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Poor body conditions during the breeding period in a seabird population with low breeding success

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Abstract

Breeding has a high energetic cost and, in central place foragers, also restricts the ability of parents for self-foraging, with affecting on their body and immunological conditions. In migratory species, breeding overlaps the period of recovery of body conditions before the following outbound migration. Those factors may reduce the breeding success and even lead parents to abandon their offspring if parental body condition cannot guarantee the success of the next migration. We studied the body and immunological conditions of a low breeding success population of Brown Skuas (Stercorarius antarcticus lonnbergi) throughout their breeding season. We evaluated changes in their body mass, blood parameters and heterophil:lymphocyte ratios (H:L), at three stages of their breeding period: Incubation, Early rearing and Late rearing. The body mass of female Brown skuas decreased during the initial stages of the breeding period and recovered towards the end. The changes in metabolites suggest a use of protein body reserves but not of lipid reserves. The H:L ratio did not indicate changes in the immune condition of the birds. Our results suggest that this low breeding success population begins its breeding period with a poor body condition that it continues to decline throughout the season. Those poor body conditions added to the need for recovery for the next migration may be the cause of the abandonment of almost totally feathered chicks. Our evidence highlights the importance of food availability, in either the breeding or wintering sites, or both, on the health of the populations of migratory top predators.

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Acknowledgements

This work was made possible thanks to the logistic and financial support of Instituto Antártico Argentino. We thank D. Podestá, F. Di Sallo, L. Pagano and E. Depino for their help in the fieldwork and J. Origlia for his training in leucocyte identification. We thank P. Plaza and two reviewers for their comments and K. Bildstein for improving the English.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Grupo de Investigaciones en Biología de la Conservación, Laboratorio Ecotono, INIBIOMA (Universidad Nacional del Comahue, CONICET), Pasaje Gutierrez 1125 (R8400FRF), San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina

    Maricel Graña Grilli

  2. Laboratorio de Análisis Clínicos y Bioquímicos del Hospital Interzonal General de Agudos (HIGA) Luisa C. Gandulfo, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Marcela Pari

  3. Sección Ornitología, Div. Zool. Vert., Museo de la Plata (FCNyM-UNLP), La Plata, Argentina

    Andrés Ibañez

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  1. Maricel Graña Grilli
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  2. Marcela Pari
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Correspondence to Maricel Graña Grilli.

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The permit to carry out the fieldwork for this work was given by Dirección Nacional del Antártico. All applicable international, national, and institutional guidelines for sampling, care and experimental use of animals for the study were followed.

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Responsible Editor: Y. Cherel.

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Graña Grilli, M., Pari, M. & Ibañez, A. Poor body conditions during the breeding period in a seabird population with low breeding success. Mar Biol 165, 142 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-018-3401-4

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