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Diet of yellow-billed loons (Gavia adamsii) in Arctic lakes during the nesting season inferred from fatty acid analysis

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Abstract

Understanding the dietary habits of yellow-billed loons (Gavia adamsii) can give important insights into their ecology, however, studying the diet of loons is difficult when direct observation or specimen collection is impractical. We investigate the diet of yellow-billed loons nesting on the Arctic Coastal Plain of Alaska using quantitative fatty acid signature analysis. Tissue analysis from 26 yellow-billed loons and eleven prey groups (nine fish species and two invertebrate groups) from Arctic lakes suggests that yellow-billed loons are eating high proportions of Alaska blackfish (Dallia pectoralis), broad whitefish (Coregonus nasus) and three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) during late spring and early summer. The prominence of blackfish in diets highlights the widespread availability of blackfish during the early stages of loon nesting, soon after spring thaw. The high proportions of broad whitefish and three-spined stickleback may reflect a residual signal from the coastal staging period prior to establishing nesting territories on lakes, when loons are more likely to encounter these species. Our analyses were sensitive to the choice of calibration coefficient based on data from three different species, indicating the need for development of loon-specific coefficients for future study and confirmation of our results. Regardless, fish that are coastally distributed and that successfully overwinter in lakes are likely key food items for yellow-billed loons early in the nesting season.

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Acknowledgments

Laboratory preparation and analysis were possible thanks to the assistance of J. Morehouse, B. Baker, S. Merrill, the Causey lab, S. Al-Shaghay and the Iverson lab. Field data were collected by T. Buckley, E. Dykstra, S. Furusawa, I. Isler, L. Koloski, C. Margolin, J. McCarter, K. Overdjuin, B. Price, T. Shoemaker, S. Stortz, A. Tate, B. Uher-Koch and K. Wright. This project was funded by a State Wildlife Grant awarded through Alaska Department of Fish & Game and the U.S. Geological Survey’s Changing Arctic Ecosystem Initiative, supported, in part, by the Wildlife Program of the USGS Ecosystem Mission Area. S. Wang made helpful suggestions during our analysis stage. J. Pearce, M. Lindberg, K. Titus, and two anonymous reviewers provided useful reviews that improved the manuscript. TBH was funded by a postgraduate scholarship provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and a Changing Alaska Science Education graduate fellowship provided by the National Science Foundation. Additional support was provided by NSERC research and equipment grants to SJI. Any use of trade, firm or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Fish and Ocean Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, 99775, USA

    Trevor B. Haynes & Veronica M. Padula

  2. U.S. Geological Survey, Alaska Science Center, Anchorage, AK, 99508, USA

    Joel A. Schmutz & Jeffrey F. Bromaghin

  3. Department of Biology, Dalhousie University, 1355 Oxford Street, Halifax, NS, B3H 4J1, Canada

    Sara J. Iverson

  4. Missouri Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, U.S. Geological Survey, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA

    Amanda E. Rosenberger

Authors
  1. Trevor B. Haynes
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  2. Joel A. Schmutz
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  3. Jeffrey F. Bromaghin
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  4. Sara J. Iverson
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  5. Veronica M. Padula
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  6. Amanda E. Rosenberger
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Correspondence to Trevor B. Haynes.

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Haynes, T.B., Schmutz, J.A., Bromaghin, J.F. et al. Diet of yellow-billed loons (Gavia adamsii) in Arctic lakes during the nesting season inferred from fatty acid analysis. Polar Biol 38, 1239–1247 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-015-1690-3

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