Project Details
Projekt
Foraging Ecology and Migration of Antarctic skuas
Applicant
Dr. Hans-Ulrich Peter
Subject Area
Oceanography
Term
from 2007 to 2011
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 46239854
To understand how Antarctic seabirds respond to local and regional climatic changes, we need to gain a detailed knowledge of their distribution ranges during the breeding and non-breeding period especially, as well as the resources they rely on during these times and their reproduction performance. The project aims to continue detailed investigations of the spatial and temporal resource use of Antarctic skuas. In particular, migration and sex-specific foraging patterns will be linked with polar ecosystems. The analysis of stage-dependent regional and local resource use and its influence on reproduction performance will allow future predictions on how changes in environmental conditions affect skua populations. The proposed study will use a combined approach of tracking migrating birds by different data loggers, non-invasive methods for determination of past and present diets by stable isotope analysis and direct food samples, along with standardised methods for measuring reproduction performance. Thus, this combination of different ecological techniques will give a detailed insight into the interplay of temporal distribution of Antarctic seabird, their foraging and reproduction.
DFG Programme
Infrastructure Priority Programmes
