Abundance and Distribution of Pilchard and Australian Anchovy as Prey Species for the Little Penguin <i>Eudyptula minorai</i> Phillip Island, Victoria

Hobday, David K.

doi:10.1071/mu9910342

Cited by 39 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 6 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Similar to what occurs in many other seabirds (e.g., Weimerskirch et al, 1993;Chaurand and Weimerskirch, 1994;Shaffer et al, 2003), little penguins rearing chicks are known to alternate between short and long foraging trips for regular provisioning of chicks and rebuilding of their own reserves (Saraux et al, 2011b). Owing to the spatial heterogeneity in marine productivity patterns in this area (Hobday, 1992), and the fact that trip duration and distance traveled are highly correlated in this species (Collins et al, 1999), food may also come from different prey patches when parents are foraging for their young or for themselves. This highlights the advantages of using a compound-specific stable isotope approach to reconstructing diets of marine animals as the key advantage here would be the ability to control for varying isotopic baselines through the measurement of source (e.g., phenylalanine) and trophic (glutamic acid) tracers (e.g., Karnovsky et al, 2008;Seminoff et al, 2012).…”

Section: On What and Where Penguins Are Feeding While Breedingmentioning

confidence: 84%

Stable Isotopes (δ13C, δ15N) Combined with Conventional Dietary Approaches Reveal Plasticity in Central-Place Foraging Behavior of Little Penguins Eudyptula minor

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Marine top and meso predators like seabirds are limited by the need to breed on land but forage on limited or patchily distributed resources at sea. Constraints imposed by such central-place foraging behavior change during breeding or even disappear outside the breeding period when there is no immediate pressure to return to a central place. However, central place foraging is usually factored as an unchanging condition in life history studies. Here we used little penguin Eudyptula minor, a resident bird with one of the smallest foraging range among seabirds, to examine the different degree of pressure/constraints of being a central-place forager. We combined data on isotopic composition ( 13 δ C and 15 δ N), conventional stomach contents and body mass of little penguins breeding at Phillip Island, Australia over 9 years (2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011). We explored relationships between diet and body mass in each stage of the breeding season (pre-laying, incubation, guard, and post-guard) in years of "high" and "low" reproductive success. Values of 13 C and 15 δ δ N as well as isotopic niche width had similar patterns among years, with less variability later in the season when little penguins shorten their foraging range at the expected peak of their central-place foraging limitation. Body mass peaked before laying and hatching in preparation for the energetically demanding periods of egg production and chick provisioning. An increase of anchovy and barracouta in the diet, two major prey for little penguins, occurred at the critical stage of chick rearing. These intra-annual trends could be a response to imposed foraging constraints as reproduction progresses, while inter-annual trends could reflect their ability to match or mismatch the high energy demanding chick rearing period with the peak in availability of high-quality prey such as anchovy. Our findings underline the key advantages of using a stable isotope approach combined with conventional dietary reconstruction to reveal an otherwise intractable ecological issue of different constrains of being a central-place forager, such as the little penguin, which could be applied to other marine species.

show abstract

Section: On What and Where Penguins Are Feeding While Breedingmentioning

confidence: 84%

Stable Isotopes (δ13C, δ15N) Combined with Conventional Dietary Approaches Reveal Plasticity in Central-Place Foraging Behavior of Little Penguins Eudyptula minor

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Renner (1998) concluded that the unusually long foraging trips at Motuara Island were partly a response to the reduced availability of pilchard (Sardinops neopilchardus) that died off in the Marlborough Sounds during the 1995 breeding season (Smith et al 1996). Increased time spent foraging at sea in the face of food shortage has been reported for little penguins (Weavers 1992;Hobday 1992) and also several other seabirds and marine mammals (e.g., Croxall et al 1988;Le Maho et al 1993). Long foraging trips of penguins from Motuara Island were common prior to the pilchard die-off …”

Section: Prolonged Foraging Trips and Higher Risk Of Egg Desertionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Intra-year variations in the breeding success of little penguins have been reported from Phillip Island in Australia (Reilly & Cullen 1981) and Motuara Island (Renner 1998). This might be a consequence of variability in the availability of prey within a season (Hobday 1992).…”

Section: Motuara Islandmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prolonged foraging trips and egg desertion in little penguins (Eudyptula minor)

