Foraging Behavior and Demography of Pygoscelis Penguins

在南极半岛乔治王岛金钟湾进行的海鸟研究，记录了阿德利企鹅、巴布亚企鹅和帽带企鹅（Pygoscelis adeliae， P. papua和P. antarctica）三种相关企鹅的种群生物学生活史参数的年度变化。这项长期研究收集了25年来三种相关物种的数据，包括生存和繁殖，种群规模和繁殖成功，以及饮食和觅食生态。目前的项目将扩展企鹅人口统计和觅食生态学与南极海洋生态系统变化之间的研究。这项工作的主要重点将是阿德利企鹅和巴布亚企鹅的种群生物学数据，以及三种Pygoscelis物种在繁殖季节和非繁殖冬季的分布和营养相互作用。最近的研究结果首次提供了南极半岛地区阿德利企鹅和帽带企鹅越冬分布的详细数据，通过使用卫星标签和时间深度记录仪来检查雏鸟觅食后的情况。具体的研究课题包括检查企鹅喂养雏鸟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网捕收集的磷虾，以及从企鹅饮食样本中收集的磷虾的长度-频率分布。在繁殖季节之前的冬季，将与海冰的范围进行比较，以比较繁殖成年企鹅的冬季存活率和繁殖前企鹅的幼崽（2至4岁）到其出生群体的招募情况。预计这些变量对阿德利企鹅是正相关的，而对帽带企鹅是负相关的。对成年巴布亚企鹅的详细研究将使用卫星标签进行，巴布亚企鹅不会从出生地广泛分散。本研究收集的数据将通过研究环境变化对Pygoscelis企鹅等上层营养级捕食者结构的影响，提高对南极结构和功能的认识。

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.