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Marine Ecology Progress Series

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MEPS 460:247-259 (2012)  -  DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps09750

Trade-offs in prey quality and quantity revealed through the behavioral compensation of breeding seabirds

Michael B. Schrimpf1,*, Julia K. Parrish1, Scott F. Pearson2

1School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, Box 355020, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA
2Wildlife Research Division, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Olympia, Washington 98501, USA

ABSTRACT: Many productive ocean ecosystems are also highly variable, resulting in complex trophic interactions. We analyzed interannual patterns in the diet of a seabird, the common murre Uria aalge, in a region of high oceanographic productivity, the northern California Current, to investigate how these top predators adjust their chick provisioning to cope with environmental variability. Murres relied chiefly on Pacific herring Clupea harengus pallasi and surf smelt Hypomesus pretiosus to provision chicks, although they regularly returned 8 other fish taxa. Provisioning success was measured by the energy return rate to chicks, which in turn was disarticulated into energy per meal (quality) and meal delivery rate (quantity). Parents exhibited ‘compensation’ during 2 years in which smaller, low quality prey were returned more quickly than in years with normal (i.e. ‘good’) provisioning. Despite the increased delivery rate, energy return rates were still lower in ‘compensation’ vs. ‘good’ years. The lowest energy return rates occurred in 3 ‘poor’ years, during which ocean productivity was also depressed. Our results suggest that murres in this system have the ability to shift provisioning strategies to deal with some variability in prey resources, but not when limited by exceptionally poor environmental conditions.


KEY WORDS: Foraging behavior · Seabird diet · Provisioning rate · Environmental variability · Common murre · Uria aalge · Northern California Current


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Cite this article as: Schrimpf MB, Parrish JK, Pearson SF (2012) Trade-offs in prey quality and quantity revealed through the behavioral compensation of breeding seabirds. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 460:247-259. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps09750

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