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Chick survival in relation to nest site: is the Antarctic petrel hiding from its predator?

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Abstract

In birds, the characteristics of the nest site may affect reproductive success. We found that shelter is an important characteristic of the Antarctic petrel (Thalassoica antarctica) nests because shelter prevents chick predation. However, the benefit of shelter was countervailed by melt water which mainly entered well-sheltered nests. Chick survival was monitored until the chick was left unattended for the first time. Late-hatched chicks had a higher survival probability than early-hatched chicks, possibly because late hatchers swamp the predator, the south polar skua (Catharacta maccormicki). Poorly sheltered nests tended to be occupied by parents with low body mass and late-hatched eggs. The results suggest that both shelter per se and parental characteristics may explain the relationship between predation risk and shelter. We need experiments to study the influence of nest site on reproductive success, and we need to map the frequency of melt water as a cause of reproductive failure.

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Acknowledgements

This is NARE contribution no. 175 from the Norwegian Antarctic Research Expedition 2000/2001. We thank the Research Council of Norway for financial support and the Norwegian Polar Institute for logistical support. We are grateful to J.A. Henden and I. Birkeland for good company in the field, and we thank two anonymous referees for comments on the manuscript.

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  1. Øystein Varpe

    Present address: Department of Biology, University of Bergen, 5020, Bergen, Norway

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, Department of Arctic Ecology, The Polar Environmental Centre, Tromsø, 9296, Norway

    Øystein Varpe & Torkild Tveraa

  2. Department of Biology, University of Tromsø, Tromsø, 9037, Norway

    Øystein Varpe

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  1. Øystein Varpe
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  2. Torkild Tveraa
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Correspondence to Øystein Varpe.

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Varpe, Ø., Tveraa, T. Chick survival in relation to nest site: is the Antarctic petrel hiding from its predator?. Polar Biol 28, 388–394 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-004-0695-0

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