Abstract
MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 619:137-147 (2019) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps12949 Reproductive success in the European shag is linked to annual variation in diet and foraging trip metrics Svein-Håkon Lorentsen1,*, Jenny Mattisson1, Signe Christensen-Dalsgaard1,2 1Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, 7485 Trondheim, Norway 2Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), 7491 Trondheim, Norway *Corresponding author: shl@nina.no ABSTRACT: Seabird populations have declined worldwide, and several of the potential threats are of anthropogenic origin. To understand how changes in seabird populations relate to environmental conditions it is important to know the functional relationships between prey availability and foraging behaviour, prey choice and breeding performance over several years. This was studied by linking breeding success of European shag Phalacrocorax aristotelis to variation in diet composition, and investigating the underlaying mechanism driving this variation, primarily based on behavioural costs associated with foraging, such as foraging range and diving effort. We obtained demographic data and foraging trip metrics (using GPS-loggers and time-depth recorders) from a shag colony at Sklinna, Central Norway, during the 2011-2016 breeding seasons. Breeding population size was closely and positively correlated with breeding success, which in turn was positively correlated with the proportion of saithe Pollachius virens in the diet. When the dietary proportion of uncommon prey species increased, breeding success decreased. Breeding success was negatively influenced by increasing distance travelled and accumulated dive depths on an annual basis. Summed dive depths were greatest when prey species other than saithe dominated the diet. We found that in years with low availability of saithe fewer shags bred, and those that did had lower breeding success. This indicates that in years with poor feeding conditions, there might not be sufficient resources in the foraging area to support the whole breeding population of shags. KEY WORDS: Phalacrocorax aristotelis · Seabird diet · Saithe · Pollachius virens · Foraging range · Trip length · Dive depth Full text in pdf format Supplementary material PreviousNextCite this article as: Lorentsen SH, Mattisson J, Christensen-Dalsgaard S (2019) Reproductive success in the European shag is linked to annual variation in diet and foraging trip metrics. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 619:137-147. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps12949 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 619. Online publication date: June 04, 2019 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2019 Inter-Research.
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