Common loon reproduction and chick feeding on acidified lakes in the Adirondack Park, New York

Abstract

The effects of lake acidification on common loon reproduction were studied on a total of 24 Adirondack lakes from May through August in 1983 and 1984. The lakes ranged in size from 10.5 to 179 ha; pH ranged from 4.65 to 6.77 and alkalinity from −66 to 111 μequiv./L. Although loons nesting on small, low-pH lakes had a high fledging rate, possibly because of reduced disturbance or predation, no significant relationship (P > 0.10) was found between lake acidity status and loon reproductive success. No chick mortality could be attributed to lake acidification, but chicks on low-pH lakes were generally fed prey much smaller or much larger than those normally preferred. A pair nesting on a fishless lake fed aquatic insects to their constantly begging chick, spending two to four times longer feeding the chick compared with loons on lakes with fish. This pair, alternating absences, flew to another lake to feed, and on three occasions returned to the nesting lake carrying a fish. Loons on the low-pH study lakes apparently adapted, at least in the short term, to food resource depletion associated with acidification. Despite this, acidification creates potentially severe feeding problems for chicks by reducing prey diversity and quantity.