Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Spring diet of common eiders (Somateria mollissima) in Breiðafjörður, West Iceland, indicates non-bivalve preferences

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Polar Biology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Breiðafjörður is an important molting, breeding, and wintering area for about 25 % of the Icelandic common eider (Somateria mollissima) population. However, feeding habits of eiders in this area have not been investigated until now. Prey selection was analyzed from 192 stomach samples (esophagus and proventriculus) collected in spring 2007–2010. Thirty-five prey species were identified; the highest percentage occurrences were of gastropods (79 %), chitons (polyplacophorans) (58 %), crustaceans (43 %), bivalves (26 %), and echinoderms (8 %). The most common food species was the mottled red chiton Tonicella marmorea (58 %), followed by the common whelk Buccinum undatum (40 %), the spider crab Hyas arenarius (39 %), and the chink shell Lacuna vincta (35 %). The majority of the food items was of small size and consumed in high quantity. The chitons and mussels were of similar average sizes (11.7 and 13.4 mm, respectively), which might suggest that prey size could be as important as species in food selection. There were some inter-annual differences in dominant prey classes between years. For example T. marmorea was found in 60–70 % of birds in the years 2007 and 2009 but only in 30 % of the birds in the other years investigated. Diets of males and females were equally diverse and similar when all months and years were pooled. Prey selection was highly variable but most individuals focused on few or a single species in the hours prior to collection. Results indicate that the most common prey species for common eiders is a chiton and not blue mussels as reported elsewhere.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bagge P, Lemmetyinen R, Raitis T (1973) Spring food of some diving waterfowl in the southwestern Finnish archipelago. Oikos 15:146–150

    Google Scholar 

  • Beukema JJ (1993) Increased mortality in alternative bivalve prey during a period when the tidal flats of the Dutch Wadden sea were devoid of mussels. Neth J Sea Res 31:395–406

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bolduc F, Guillemette M (2003) Incubation constancy and mass loss in the common eider Somateria mollissima. Ibis 145:329–332

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bustnes JO (1998) Selection of blue mussels, Mytilus edulis, by common eiders, Somateria mollissima, by size in relation to shell content. Can J Zool 76:1787–1790

    Google Scholar 

  • Bustnes JO, Erikstad KE (1988) The diets of sympatric wintering populations of common eider Somateria mollissima and king eider Somateria spectabilis in northern Norway. Ornis Fenn 65:163–168

    Google Scholar 

  • Bustnes JO, Erikstad KE (1990) Size-selection of common mussels, Mytilus edulis, by common eiders (Somateria mollissima): energy maximization or shell weight minimization? Can J Zool 68:2280–2283

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bustnes JO, Tertitski GM (2000) Common eider Somateria mollissima. In: Nielsen A, Bakken V, Ström H, Goluvkin AN, Bianki VV, Tatarinkova IP (eds) The status of marine birds breeding in the Barents Sea Region. Norvegian Polar Institute, Tromsö, pp 46–50

    Google Scholar 

  • Cantin M, Bédard J, Milne H (1974) The food and feeding of common eiders in the St. Lawrence estuary in summer. Can J Zool 52:319–334

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ens BJ, Kats RKH, Camphuysen CJ (2006) Waarom Zijn Eiders niet massaal gestovern in de winter van 2005/2006? Limosa 79:95–106

    Google Scholar 

  • Frimer O (1997) Diet of moulting king eiders Somateria spectabilis at Diskoisland, West Greenland. Ornis Fenn 74:187–194

    Google Scholar 

  • Gardarsson A (2009) Numbers of common eider, long-tailed duck, red-breasted merganser, and mallard, wintering on the coast of Iceland. Bliki 30:49–54 (in Icelandic with English Summary)

    Google Scholar 

  • Gardarsson A, Nielsen ÓK, Ingólfsson A (1980) Rannsóknir í Önundarfirði og víðar á Vestfjörðum 1979. Fuglar og fjörur. Líffræðistofnun Háskóla Íslands. Fjölrit 12 (in Icelandic)

  • Goudie RI, Ankney CD (1986) Body size, activity budgets, and diet of sea ducks wintering in Newfoundland. Ecology 67:1475–1482

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grimmett RF, Jones TA (1989) Important bird areas in Europe. International Council for Bird Preservation, Technical Publication 9, Cambridge

  • Guijarro-García E (2007) History and impact of the Chlamys and Pandalus fisheries in the NE Atlantic, with emphasis in Iceland. Dissertation, Universidad de Alicante

  • Guillemette M, Himmelman JH (1996) Distrubution of wintering common eiders over mussel beds: does the ideal free distrubution apply? Oikos 76:435–442

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guillemette M, Ydenberg RC, Himmelman JH (1992) The role of energy intake rate in prey and habitat selection of common eiders Somateria mollissima in winter: a risk sensitive interpretation. J Anim Ecol 61:599–610

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guillemette M, Himmelman JH, Barette C, Reed A (1993) Habitat selection by common eiders in winter and its interaction with flock size. Can J Zool 71:1259–1266

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guillemette M, Reed A, Himmelman JH (1995) Availability and consumption of food by common eiders wintering in the Gulf of St. Lawrence: evidence of prey depletion. Can J Zool 74:32–38

