Important marine areas for endangered African penguins before and after the crucial stage of moulting.

ABSTRACT: The population of the Endangered African penguin Spheniscus demersus has decreased by > 65% in the last 20 years. A major driver of this decrease has been the reduced availability of their principal prey, sardine Sardinops sagax and anchovy Engraulis encrasicolus. To date, conservation efforts to improve prey availability have focused on spatial management strategies to reduce resource competition with purse-seine fisheries during the breeding season. However, penguins also undergo an annual catastrophic moult when they are unable to feed for several weeks. Before moulting they must accumulate sufficient energy stores to survive this critical life-history stage. Using GPS tracking data collected between 2012 and 2019, we identify important foraging areas for pre- and post-moult African pen

SUBMITTER: Carpenter-Kling T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9177839 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature