Investigation of Interacting Effects of Female Age, Laying Dates, and Egg Size in Yellow-eyed Penguins (Megadyptes antipodes)

Abstract

Abstract Increased experience with age may allow long-lived seabirds to forage more efficiently and ultimately to invest more into reproduction. In many seabirds, egg size increases with female age, but declines with laying date. Declines in laying date might be due either to quality of individual females or females may adjust their egg size in response to poorer conditions typically found late in the season. We investigated the influence of female age, date of laying, and annual variation on egg size in Yellow-eyed Penguins (Megadyptes antipodes). Further, we tested whether there was an effect of individual females or female age on date of laying. Whereas female age influenced egg volume, mass, and width, laying date had no effect on egg size or mass in Yellow-eyed Penguins. Laying dates differed significantly among females but were not affected by their ages. These results indicate that in Yellow-eyed Penguins, some individual females lay consistently early or late, regardless of age, but that egg size generally increases with age.