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Interannual study of Chinstrap penguin’s diet and reproductive success at Laurie Island, South Orkney Islands, Antarctica

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Abstract

Inter-annual variability in the diet of Chinstrap penguins (Pygoscelis antarctica) at Laurie Island, South Orkney Islands was examined based on stomach contents of adults coming ashore during the 1997/1998–2001/2002 breeding seasons. Krill (Euphausia superba) dominated the diet either as frequency of occurrence (in 100% of samples), number (>99%), and percentage contribution in weight (>99.5%). Other prey items were minor but did vary between years. The contribution in weight of fish, amphipods and cephalopods ranged between 0.01–0.5, <0.01–0.14 and 0–0.03, respectively. Although minor components varied slightly along the years, the weight of stomach contents was significantly different. It was found that for a given weight the maximum observed percentage of undigested krill resulted negatively correlated with the stomach contents total weight. The proportion of whole krill observed in individual penguins, expressed as a fraction of the maximum corresponding to its weight was used to characterize the prevailing conditions in each season.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank members of Orcadas Station for their logistic help. We gratefully acknowledge the professional assistance of rangers of Administración de Parques Nacionales, G. Soave, V. Ferretti and G. Leotta. Dr. Gloria Alonso for her help in amphipods determination and Dr. Ricardo Casaux for his help in fish otolits determination.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Antártico Argentino, Cerrito 1248, (C1010AAZ), Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Emilce Rombolá, Enrique Marschoff & Néstor Coria

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  1. Emilce Rombolá
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  2. Enrique Marschoff
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  3. Néstor Coria
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Correspondence to Emilce Rombolá.

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Rombolá, E., Marschoff, E. & Coria, N. Interannual study of Chinstrap penguin’s diet and reproductive success at Laurie Island, South Orkney Islands, Antarctica. Polar Biol 29, 502–509 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-005-0081-6

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