A comparison of three methods to investigate the diet of breeding double-crested cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) in the Beaver Archipelago, northern Lake Michigan

  • Nancy E. Seefelt
  • James C. Gillingham
Chapter
Part of the Developments in Hydrobiology book series (DIHY, volume 189)

Abstract

In order to understand the role of waterbirds in aquatic food webs it is important to first get an accurate depiction of their diet. Three methods of dietary assessment (pellets, regurgitate and stomach contents) are compared here for breeding double-crested cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) of the Beaver Archipelago, northern Lake Michigan. By numerical frequency (percent number), each method yielded different depictions of the diet. However, in terms of presence and absence (percent frequency) of possible prey types, stomach content data did agree with both pellets and regurgitate data. However, differences were noted between regurgitate and pellets. In terms of biomass measured (percent biomass) in regurgitate and stomachs, data gathered agreed. In essence, pellets underestimate the importance of alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) and overestimate the importance of crayfish (Orconectes sp.) in the diet when compared to both regurgitate and stomach analysis. The non-lethal method of regurgitate collection and analysis appears most practical in assessing cormorant diet in this system. In combination with information on avian foraging ecology and prey populations, these data may be used to investigate the relationships among cormorants and their prey, and lead to a better understanding of Great Lake food web dynamics.

Key words

alewife cormorant crayfish pellets regurgitate stomach contents 
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Birt, V. L., T. P. Birt, D. Goulet, D. K. Cairns & W. A. Montevecchi, 1987. Ashmole’s halo: direct evidence for prey depletion by a seabird. Marine Ecology Progress Series 40: 205–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  2. Blackwell, B. F., W. B. Krohn & R. B. Allen, 1995. Foods of nestling Double-crested Cormorants in Penobscot Bay, Maine, USA: temporal and spatial comparisons. Colonial Waterbirds 18(Special Publication 1): 199–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. Blackwell, B. F. & J. A. Sinclair, 1995. Evidence for secondary consumption of fish by Double-crested Cormorants Marine Ecology (Progress Series) 123: 1–4.Google Scholar
  4. Brown, K. M. & P. J. Ewins, 1996. Technique-dependent biases in determination of diet composition: an example with Ringbilled Gulls. Condor 98: 34–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  5. Brugger, K. E., 1993. Digestibility of three fish species by Double-crested Cormorants. Condor 95: 25–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  6. Cairns, D. K., 1992. Bridging the gap between ornithology and fisheries science: use of seabird data in stock assessment models. Condor 94: 811–824.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  7. Carss, D. N. & The Diet Assessment and Food Intake Working Group, 1997. Techniques for assessing cormorant diet and food intake: towards a consensus view. Supplemento alle Ricerche di Biologia della Selvaggina 26: 197–230.Google Scholar
  8. Chen, C., R. Ji, D. J. Schwab, D. Beletsky, G. L. Fahnenstiel, M. Jiang, T. H. Johengen, H. Vnaderploeg, B. Eadie, J. W. Budd, M. H. Bundy, W. Gardner, J. Cortner & P. J. Lavrentyev, 2002. A model study of coupled biological and physical dynamics in Lake Michigan. Ecological Modelling 152: 145–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  9. Craven, S. R. & E. Lev, 1987. Double-crested Cormorants in the Apostle Islands, Wisconsin, USA: population trends, foods habits and fishery depredations. Colonial Waterbirds 10: 64–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  10. da Silva, J. & J. D. Neilson, 1985. Limitations of using otoliths recovered in scats to estimate prey consumption in seals. Canadian Journal of Fish and Aquatic Sciences 42: 1439–1442.Google Scholar
  11. Derby, C. E. & J. R. Lovvorn, 1997. Comparison of pellets versus collected birds for sampling diets of Double-crested Cormorants. Condor 99: 549–553.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  12. Duffy, D. C. & L. J. E. Laurenson, 1983. Pellets of Cape Cormorants as indicators of diet. Condor 85: 305–307.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  13. Dunn, E. H., 1975. Caloric intake of nestling Double-crested Cormorants. Auk 92: 553–565.Google Scholar
  14. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 2000. Lake Michigan Lake Management Plan.Google Scholar
  15. Fuller, K., H. Shear & J. Wittig (eds), 1995. The Great Lakes Atlas. Enviornment Canada and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.Google Scholar
  16. Hatch, J. J. & D. V. C. Weseloh, 1999. Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus). In Poole, A. & F. Gill (eds), The Birds of North America. Inc., Philidelphia, Pennsylvania, No. 441.Google Scholar
  17. Hebert, C. E. & H. A. Morrison, 2003. Consumption of fish and other prey items by Lake Erie waterbirds. Journal of Great Lakes Research 29: 213–227.Google Scholar
  18. Hebert, C. E. & W. G. Sprules, 2002. The relevance of seabird ecology to Great Lakes Management. Journal of Great Lakes Research 28: 91–103.Google Scholar
  19. Jobling, M. & A. Breiby, 1986. The use and abuse of fish otoliths in the studies of feeding habits of marine piscivores. Sarsia 71: 265–274.Google Scholar
  20. Johnson, J. H. & R. M. Ross, 1996. Pellets versus feces: their relative importance in describing the food habits of Doublecrested Cormorants. Journal of Great Lakes Research 22: 795–798.Google Scholar
  21. Johnson, J. H., R. M. Ross & C. M. Adams, 1999. Diet composition of Double-crested Cormorants in Eastern Lake Ontario, 1998. In Final Report: To Assess the Impact of Double-crested Cormorant Predation on the Smallmouth Bass and Other Fishes of the Eastern Basin of Lake Ontario. Joint Report of NYSDEEC Bureau of Fishes and the US Geological Survey Biology Resource Division.Google Scholar
  22. Johnson, J. H., R. M. Ross, R. D. McCullough & B. Edmonds, 2001a. Diet composition and fish consumption of Doublecrested Cormorants from the Pigeon and Snake Island colonies of eastern Lake Ontario in 2000. NYSDEC Special Report, Section 5: 1–9.Google Scholar
  23. Johnson, J. H., R. M. Ross, R. D. McCullough & B. Edmonds, 2001b. Diet composition and fish consumption of Doublecrested Cormorants from the Little Galloo Island colony of eastern Lake Ontario in 2000. NYSDEC Special Report, Section 3: 1–7.Google Scholar
  24. Johnson, J. H., R. M. Ross, R. D. McCullough & B. Edmonds, 2003. Diet composition and fish consumption of Doublecrested Cormorants from the Little Galloo Island colony of eastern Lake Ontario in 2002. NYSDEC Special Report, Section 3: 1–8.Google Scholar
  25. Johnstone, I. G., M. P. Harris, S. Waneless & J. A. Graves, 1990. The usefulness of pellets for assessing the diet of adult Shags Phalacrocorax aristotelis. Bird Study 37: 5–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  26. Kerfoot, W. C., 1987. Cascading effects and indirect pathways. In Kerfoot, W. C. & A. Sih (eds), Predation: Direct and Indirect Impacts on Aquatic Communities. University of New England Press, Hanover, New Hampshire, 57–70.Google Scholar
  27. Kirsch, E. M., 1995. Double-crested Cormorants along the upper Mississippi River. Colonial Waterbirds 18(Special Publication 1): 131–136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  28. Lantry, B. F., T. H. Eckert & C. P. Schneider, 1999. The relationship between the abundance of Smallmouth Bass and Double-crested Cormorants in the Eastern Basin of Lake Ontario. In Final Report: To Assess the Impact of Doublecrested Cormorants Predation on the Smallmouth Bass and Other Fishers of the Eastern Basin of Lake Ontario. NYSDEC Special Report, February 1999, Section 12: 1–10.Google Scholar
  29. Lewis, H. G., 1929. The Natural History of the Double-crested Cormorant. Ru-Mi-Loo Books, Ottawa, Ontario.Google Scholar
  30. Ludwig, J. P. & C. L. Summer, 1997. Population status and diet of cormorants in Les Cheneaux Islands area. In Diana, J. S., G. Y. Belyea & R. D. Clark Jr. (eds), History, Status, and Trends in Populations of Yellow Perch and Double-crested Cormorants in Les Cheneaux Islands, Michigan. State of Michigan Department of Natural Resources, No. 17: 5–25.Google Scholar
  31. Ludwig, J. P., C. N. Hull, M. E. Ludwig & H. J. Auman, 1989. Food habits and feeding ecology of nesting Double-crested Cormorants in the upper Great Lakes, 1986–1989. The Jack-Pine Warbler 67: 115–126.Google Scholar
