Parental duties and foraging strategies of a tropical pelagic seabird (Phaethon aethereus, Aves: Phaethontidae) during the breeding season

Breeding seabirds must balance the energetic demands of feeding themselves and their offspring while coping with the constraints imposed by central-place foraging. As such, foraging strategies and parental care patterns are usually linked. Here, the foraging behavior of the Red-billed Tropicbird ( P...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine biology 2024-02, Vol.171 (3), p.64, Article 64
Main Authors: Piña-Ortiz, Alberto, González-Zamora, Diego Adolfo, Paz, Jesica Andrea, Hernández-Vázquez, Salvador, Mellink, Eric, Bustamante, Paco, Quillfeldt, Petra, Castillo-Guerrero, José Alfredo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal biology
Aquatic birds
Biodiversity and Ecology
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Breeding seasons
Carbon 13
Chickens
Environmental Sciences
Foraging
Foraging behavior
Freshwater & Marine Ecology
Incubation
Individual rearing
Juveniles
Life Sciences
Marine & Freshwater Sciences
Microbiology
Nitrogen isotopes
Oceanography
Offshore
Offspring
Original Paper
Parental behavior
Parental behaviour
Parents
Phaethon aethereus
Prey
Provisioning
Seabirds
Vertebrate Zoology
Zoology
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Summary:Breeding seabirds must balance the energetic demands of feeding themselves and their offspring while coping with the constraints imposed by central-place foraging. As such, foraging strategies and parental care patterns are usually linked. Here, the foraging behavior of the Red-billed Tropicbird ( Phaethon aethereus ; n = 161) of Peña Blanca Islet, Mexico (19° 06ʹ 11ʺ N, 104° 29ʹ 12ʺ W) during the incubation and chick-rearing (≤ 4 weeks of age) stages was characterized with the aid of GPS loggers. Blood samples from adults and chicks were collected to determine δ 15 N and δ 13 C, and parental presence at the nest, meal size, and parent-chick feeding events were recorded. During incubation, parents made long trips offshore to areas far from the colony; however, immediately after their chicks hatched, the parents switched to a bimodal foraging strategy by undertaking both short and long foraging trips. The δ 15 N values indicated that trophic differences were present between parents and their offspring, with chicks being fed prey enriched in 15 N. Parental presence at the nest was greater during early chick-rearing, which was associated with a higher provisioning rate. Parents adopted a strategy in which the parent on nest duty only made short foraging trips to provide for its offspring without leaving it unattended for long periods, while its mate undertook long trips to feed itself. After the early chick-rearing period, the parents gradually reduced the time spent at the nest and increased the time spent foraging, compensating with larger meal sizes for their offspring. Graphical abstract
ISSN:0025-3162
1432-1793
DOI:10.1007/s00227-023-04375-1