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton DJ (2000) Direct and indirect effects of predation by common eiders and abiotic disturbance in an intertidal community. Ecol Monogr 70:21–43

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton DJ, Nudds TD, Neate J (1999) Size-selective predation of blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) by common eiders (Somateria mollissima) under controlled field conditions. Auk 116:403–416

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ingólfsson A (2006) The intertidal seashore of Iceland and its animal communities. Zool Icel 1:1–85

    Google Scholar 

  • Jonasson JP, Thorarinsdottir G, Eiriksson H, Solmundsson J, Marteinsdottir G (2006) Collapse of the fishery for Iceland scallop (Chlamys islandica) in Breidafjördur, West Iceland. ICES J Mar Sci 64:298–308

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kallenborn R, Hartwig E, Huhnerfuss ETH (1994) Vergleich der Nahrung von Eiderenten (Somateria mollissima) (L) aus Oehe-Schleimunde mit Ergebnissen aus untershiedlichen Nord-und Ostseegetieten. Sevögel 15:31–37

    Google Scholar 

  • Krasno YV, Shklyarevich A, Goryaev UI (2009) Feeding habit of the common eider Somateria mollissima in the White Sea. Dockl Biol Sci 27:343–345

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kristjánsson TÖ, Jónsson JE (2011) Effect of down collection on incubation temperature, nesting behaviour and hatching success of common eiders (Somateria mollissima) in west Iceland. Polar Biol 34:985–994

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kristmundsson A, Helgason S, Bambir SH, Eydal M, Freeman MA (2011) Previously unknown apicomplexan species infecting Iceland scallop, Chlamys islandica (Muller, 1776), queen scallop, Aequipecten opercularis Land king scallop, Pecten maximus L. Invertebr Pathol 108:147–155

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Larsen JK, Guillemette M (2000) Influence of annual variation in food supply on abundance of wintering common eiders Somateria mollissima. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 201:301–309

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leopold MF (1993) Spisula’s zeeëende en kokkelvissers: een nieuw milieuprobleem op de Noordzee. Sula 7:24–28

    Google Scholar 

  • Leopold MF, Kats RKH, Ens BJ (2001) Diet (preferences) of common eiders Somateria mollisssima. Wadden Sea Newsl 1:25–31

    Google Scholar 

  • Madsen FJ (1954) On food habits of diving ducks in Denmark. Dan Rev Game Biol 2:157–266

    Google Scholar 

  • Merkel FR, Jamieson SE, Falk K, Mosbech A (2007) The diet of common eiders wintering in Nuuk, Southwest Greenland. Polar Biol 30:227–234

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nehls G, Ketzenberg C (2002) Do common eiders Somateria mollissima exhaust their food resources? A study on natural mussel Mytilis edulis beds in the Wadden Sea. Danish Rev Game Biol 16:47–61

    Google Scholar 

  • Nyström KGK, Pehrsson O, Broman D (1991) Food of juvenile common eiders (Somateria mollissima) in areas of high and low salinity. Auk 108:250–256

    Google Scholar 

  • Poppe G, Goto Y (1991) European seashells. Verlag Christa Hemmen, Wiesbaden, Federal Republic of Germany

  • Rodway MS, Cooke F (2002) Use of fecal analysis to determine seasonal changes in the diet of wintering harlequin ducks at a herring spawning site. J Field Ornithol 73:363–371

    Google Scholar 

  • Skírnisson K, Jónsson AA (1996) Parasites and ecology of the common eider in Iceland. Bull Scand Soc Para 6:126–127

    Google Scholar 

  • Sokal RR, Rolf FJ (2001) Biometry. W.E. Freeman and Company, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Swennen C, Ursem JCH, Duiven P (1993) Determinate laying and egg attendance in common eiders. OrnisScand 24:48–52

    Google Scholar 

  • Tulp I, Craeymeersch J, Leopold M, van Damme C, Frouke F, Verdaat H (2010) The role of the invasive bivalve Ensis directus as a food source for fish and birds in the Dutch coastal zone. Estu Coast Shelf Sci 90:116–128

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank all the lumpfishermen around Flatey and Stykkishólmur, which provided us with eiders and the harbormaster in Stykkishólmur, HrannarPétursson, for his assistance. We acknowledge Smári J. Lúðvíksson and Auður Alexandersdóttir for their support of this research and the eider farmers at Hvallátur. We thank Eric Dos Santos, Karl Gunnarsson, and Gudrún G. Thorarinsdóttir for their constructive comments and Larry Jacobson for comments that improved earlier draft of this manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland

    Thordur Örn Kristjánsson & Jörundur Svavarsson

  2. Snæfellsnes Research Centre, University of Iceland, Stykkishólmur, Iceland

    Thordur Örn Kristjánsson & Jón Einar Jónsson

Authors
  1. Thordur Örn Kristjánsson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jón Einar Jónsson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jörundur Svavarsson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thordur Örn Kristjánsson.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Kristjánsson, T.Ö., Jónsson, J.E. & Svavarsson, J. Spring diet of common eiders (Somateria mollissima) in Breiðafjörður, West Iceland, indicates non-bivalve preferences. Polar Biol 36, 51–59 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-012-1238-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-012-1238-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation