Adélie penguin foraging location predicted by tidal regime switching

PLoS One. 2013;8(1):e55163. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0055163. Epub 2013 Jan 30.

Abstract

Penguin foraging and breeding success depend on broad-scale environmental and local-scale hydrographic features of their habitat. We investigated the effect of local tidal currents on a population of Adélie penguins on Humble Is., Antarctica. We used satellite-tagged penguins, an autonomous underwater vehicle, and historical tidal records to model of penguin foraging locations over ten seasons. The bearing of tidal currents did not oscillate daily, but rather between diurnal and semidiurnal tidal regimes. Adélie penguins foraging locations changed in response to tidal regime switching, and not to daily tidal patterns. The hydrography and foraging patterns of Adélie penguins during these switching tidal regimes suggest that they are responding to changing prey availability, as they are concentrated and dispersed in nearby Palmer Deep by variable tidal forcing on weekly timescales, providing a link between local currents and the ecology of this predator.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Behavior, Animal*
  • Diving
  • Feeding Behavior*
  • Seasons
  • Spheniscidae / physiology*
  • Tidal Waves / statistics & numerical data*
  • Time Factors

Grants and funding

These efforts were only possible with funding support provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Biodiversity program (NNG06GH75G1/3 to M. Oliver, http://www.nasa.gov/), the National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs (ANT-0823101 to Co-PI O. Schofield; ANT-1019839 to M. Moline, http://www.nsf.gov/), and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, http://www.moore.org/. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.