Progressive ontogenetic niche shift over the prolonged immaturity period of wandering albatrosses.

ABSTRACT: Very little is known about trophic ontogenetic changes over the prolonged immaturity period of long-lived, wide-ranging seabirds. By using blood and feather trophic tracers (δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N, and mercury, Hg), we studied age-related changes in feeding ecology during the immature phase of wandering albatrosses Diomedea exulans when they gradually change from a pure oceanic life to visits to their future breeding grounds. Immatures fed in subtropical waters at high trophic positions during moult. Between- and within-individual variations in isotopic niche were very high, irrespective of age, highlighting wide-ranging exploratory behaviours. In summer, while acting as central-place foragers from their future breeding colony, individuals progressively relied on lower

SUBMITTER: Carravieri A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5666281 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature