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Foraging behavior and habitat use by the Southern Giant Petrel on the Patagonian Shelf

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Abstract

We explored the at-sea behavior and marine habitat use of the Southern Giant Petrel breeding in Patagonia, Argentina by means of satellite telemetry. Adult breeders showed a wide distribution over the Patagonian Shelf, using 74% of its surface. The maximum distance traveled from the colonies was 683 km, but on average birds moved no more than 200 km further away from their colony. Important marine areas were located in the shelf break, middle shelf and coastal waters. Areas of activity by sex overlap between 35 and 94%. Females foraged primarily away from the coast and males mainly on coastal areas. Both sexes were capable of flying up to 4,000 km but most of the foraging trips were of less than 200 km. Our results emphasize the importance of the Patagonian Shelf as foraging habitat for pelagic seabirds and contribute to international efforts to identify and protect a network of marine sites.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by Wildlife Conservation Society, Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (PICT 1/6372) and Ecocentro Puerto Madryn. S. Copello was funded by a PhD fellowship from CONICET and Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica. We thank Centro Nacional Patagónico for institutional support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro Nacional Patagónico (CONICET), (U9120ACF), Puerto Madryn, Argentina

    Flavio Quintana, Olga P. Dell’Arciprete & Sofia Copello

  2. Wildlife Conservation Society, New York, NY, 10460, USA

    Flavio Quintana

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  1. Flavio Quintana
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  2. Olga P. Dell’Arciprete
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  3. Sofia Copello
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Correspondence to Flavio Quintana.

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Communicated by S. Garthe.

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Quintana, F., Dell’Arciprete, O.P. & Copello, S. Foraging behavior and habitat use by the Southern Giant Petrel on the Patagonian Shelf. Mar Biol 157, 515–525 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-009-1337-4

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