Numata

Davis

Renner

2000

New Zealand Journal of Zoology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Penguins share incubation duties between the male and female of a pair. The one left on the nest must fast while its partner is foraging at sea. Nest attendance patterns during the incubation period reflect the way time is allocated between the conflicting demands of incubation and foraging. We conducted daily nest checks for little penguins (Eudyptula minor) at two localities in New Zealand (Motuara Island in the Marlborough Sounds and Oamaru, Otago) in the 1998/99 breeding season and found significant variation in nest attendance between the two areas. Penguins breeding at Motuara Island made significantly longer foraging trips and were in poorer body condition than those breeding at Oamaru. Foraging trip durations were significantly correlated with the body condition of birds at both areas: the poorer the condition, the longer the foraging trip durations. The increased risk of egg desertion observed at Motuara Island is probably a consequence of the prolonged foraging trips that limit the time available for incubation.

show abstract

“…Little penguins have been recorded foraging in Western Port in the past, in low numbers, particularly in autumn (Dann et al 2001), when the availability of clupeoids appears to be greatest (Hoedt et al 1995). Hoedt et al (1995) also found that only juveniles or small adult pilchards and anchovies were found within Western Port and it is possible little penguins from Phillip Island could be ignoring these for larger more energy dense adults aggregated outside the bay (Hobday 1992, Tirelli et al 2006. …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Foraging behaviour and habitat selection of the little penguin Eudyptula minor during early chick rearing in Bass Strait, Australia

Hoskins¹,

Dann²,

Ropert‐Coudert³

et al. 2008

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Knowledge of the foraging areas of top marine predators and the factors influencing them is central to understanding how their populations respond to environmental variability. While there is a large body of literature documenting the association of air-breathing marine vertebrates with areas of high marine productivity, there is relatively little information for species restricted to near-shore or continental-shelf areas. Differences in foraging range and diving behaviour of the little penguin Eudyptula minor were examined from 3 breeding colonies (Rabbit Island, Kanowna Island and Phillip Island) in central northern Bass Strait, southeast Australia, during the chick-guard stage using electronic tags (platform terminal transmitters, PTTs, and time-depth recorders, TDRs). Although there were large overall differences between individuals, the mean maximum foraging range (16.9 to 19.8 km) and mean total distance travelled (41.8 to 48.0 km) were similar between the 3 colonies, despite different bathymetric environments. Individuals from all 3 colonies selected foraging habitats within a narrow sea surface temperature (SST) range (16.0 to 16.4°C). While there were significant differences in mean dive depths (5.4 to 10.9 m) and mean durations (13.2 to 28.6 s) between the different colonies, the mean diving effort (vertical distance travelled: 936.3 to 964.3 m h -1 ) was similar. These findings suggest little penguins from the 3 colonies employ relatively similar foraging efforts yet are plastic in their foraging behaviours.KEY WORDS: Compositional analysis · Diving · Coastal ecosystem · Nearshore habitats · Sea surface temperature · Seabird Resale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisherMar Ecol Prog Ser 366: [293][294][295][296][297][298][299][300][301][302][303] 2008 many predictable prey patches out of reach (Hunt et al. 1992). While distribution of marine predators relative to oceanographic features has received considerable attention (e.g. Ainley et al. 1998), the fine-scale habitat utilisation and behaviours associated with these features is still largely unknown (Costa & Sinervo 2004).While the foraging behaviours of many seabird species have been documented, most such studies have involved individuals from a single colony or, if at more than 1 site, several colonies in different years (e.g. Perriman et al. 2000). Until recently, relatively few studies have investigated inter-colony variability in foraging behaviour within a breeding season, removing the confounding effect of inter-annual variability in between-colonies comparisons (Peck & Congdon 2005, Wilson et al. 2005). Consequently, for many studies, it is not possible to determine whether the behaviours observed are colony-specific, due to inter-annual variability, or reflect those of the species in general.At the lower end of the size range of marine endotherms, the little penguin Eudyptula minor offers unique insight into the constraints faced by marine predators. This penguin breeds on offshore islands from ...

show abstract

Abundance and Distribution of Pilchard and Australian Anchovy as Prey Species for the Little Penguin Eudyptula minorai Phillip Island, Victoria

Cited by 39 publications

References 6 publications

Stable Isotopes (δ13C, δ15N) Combined with Conventional Dietary Approaches Reveal Plasticity in Central-Place Foraging Behavior of Little Penguins Eudyptula minor

Stable Isotopes (δ13C, δ15N) Combined with Conventional Dietary Approaches Reveal Plasticity in Central-Place Foraging Behavior of Little Penguins Eudyptula minor

Prolonged foraging trips and egg desertion in little penguins (Eudyptula minor)

Foraging behaviour and habitat selection of the little penguin Eudyptula minor during early chick rearing in Bass Strait, Australia

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About