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Fine-scale spatial age segregation in the limited foraging area of an inshore seabird species, the little penguin

  • Behavioral ecology - Original research
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Abstract

Competition for food resources can result in spatial and dietary segregation among individuals from the same species. Few studies have looked at such segregations with the combined effect of sex and age in species with short foraging ranges. In this study we examined the 3D spatial use of the environment in a species with a limited foraging area. We equipped 26 little penguins (Eudyptula minor) of known age, sex, and breeding output with GPS (location) and accelerometer (body acceleration and dive depth) loggers. We obtained dietary niche information from the isotopic analysis of blood tissue. We controlled for confounding factors of foraging trip length and food availability by sampling adults at guard stage when parents usually make one-day trips. We observed a spatial segregation between old (>11 years old) and middle-aged penguins (between 5 and 11 years old) in the foraging area. Old penguins foraged closer to the shore, in shallower water. Despite observing age-specific spatial segregation, we found no differences in the diving effort and foraging efficiency between age classes and sexes. Birds appeared to target similar prey types, but showed age-specific variation in their isotopic niche width. We hypothesize that this age-specific segregation was primarily determined by a “cohort effect” that would lead individuals sharing a common life history (i.e. having fledged and dispersed around the same age) to forage preferentially together or to share similar foraging limitations.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the continuing support from the Phillip Island Nature Parks and its staff, in particular the nice people from the Research Department: P. Dann, L. Renwick, P. Wasiak, R. Kirkwood, and especially M. Salton for his help in the field. Part of this study was supported financially by the ANR-2010-BLAN-1728-01 (PICASO). We thank J.P. Robin for lyophilizing blood samples, A. Zahariev and I. Chery for stable isotope measurements. We thank the MIBE team (especially F. Crenner, N. Chatelain, and M. Brucker) from the IPHC-DEPE for the GPS customisation. N. Kowalczyk made valuable comments and proofread a revised version. L. Pelletier was supported by a grant from CNRS and Région Alsace. The Australian Academy of Science has been a great support to this collaborative work. Finally, we thank three anonymous referees and the handling editor, Professor Scott R. McWilliams, for their useful comments that greatly improved our manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CNRS, UMR7178, 67037, Strasbourg, France

    Laure Pelletier, Akiko Kato & Yan Ropert-Coudert

  2. Université de Strasbourg, IPHC, 23 rue Becquerel, 67087, Strasbourg, France

    Laure Pelletier, Akiko Kato & Yan Ropert-Coudert

  3. Research Department, Phillip Island Nature Parks, Cowes, VIC, P.O. Box 97, 3922, Australia

    André Chiaradia

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  1. Laure Pelletier
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  2. André Chiaradia
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Correspondence to Laure Pelletier.

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Communicated by Scott McWilliams.

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Pelletier, L., Chiaradia, A., Kato, A. et al. Fine-scale spatial age segregation in the limited foraging area of an inshore seabird species, the little penguin. Oecologia 176, 399–408 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-014-3018-3

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