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Trophic interactions between brown and south polar skuas at Deception Island, Antarctica

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Abstract

It is broadly accepted that the brown skua (Stercorarius antarcticus lonnbergi) competitively excludes the south polar skua (S. maccormicki) from penguin colonies when breeding sympatrically, forcing the latter to feed on marine resources. The purpose of this work was to examine the diets and trophic niche breadths of each species where they co-occur and to determine the degree of overlap. To this end, we analyzed 169 pellets of brown skuas, collected in two different areas (20 individuals), and 152 of south polar skuas, collected in three different areas (18 individuals), on Deception Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica, during the austral summer 2000. Pellet analysis often underestimates the amount of easily digestible prey, but allows for comparisons of the relative contributions of different items in the diet. South polar skuas at our study locations consumed seven different food items and had a trophic niche breadth of 0.133 compared to brown skuas that fed on 10 different items and had a trophic niche breadth of 0.078. The niche overlap between the species was 82.1%. Penguins were the principal food source of both species, however, brown skuas fed mostly on chicks, while south polar skuas fed on adults (carcasses). The use of different age classes of penguins as a food source offers an alternative to competitive exclusion, allowing the coexistence of these species on Deception Island.

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Acknowledgments

We thank M. S. Bó and S. Copello for their participation in the field work and M. Libertelli for assistance with lab work. The Instituto Antártico Argentino gave permission and financial support. We are also grateful to S. Votier and other reviewers whose observations helped us to improve this manuscript. Finally, we are very grateful to Daniel Brooks and the Editorial Assistance Program of the Association of Field Ornithologists and to Melanie Colon who, through that program, improved the English and made useful comments on the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CONICET—Instituto Antártico Argentino, Cerrito 1248, C1010AAZ, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Maricel Graña Grilli & Diego Montalti

  2. Sección Ornitología, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Paseo del Bosque, B1900FWA, La Plata, Argentina

    Diego Montalti

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  1. Maricel Graña Grilli
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  2. Diego Montalti
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Correspondence to Maricel Graña Grilli.

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Graña Grilli, M., Montalti, D. Trophic interactions between brown and south polar skuas at Deception Island, Antarctica. Polar Biol 35, 299–304 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-011-1054-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-011-1054-6

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