Maximum dive depths of eight New Zealand Procellariiformes, including Pterodroma species

Abstract

Lightweight capillary tube depth gauges were attached to eight petrel species breeding at New Zealand colonies during the period 1998-2008. This paper presents the first information on the diving ability of Pterodroma petrels. Grey-faced Petrels, Pterodroma macroptera gouldi, re corded maximum dives down to 23 m. Males (6.3 ± 6.3 m SD) dived deeper on average than females (3.6 ± 2.5 m) during the incubation period but not significantly so (P�0.06). Breeding birds dived significantly deeper on average than non-breeders, and breeding males dived significantly deeper on average than non-breeding males. The two small Pterodroma species sampled, Pterodroma pycrofti and Pterodroma nigripennis, only exhibited shallow dives down to 2 m but sample sizes were small. Sooty Shearwaters, Pujfinus griseus, had mean maximum dive depths of 42.7 ± 23.7 m, with males (53.0 ± 17.3 m) diving significantly deeper on average than females (20.1 ± 20.4 m) during the incubation period. One male Sooty Shearwarer dived to nearly 93 m, the deepest dive so far recorded in the order Procellariiformes.Flesh-footed Shearwaters, Pujfinus carneipes, dived to 28 m, with a mean maximum dive depth of 13.6 ± 7.9 m. Hutton' s Shearwaters, Pujfinus huttoni, had a mean maximum dive depth of 23.0 ± 8.5 m (range 11.1-36.6 m). A single Fluttering Shearwater, Pujfinus gavia, recovered with a dive gauge had dived to 29 m. Mean maximum dives made by Common Diving-Petrels, Pelecanoides urinatrix, of 10.9 ± 6.1 m (range 6.9-22.2 m) were shallower than results reported from other sites but may have been biased by gauge failures. Capillary gauges provide the best means we have at present to understand the diving capability of small seabirds. While studies elsewhere have shown these gauges may overestimate diving performance by about 10-15%, other factors identified in this study indicate rhat sometimes diving performance will be underestimated using this simple technique.

Migration and diving activity in three non-breeding flesh-footed shearwaters Puffinus carneipes

“…Breeding flesh‐footed shearwaters (FFSH) were studied at Kauwahaia Island (36° 53′S, 174° 26′E) (Taylor 2009) near the West Coast of Auckland, New Zealand. On April 9 2006 we deployed 6 g archival data loggers (Lotek LTD2400; Lotek Wireless, Canada; hereafter called archival logger, or logger) on three adult flesh‐footed shearwaters near the end of chick provisioning.…”

Combined Use of GPS and Accelerometry Reveals Fine Scale Three-Dimensional Foraging Behaviour in the Short-Tailed Shearwater

“…While numerous studies have documented maximum dive depths in procellariiforms [ 20 , 22 , 25 , 57 , 61 ], few were able to report dive durations [ 60 ]. Although dive depths were not obtained in this study, the short mean dive duration of 9 s recorded could indicate shallow dives near the surface.…”

Austral seabirds: challenges and opportunities for research and conservation

“…Coupled with their wide foraging range and, in some cases, trans-equatorial migration, seabirds are well suited to act as generalised biomonitors of marine ecosystem health. Changes in seabird populations, demographics and breeding characteristics can provide information about climatic and oceanographic changes, as well as marine pollutants (Furness & Camphuysen 1997 Taylor (2008) and Waugh et al (2008) examining feeding behaviour, and the extent of fisheries bycatch respectively, are important contributions towards this end.…”

“…2008, Taylor 2008, the most prevalent plea is for more long-term foundational monitoring data to be collected (Bancroft 2008, Hutton et al 2008, Rosier & Dyer 2008, Scott et al 2008, Waugh et al 2008. It is only when these fundamental data are available that more advanced methodologies such as modelling of populations, reproductive success and density dependence can be applied.…”

“…The contributing studies deal with wide-ranging aspects of seabird ecology, including population dynamics (Newman et al 20086, Scott et al 2008), breeding and colonial behaviour (Bancroft 2008, Powell et al 2008, island biodiversity (Copson & Brothers 2008, Brothers & Ledingham 2008, Bancroft et al 2008, foraging behaviour (Taylor 2008, Macleod et al 2008, human impacts (Rosier & Dyer 2008, Hutton et al 2008, Waugh et al 2008, migration (Oka 2008), pest management (Brothers & Bone 2008), indigenous use and environmentality (Kitson & Moller 2008, L yv er et al 2008, and climate change (Brothers & Bone 2008). The breadth of topics covered by these papers testifi es to the diversity of issues that is currently of importance in seabird research and the approaches available to confront such issues.…”