Lower nutritional state and foraging success in an Arctic seabird despite behaviorally flexible responses to environmental change.

ABSTRACT: The degree to which individuals adjust foraging behavior in response to environmental variability can impact foraging success, leading to downstream impacts on fitness and population dynamics. We examined the foraging flexibility, average daily energy expenditure, and foraging success of an ice-associated Arctic seabird, the thick-billed murre (Uria lomvia) in response to broad-scale environmental conditions at two different-sized, low Arctic colonies located <300 km apart. First, we compared foraging behavior (measured via GPS units), average daily energy expenditure (estimated from GPS derived activity budgets), and foraging success (nutritional state measured via nutritional biomarkers pre- and post- GPS deployment) of murres at two colonies, which differ greatly in size: 30,000

SUBMITTER: Eby A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10119025 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature