Comparative foraging ecology of a tropical seabird community of the Seychelles, western Indian Ocean

Marine Ecology Progress Series

Antoine Hauselmann¹  Jaime A. Ramos¹  Matthieu Le Corre¹  Maud Berlincourt¹  Teresa Catry¹  Lucie Faulquier¹  S#xe9bastien Jaquemet¹  Patrick Pinet¹ 

关键词: Tropical seabirds;    Foraging ecology;    Diet;    Temporal variations;    Food shortage;    Western Indian Ocean;   

DOI  :  10.3354/meps07713

学科分类：海洋学与技术

来源: Inter-Research

【 摘 要 】

ABSTRACT: We studied the foraging ecology of a tropical seabird community in 2 islands of the Seychelles from 2005 to 2007. Chick dietary samples were used to compare feeding habits among species and assess inter-annual and seasonal variations in diet. Fish prey dominated the diet of the community (68 to 100% of prey consumed), although cephalopods were present in 61.3, 40.0, 27.1 and 32.9% of the food samples from white-tailed tropicbirds, sooty terns, brown noddies and wedge-tailed shearwaters, respectively. We found high diet overlap between species (Mullidae fish being the first prey consumed [30 to 90%] for all species except for the white-tailed tropicbird [<2%]) but some segregation in prey length. Other important prey were Exocoetidae, Carangidae, Scombridae and Clupeidae mainly for white-tailed tropicbirds, sooty terns and brown noddies, Hemiramphidae and Coryphaenidae for white-tailed tropicbirds, and Engraulidae and fish larvae for lesser noddies and Audubon’s shearwaters. Despite some inter-annual and seasonal variations in diet, these were not consistent within the community. Responses of the seabird community to an environmental perturbation that negatively affected chick growth and breeding success of lesser noddies emphasised the higher vulnerability of species with smaller foraging ranges and/or with lower ability to switch diet (lesser noddy, roseate tern) compared to less range-restricted and/or more opportunistic ones (white-tailed tropicbird, brown noddy, sooty tern, white tern). Although situated in a tropical region, the food availability in the Seychelles seems to be predictable at a large (annual) temporal scale, but highly unpredictable at a small (intra-seasonal or daily) temporal scale.

【 授权许可】

Unknown