Affiliation:
1. Atlantic Cooperative Wildlife Ecology Research Network and Department of Biology, University of New Brunswick, P.O. Box 4400, Fredericton, NB E3B 5A3, Canada.
Abstract
How species allocate nutrients to egg production is an important question in contaminant analyses. Seabird eggs are sampled frequently in such studies, so it is important to know the source of nutrients in these eggs if the source of the contaminants is to be traced. We used a stable-isotope approach to evaluate the relative importance of locally derived nutrients (income breeding) and stored nutrient reserves (capital breeding) in six species of Atlantic seabirds (Arctic Tern, Sterna paradisaea Pontoppidan, 1763; Common Tern, Sterna hirundo L., 1758; Atlantic Puffin, Fratercula arctica (L., 1758); Common Murre, Uria aalge (Pontoppidan, 1763); Razorbill, Alca torda L., 1758; Leach’s Storm-Petrel, Oceanodroma leucorhoa (Vieillot, 1818)) breeding in the Bay of Fundy. We found that all species either were income breeders or adopted an intermediate strategy whereby varying proportions of locally derived nutrients were incorporated into eggs. Each species’ migratory behaviour is likely a main factor in determining the amount of endogenous nutrients used in egg formation.
Publisher
Canadian Science Publishing
Subject
Animal Science and Zoology,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Cited by
34 articles.
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