Cargando…

Sexual Dimorphism and Foraging Trips of the Laysan Albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) on Guadalupe Island

SIMPLE SUMMARY: We evaluated the existence of sexual dimorphism in Laysan albatross from Guadalupe Island. Males were larger than females across all the morphological variables analyzed. We created a sex predictor model for Laysan albatross individuals that requires a minimum number of input variabl...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Hernández Montoya, Julio César, Juárez-Rodríguez, Maricela, Méndez-Sánchez, Federico, Aguirre-Muñoz, Alfonso, Rojas-Mayoral, Evaristo, Íñigo-Elias, Eduardo, Galina-Tessaro, Patricia, Arnaud, Gustavo, Ortega-Rubio, Alfredo
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6617548/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31212935
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani9060364
_version_ 1783433715237519360
author Hernández Montoya, Julio César
Juárez-Rodríguez, Maricela
Méndez-Sánchez, Federico
Aguirre-Muñoz, Alfonso
Rojas-Mayoral, Evaristo
Íñigo-Elias, Eduardo
Galina-Tessaro, Patricia
Arnaud, Gustavo
Ortega-Rubio, Alfredo
author_facet Hernández Montoya, Julio César
Juárez-Rodríguez, Maricela
Méndez-Sánchez, Federico
Aguirre-Muñoz, Alfonso
Rojas-Mayoral, Evaristo
Íñigo-Elias, Eduardo
Galina-Tessaro, Patricia
Arnaud, Gustavo
Ortega-Rubio, Alfredo
author_sort Hernández Montoya, Julio César
collection PubMed
description SIMPLE SUMMARY: We evaluated the existence of sexual dimorphism in Laysan albatross from Guadalupe Island. Males were larger than females across all the morphological variables analyzed. We created a sex predictor model for Laysan albatross individuals that requires a minimum number of input variables and will considerably reduce the handling times and field costs of future studies. Laysan albatross foraging trips were recorded during their breeding season over multiple years and no significant differences were found between the distances travelled by males versus females. ABSTRACT: Sexual dimorphism in the Laysan albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) on Guadalupe Island was evaluated during the breeding seasons of 2015–2018 by measuring and comparing 10 morphological attributes: cranial length, bill length, nostril length, cranial width, bill height, bill width, tarsus length, closed wing length, opened wing length, and wingspan length in reproductive adults (n = 135). Males were larger than females across all traits (Student’s t-test, p < 0.05, p < 0.05). We created a logistic model using stepwise regression to predict sex based on morphological variables. This model indicated four significant morphological predictor variables (z < 0.05) and was able to successfully predict the sex of P. immutabilis individuals in more than 90% of the cases. Based on these predictor variables, a web app was developed to determine the sex of the Laysan albatross in the field, providing a non-invasive method for rapid data collection that reduces costs and handling times while improving conservation efforts. We tracked Laysan albatross (n = 36) during breeding seasons and found no significant differences between females and males for either trip length (GLMM, F = 0.017, DF = 1, 1, p = 0.917 > 0.05) or maximum trip distance (GLMM, F = 0.374, DF = 1, 1, p = 0.651 > 0.05). Our results suggest that both sexes show a strong preference to travel to highly productive coastal waters northeast of the breeding colony that are influenced by the California Current. The present research will serve to establish a baseline to protect this species on Guadalupe Island and highlights the importance of understanding sexual dimorphism in at-risk seabird species.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-6617548
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2019
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-66175482019-07-18 Sexual Dimorphism and Foraging Trips of the Laysan Albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) on Guadalupe Island Hernández Montoya, Julio César Juárez-Rodríguez, Maricela Méndez-Sánchez, Federico Aguirre-Muñoz, Alfonso Rojas-Mayoral, Evaristo Íñigo-Elias, Eduardo Galina-Tessaro, Patricia Arnaud, Gustavo Ortega-Rubio, Alfredo Animals (Basel) Article SIMPLE SUMMARY: We evaluated the existence of sexual dimorphism in Laysan albatross from Guadalupe Island. Males were larger than females across all the morphological variables analyzed. We created a sex predictor model for Laysan albatross individuals that requires a minimum number of input