Synchronized group association in little penguins, Eudyptula minor

Daniel, Tom; Chiaradia, André; Logan, Murray; Quinn, Gerry P.; Reina, Richard D.

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2007.01.029

Cited by 37 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…This sample size was defined using power analysis and considering limits regulated by the ethics permit. Breeding success at the level of the colony was measured as the number of chicks fledged per pair (details in Daniel et al 2007); peak chick mass and initial linear chick growth were also determined (details in Chiaradia & Nisbet 2006).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of small-scale environmental perturbations on local marine food resources: a case study of a predator, the little penguin

2009

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Although the impact of environmental changes on the demographic parameters of top predators is well established, the mechanisms by which populations are affected remain poorly understood. Here, we show that a reduction in the thermal stratification of coastal water masses between 2005 and 2006 was associated with reduced foraging and breeding success of little penguins Eudyptula minor, major bio-indicators of the Bass Strait ecosystem in southern Australia. The foraging patterns of the penguins suggest that their prey disperse widely in poorly stratified waters, leading to reduced foraging efficiency and poor breeding success. Mixed water regimes resulting from storms are currently unusual during the breeding period of these birds, but are expected to become more frequent due to climate change.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of small-scale environmental perturbations on local marine food resources: a case study of a predator, the little penguin

2009

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“…Meal size is defined hereafter as the amount of food (in grams) given by an adult to its chicks. During post-guard, as parents stayed for only a few hours at a time in the colony to feed the chicks (Daniel et al 2007), we used the difference in body mass between a bird entering and then leaving the colony to estimate meal size. Meal sizes found in this study (mean 258 6 1 g) were consistent with previous findings measured by directly weighing chicks before and after meals (see Fig.…”

Section: Adult Body Masses and Meal Sizementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Here, using data collected over eight years of continuous monitoring of more than 200 birds, we investigated whether changes in foraging strategies may be used by these inshore foragers to improve chick provisioning, and which parameters (e.g., sex, year, and so on) may be key determinants underlying provisioning decisions. As one-day trips are the rule during chick guard (Chiaradia and Kerry 1999), we investigated provisioning strategies only during postguard, a period when parents are not dependent on the attendance of their partner (Daniel et al 2007), and when chicks are left unattended in the colony. We also addressed the question of whether the length of foraging trips was a response to depleted adult body mass in years of variable food supply.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plasticity in foraging strategies of inshore birds: how Little Penguins maintain body reserves while feeding offspring

Saraux

Robinson-Laverick

Maho

et al. 2011

Ecology

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Abstract. Breeding animals face important time and energy constraints when caring for themselves and their offspring. For long-lived species, life-history theory predicts that parents should favor survival over current reproductive attempts, thus investing more into their own maintenance than the provisioning of their young. In seabirds, provisioning strategies may additionally be influenced by the distance between breeding sites and foraging areas, and offshore and inshore species should thus exhibit different strategies. Here, we examine the provisioning strategies of an inshore seabird using a long-term data set on more than 200 Little Penguins, Eudyptula minor. They alternated between two consecutive long and several short foraging trips all along chick rearing, a strategy almost never observed for inshore animals. Short trips allowed for regular provisioning of the chicks (high feeding frequency and larger meals), whereas long trips were performed when parent body mass was low and enabled them to rebuild their reserves, suggesting that adult body condition may be a key factor in initiating long trips. Inshore seabirds do use dual strategies of alternating short and long trips, but from our data, on a simpler and less flexible way than for offshore birds.

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“…African penguins (Spheniscus demersus) have been shown to synchronize their diving when foraging for food (Siegfried et al, 1975;Wilson et al, 1986). Little penguins (Eudyptula minor) show synchronized parading, tending to leave and return to the colonies with the same individuals in good breeding years (Daniel et al, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavioural synchrony in two species of communally housed captive penguins

Foerder

Chodorow

Moore

2013

Behav

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Animals in aggregations such as herds, schools, flocks, or colonies tend to synchronize their behaviour with each other for food acquisition and predator detection. Different species of captive penguins, when housed communally, intermingle more than in their natural habitat. Wild penguins typically divide themselves into separate colonies by species. We predicted that penguins would synchronize their behaviour more with conspecifics rather than interspecifically in a mixedspecies zoo exhibit. The subjects were 65 penguins of two different species, chinstrap (Pygoscelis antarctica) and gentoo (Pygoscelis papua) in the Central Park Zoo, New York, NY, USA. Using instantaneous scan sampling, 359 video scans were taken over 10 days. Scans were analysed for nine different categories of behaviour for both species. Intra-species synchrony scores were calculated using the Kappa coefficient of agreement, and inter-species synchrony was measured by computing cross-correlations. As predicted, overall synchrony was significantly greater within both species of penguins than for randomly aggregated data representing mixed groups. There was also significantly less synchrony between species than between randomly mixed data for six of the nine behaviour categories. The pattern of results indicates that the penguins had organized by behaviour into separate species-specific colonies within the enclosure. They maintained species separation through behavioural synchrony despite the restrictions imposed by captivity.

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Synchronized group association in little penguins, Eudyptula minor

Cited by 37 publications

References 22 publications

Impact of small-scale environmental perturbations on local marine food resources: a case study of a predator, the little penguin

Impact of small-scale environmental perturbations on local marine food resources: a case study of a predator, the little penguin

Plasticity in foraging strategies of inshore birds: how Little Penguins maintain body reserves while feeding offspring

Behavioural synchrony in two species of communally housed captive penguins

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