin C Lorenz Katharina K Lascelles Ben B Clewlow Harriet L HL Dunn Michael J MJ Hinke Jefferson T JT Kim Jeong-Hoon JH Kokubun Nobuo N Manco Fabrizio F Ratcliffe Norman N Santos Mercedes M Takahashi Akinori A Trivelpiece Wayne W Trathan Philip N PN

Ecology and evolution 20181012 21

<h4>Aim</h4>To provide a method of analyzing penguin tracking data to identify priority at-sea areas for seabird conservation (marine IBAs), based on pre-existing approaches for flying seabirds but revised according to the specific ecology of <i>Pygoscelis</i> penguin species.<h4>Location</h4>Waters around the Antarctic Peninsula, South Shetland, and South Orkney archipelagos (FAO Subareas 48.1 and 48.2).<h4>Methods</h4>We made key improvements to the pre-existing protocol for identifying marine ...[more]

PMID: 30464824

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Project description:BackgroundAccording to central place foraging theory, animals will only increase the distance of their foraging trips if more distant prey patches offer better foraging opportunities. Thus, theory predicts that breeding seabirds in large colonies could create a zone of food depletion around the colony, known as "Ashmole's halo". However, seabirds' decisions to forage at a particular distance are likely also complicated by their breeding stage. After chicks hatch, parents must return frequently to feed their offspring, so may be less likely to visit distant foraging patches, even if their quality is higher. However, the interaction between prey availability, intra-specific competition, and breeding stage on the foraging decisions of seabirds is not well understood. The aim of this study was to address this question in chinstrap penguins Pygoscelis antarcticus breeding at a large colony. In particular, we aimed to investigate how breeding stage affects foraging strategy; whether birds foraging far from the colony visit higher quality patches than available locally; and whether there is evidence for intraspecific competition, indicated by prey depletions near the colony increasing over time, and longer foraging trips.MethodsWe used GPS and temperature-depth recorders to track the foraging movements of 221 chinstrap penguins from 4 sites at the South Orkney Islands during incubation and brood. We identified foraging dives and calculated the index of patch quality based on time allocation during the dive to assess the quality of the foraging patch.ResultsWe found that chinstrap penguin foraging distance varied between stages, and that trips became shorter as incubation progressed. Although patch quality was lower near the colony than at more distant foraging patches, patch quality near the colony improved over the breeding season.ConclusionsThese results suggest chinstrap penguin foraging strategies are influenced by both breeding stage and prey distribution, and the low patch quality near the colony may be due to a combination of depletion by intraspecific competition but compensated by natural variation in prey. Reduced trip durations towards the end of the incubation period may be due to an increase in food availability, as seabirds time their reproduction so that the period of maximum energy demand in late chick-rearing coincides with maximum resource availability in the environment. This may also explain why patch quality around the colony improved over the breeding season. Overall, our study sheds light on drivers of foraging decisions in colonial seabirds, an important question in foraging ecology.

Project description:Seabirds play an important role as top consumers in the food web and can be used as biomonitors of exposure to pollutants. Contamination studies involving non-destructive sampling methods are of considerable importance, allowing better evaluation of the levels of pollutants and their toxic effects. In the present study, organohalogen contaminants were analyzed in 113 blood samples from Southern Giant Petrel (Macronectes giganteus) adults and chicks collected in the austral summer of 2011/2012 and 2012/2013 from colonies on Elephant and Livingston Islands, South Shetland, Antarctica. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), hexachlorobenzene (HCB), pentachlorobenzene (PeCB), mirex, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroetane and derivatives (DDTs) and chlordanes were detected in all birds, whereas polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) were not detected in any blood samples. No significant differences were found in organochlorine levels between sampling events. Adults exhibited significantly higher levels than chicks, except for PeCB. PCBs, HCB, mirex and DDTs were statistically similar in males and females from Elephant Island. Females on Livingston Island exhibited higher HCB values than males, but no sex differences were found regarding other organochlorines. The similarity in organochlorine levels between sexes in birds with very marked sexual segregation in feeding habits during the breeding season may indicate that significant amounts of contaminants are acquired during migration to lower latitudes, when the diets of males and females are similar. Birds sampled on Livingston Island exhibited significantly lower levels of PCBs, HCB, DDTs, mirex and chlordanes in comparison to those on Elephant Island, which could be the result of distinct foraging patterns between the two colonies. Organochlorine levels were similar between years in birds captured in two consecutive breeding seasons. Blood samples from Southern Giant Petrels adults and chicks proved to be useful for the comparison of intraspecific contamination levels and appear to be adequate for the long-term assessment of organohalogen contaminants in antarctic top predators. Organochlorine contaminants in blood samples of Southern Giant Petrels reflected intra-specific differences and suggested distinct foraging patterns between colonies.

Dataset Information

Identification of marine Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas for penguins around the South Shetland Islands and South Orkney Islands.

Publications

Identification of marine Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas for penguins around the South Shetland Islands and South Orkney Islands.

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