variables and will considerably reduce the handling times and field costs of future studies. Laysan albatross foraging trips were recorded during their breeding season over multiple years and no significant differences were found between the distances travelled by males versus females. ABSTRACT: Sexual dimorphism in the Laysan albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) on Guadalupe Island was evaluated during the breeding seasons of 2015–2018 by measuring and comparing 10 morphological attributes: cranial length, bill length, nostril length, cranial width, bill height, bill width, tarsus length, closed wing length, opened wing length, and wingspan length in reproductive adults (n = 135). Males were larger than females across all traits (Student’s t-test, p < 0.05, p < 0.05). We created a logistic model using stepwise regression to predict sex based on morphological variables. This model indicated four significant morphological predictor variables (z < 0.05) and was able to successfully predict the sex of P. immutabilis individuals in more than 90% of the cases. Based on these predictor variables, a web app was developed to determine the sex of the Laysan albatross in the field, providing a non-invasive method for rapid data collection that reduces costs and handling times while improving conservation efforts. We tracked Laysan albatross (n = 36) during breeding seasons and found no significant differences between females and males for either trip length (GLMM, F = 0.017, DF = 1, 1, p = 0.917 > 0.05) or maximum trip distance (GLMM, F = 0.374, DF = 1, 1, p = 0.651 > 0.05). Our results suggest that both sexes show a strong preference to travel to highly productive coastal waters northeast of the breeding colony that are influenced by the California Current. The present research will serve to establish a baseline to protect this species on Guadalupe Island and highlights the importance of understanding sexual dimorphism in at-risk seabird species. MDPI 2019-06-17 /pmc/articles/PMC6617548/ /pubmed/31212935 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani9060364 Text en © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Hernández Montoya, Julio César
Juárez-Rodríguez, Maricela
Méndez-Sánchez, Federico
Aguirre-Muñoz, Alfonso
Rojas-Mayoral, Evaristo
Íñigo-Elias, Eduardo
Galina-Tessaro, Patricia
Arnaud, Gustavo
Ortega-Rubio, Alfredo
Sexual Dimorphism and Foraging Trips of the Laysan Albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) on Guadalupe Island
title Sexual Dimorphism and Foraging Trips of the Laysan Albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) on Guadalupe Island
title_full Sexual Dimorphism and Foraging Trips of the Laysan Albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) on Guadalupe Island
title_fullStr Sexual Dimorphism and Foraging Trips of the Laysan Albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) on Guadalupe Island
title_full_unstemmed Sexual Dimorphism and Foraging Trips of the Laysan Albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) on Guadalupe Island
title_short Sexual Dimorphism and Foraging Trips of the Laysan Albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) on Guadalupe Island
title_sort sexual dimorphism and foraging trips of the laysan albatross (phoebastria immutabilis) on guadalupe island
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6617548/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31212935
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani9060364
work_keys_str_mv AT hernandezmontoyajuliocesar sexualdimorphismandforagingtripsofthelaysanalbatrossphoebastriaimmutabilisonguadalupeisland
AT juarezrodriguezmaricela sexualdimorphismandforagingtripsofthelaysanalbatrossphoebastriaimmutabilisonguadalupeisland
AT mendezsanchezfederico sexualdimorphismandforagingtripsofthelaysanalbatrossphoebastriaimmutabilisonguadalupeisland
AT aguirremunozalfonso sexualdimorphismandforagingtripsofthelaysanalbatrossphoebastriaimmutabilisonguadalupeisland
AT rojasmayoralevaristo sexualdimorphismandforagingtripsofthelaysanalbatrossphoebastriaimmutabilisonguadalupeisland
AT inigoeliaseduardo sexualdimorphismandforagingtripsofthelaysanalbatrossphoebastriaimmutabilisonguadalupeisland
AT galinatessaropatricia sexualdimorphismandforagingtripsofthelaysanalbatrossphoebastriaimmutabilisonguadalupeisland
AT arnaudgustavo sexualdimorphismandforagingtripsofthelaysanalbatrossphoebastriaimmutabilisonguadalupeisland
AT ortegarubioalfredo sexualdimorphismandforagingtripsofthelaysanalbatrossphoebastriaimmutabilisonguadalupeisland