Foraging Behavior and Demography of Pygoscelis Penguins

在南极半岛地区乔治王岛金钟湾进行的海鸟研究记录了三种相关企鹅种群生物学生活史参数的年度变化：阿德利企鹅、巴布亚企鹅和下颚带企鹅（分别为阿德利企鹅、巴布亚企鹅和南极企鹅）。这项长期研究收集了25年来关于这三个相关物种的数据，包括生存和招募，种群规模和繁殖成功，以及饮食和觅食生态。目前的项目将扩大研究范围，将企鹅人口统计学和觅食生态学与南极海洋生态系统的变化联系起来。这项工作的一个主要重点将是阿德利企鹅和巴布亚企鹅的人口生物学数据和分布和营养相互作用的三个Pygoscelis物种在繁殖季节和非繁殖，冬季期间。利用卫星标记和时深记录器研究了阿德利企鹅和帽带企鹅在南极半岛地区的越冬分布，首次获得了它们在南极越冬后的详细资料。具体的研究课题包括检查企鹅喂养幼雏时捕获的磷虾的大小和性别组成，以及在邻近海洋环境中同时通过渔网捕获收集的磷虾，以及从企鹅饮食样本中收集的磷虾的长度-频率分布。繁殖期成年企鹅的越冬存活率和繁殖期前年轻企鹅（2至4岁）被招募到纳塔尔地的情况将与繁殖季节前冬季海冰的范围进行比较。这些变量预计是正相关的阿德利企鹅，但呈负相关的帽带企鹅。 将使用卫星标记对成年巴布亚企鹅进行详细研究，这些企鹅不会从纳塔尔地广泛散布。本研究收集的数据将通过研究环境变化对Pygoscelis企鹅等高营养级捕食者结构的影响，增进对南极结构和功能的了解。

Seabird research conducted at Admiralty Bay, King George Island in the Antarctic Peninsula region has documented annual variability in the life history parameters of the population biology of three related penguin species: the Adelie, the gentoo and the chinstrap (Pygoscelis adeliae, P. papua and P. antarctica, respectively). This long-term study has collected twenty-five years of data on the three related species, including survival and recruitment, population size and breeding success, and diets and foraging ecology. The current project will extend the research linking penguin demography and foraging ecology to variability in the Antarctic marine ecosystem. A major focus of this work will be on the Adelie and gentoo penguin population biology data and the distribution and trophic interactions among the three Pygoscelis species during the breeding season and the non-breeding, winter period. Recent results have provided the first detailed data on the wintering distributions of Adelie and chinstrap penguins in the Antarctic Peninsula region, through the use of satellite tags and time-depth recorders to examine the post-fledging foraging. Specific topics of research include an examination of the size and sex composition of krill captured by penguins feeding chicks and krill collected concurrently by net hauls in the adjacent marine environment and the length-frequency distribution of krill collected from penguin diet samples. The over winter survival of penguin breeding adults and the recruitment of young (two to four year old) pre-breeding penguins to their natal colony will be compared to the extent of sea ice in the winter prior to the breeding season. These variables are expected to be positively correlated for the Adelie but negatively correlated to the chinstrap penguin. Detailed studies of the adult gentoo penguins, which do not disperse widely from the natal colony, will be conducted using satellite tags. The data collected in this study will improve an understanding of the structure and function of the Antarctic through research on the impact of environmental variation on the structure of upper trophic level predators such as the Pygoscelis penguins.