  32. Madenjian, C. P. & S. W. Gabrey, 1995. Waterbird predation of fish in western Lake Erie: a bioenergenics model application. Condor 97: 141–153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  33. Maruca, S. L., 1997. The impact of cormorant predation on yellow perch in Les Cheneaux Islands, Lake Huron. In Diana, J. S., G. Y. Belyea & R. D. Clark Jr. (eds), History, Status, and Trends in Populations of Yellow Perch and Double-crested Cormorants in Les Cheneaux Islands, Michigan. State of Michigan Department of Natural Resources, No. 17: 47–70.Google Scholar
  34. Neuman, J., D. L. Pearl, P. J. Ewins, R. Black, D. V. Weseloh, M. Pike & K. Karwowski, 1997. Spatial and temporal variation in the diet of Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) breeding in the lower Great Lakes in the early 1990s. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 54: 1569–1584.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  35. Ross, R. M. & J. H. Johnson, 1995. Seasonal and annual changes on the diet of Double-crested Cormorants: implications for Lake Ontario’s fishery. Great Lakes Resource Review 2: 1–9.Google Scholar
  36. Ross, R. M. & J. H. Johnson, 1999. Effect of altered salmonid stocking methods on cormorant predation in eastern Lake Ontario. In Final Report: To Assess the Impact of Doublecrested Cormorants Predation on the Smallmouth Bass and Other Fishers of the Eastern Basin of Lake Ontario. NYSDEC Special Report, February 1999, Section 11: 1–10.Google Scholar
  37. Russel, A. F., S. Wanless & M. P. Harris, 1995. Factors affecting the production of pellets by Shags Phalacrocorax aristotelis. Seabird 17: 44–49.Google Scholar
  38. Schiavone, A., 2001. Double-crested Cormorant predation on Smallmouth Bass and other fishes of the eastern basin of Lake Ontario: summary of 2000 studies. NYSDEC Special Report: Section 1: 1–5.Google Scholar
  39. Sokal, R. R. & F. J. Rohlf, 1995. Biometry (3rd edn.). W.H. Freeman and Company, New York, 887 pp.Google Scholar
  40. Suter, W., 1995. The effect of predation by wintering cormorants Phalacrocorax carbon grayling Thymallus thymallus and trout (Salmonidae) populations: two case studies from Swiss rivers. Journal of Applied Ecology 32: 29–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  41. Trauttmansdorff, J. & G. Wassermann, 1995. Number of pellets produced by immature cormorants Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis. Ardea 83: 133–134.Google Scholar
  42. Vanni, M. J., 1987. Indirect effect of predators on age-structured prey populations: planktivorous fish and zooplankton. In Kerfoot, W. C. & A. Sih (eds), Predation: Direct and Indirect Impacts on Aquatic Communities. University of New England Press, Hanover, New Hampshire, 149–160.Google Scholar
  43. Wanless, S., M. P. Harris & A. F. Russel, 1993. Factors influencing food-load sizes brought in by Shags Phalacrocorax aristotelis during chick rearing. Ibis 135: 19–24.Google Scholar
  44. Warke, G. M. A. & K. R. Day, 1995. Changes in the abundance of cyprinid and percid prey affect the rate of predation by cormorants Phalacrocorax carbo carbo on salmon Salmo salar smolt in northern Ireland. Ardea 83: 157–166.Google Scholar
  45. Weseloh, D. V. C. & P. J. Ewins, 1994. Characteristics of a rapidly increasing colony of Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) in Lake Ontario: population size reproductive parameters and band recoveries. Journal of Great Lakes Research 20: 443–456.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  46. Wires, L. R., D. N. Carss, F. J. Cuthbert & J. J. Hatch, 2003. Transcontinental connections in relation to cormorant-fishery conflicts: perceptions and realities of a “bete noire” (black beast) on both sides of the Atlantic. Vogelwelt 124: 389–400.Google Scholar
  47. Wires, L. R., F. J. Cuthbert, D. R. Trexel & A. R. Joshi, 2001. Status of the Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) in North America. Final Report to USFWS.Google Scholar
  48. Ziljstra, M. & M. R. van Eerden, 1995. Pellet production and the use of otoliths in determining the diet of Cormorants Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis: trials with captive birds. Ardea 83: 123–131.Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer 2006

Authors and Affiliations

  • Nancy E. Seefelt
    • 1
    • 2
  • James C. Gillingham
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of BiologyCentral Michigan UniversityMt. PleasantUSA
  2. 2.Department of ZoologyMichigan State UniversityEast LansingUSA

Personalised recommendations