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Carry-over body mass effect from winter to breeding in a resident seabird, the little penguin

Using body mass and breeding data of individual penguins collected continuously over 7 years (2002–2008), we examined carry-over effects of winter body mass on timing of laying and breeding success in a resident seabird, the little penguin (Eudyptula minor). The austral winter month of July consiste...

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Autores principales: Salton, Marcus, Saraux, Claire, Dann, Peter, Chiaradia, André
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Royal Society Publishing 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4448785/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26064587
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.140390
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author Salton, Marcus
Saraux, Claire
Dann, Peter
Chiaradia, André
author_facet Salton, Marcus
Saraux, Claire
Dann, Peter
Chiaradia, André
author_sort Salton, Marcus
collection PubMed
description Using body mass and breeding data of individual penguins collected continuously over 7 years (2002–2008), we examined carry-over effects of winter body mass on timing of laying and breeding success in a resident seabird, the little penguin (Eudyptula minor). The austral winter month of July consistently had the lowest rate of colony attendance, which confirmed our expectation that penguins work hard to find resources at this time between breeding seasons. Contrary to our expectation, body mass in winter (July) was equal or higher than in the period before (‘moult-recovery’) and after (‘pre-breeding’) in 5 of 7 years for males and in all 7 years for females. We provided evidence of a carry-over effect of body mass from winter to breeding; females and males with higher body mass in winter were more likely to breed early and males with higher body mass in winter were likely to breed successfully. Sex differences might relate to sex-specific breeding tasks, where females may use their winter reserves to invest in egg-laying, whereas males use their winter reserves to sustain the longer fasts ashore during courtship. Our findings suggest that resident seabirds like little penguins can also benefit from a carry-over effect of winter body mass on subsequent breeding.
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spelling pubmed-44487852015-06-10 Carry-over body mass effect from winter to breeding in a resident seabird, the little penguin Salton, Marcus Saraux, Claire Dann, Peter Chiaradia, André R Soc Open Sci Biology (Whole Organism) Using body mass and breeding data of individual penguins collected continuously over 7 years (2002–2008), we examined carry-over effects of winter body mass on timing of laying and breeding success in a resident seabird, the little penguin (Eudyptula minor). The austral winter month of July consistently had the lowest rate of colony attendance, which confirmed our expectation that penguins work hard to find resources at this time between breeding seasons. Contrary to our expectation, body mass in winter (July) was equal or higher than in the period before (‘moult-recovery’) and after (‘pre-breeding’) in 5 of 7 years for males and in all 7 years for females. We provided evidence of a carry-over effect of body mass from winter to breeding; females and males with higher body mass in winter were more likely to breed early and males with higher body mass in winter were likely to breed successfully. Sex differences might relate to sex-specific breeding tasks, where females may use their winter reserves to invest in egg-laying, whereas males use their winter reserves to sustain the longer fasts ashore during courtship. Our findings suggest that resident seabirds like little penguins can also benefit from a carry-over effect of winter body mass on subsequent breeding. The Royal Society Publishing 2015-01-21 /pmc/articles/PMC4448785/ /pubmed/26064587 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.140390 Text en © 2015 The Authors. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ © 2015 The Authors. Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Biology (Whole Organism)
Salton, Marcus
Saraux, Claire
Dann, Peter
Chiaradia, André
Carry-over body mass effect from winter to breeding in a resident seabird, the little penguin
title Carry-over body mass effect from winter to breeding in a resident seabird, the little penguin
title_full Carry-over body mass effect from winter to breeding in a resident seabird, the little penguin
title_fullStr Carry-over body mass effect from winter to breeding in a resident seabird, the little penguin
title_full_unstemmed Carry-over body mass effect from winter to breeding in a resident seabird, the little penguin
title_short Carry-over body mass effect from winter to breeding in a resident seabird, the little penguin
title_sort carry-over body mass effect from winter to breeding in a resident seabird, the little penguin
topic Biology (Whole Organism)
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4448785/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26064587
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.140390
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