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In hierarchical patch systems, small-scale patches of high density are nested within large-scale patches of low density. The organization of multiple-scale hierarchical systems makes non-random strategies for dispersal and movement particularly important. Here, we apply a new method based on first-passage time on the pathway of a foraging seabird, the Antarctic petrel (Thalassoica antarctica), to quantify its foraging pattern and the spatial dynamics of its foraging areas. Our results suggest that Antarctic petrels used a nested search strategy to track a highly dynamic hierarchical patch system where small-scale patches were congregated within patches at larger scales. The birds searched for large-scale patches by traveling fast and over long distances. Once within a large-scale patch, the birds concentrated their search to find smaller scale patches. By comparing the pathway of different birds we were able to quantify the spatial scale and turnover of their foraging areas. On the largest scale we found foraging areas with a characteristic scale of about 400 km. Nested within these areas we found foraging areas with a characteristic scale of about 100 km. The large-scale areas disappeared or moved within a time frame of weeks while the nested small-scale areas disappeared or moved within days. Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) is the dominant food item of Antarctic petrels and we suggest that our findings reflect the spatial dynamics of krill in the area.

In birds, the characteristics of the nest site may affect reproductive success. We found that shelter is an important characteristic of the Antarctic petrel (Thalassoica antarctica) nests because shelter prevents chick predation. However, the benefit of shelter was countervailed by melt water which mainly entered well-sheltered nests. Chick survival was monitored until the chick was left unattended for the first time. Late-hatched chicks had a higher survival probability than early-hatched chicks, possibly because late hatchers swamp the predator, the south polar skua (Catharacta maccormicki). Poorly sheltered nests tended to be occupied by parents with low body mass and late-hatched eggs. The results suggest that both shelter per se and parental characteristics may explain the relationship between predation risk and shelter. We need experiments to study the influence of nest site on reproductive success, and we need to map the frequency of melt water as a cause of reproductive failure.

How animals change their movement patterns in relation to the environment is a central topic in a wide area of ecology, including foraging ecology, habitat selection, and spatial population ecology. To understand the underlying behavioral mechanisms involved, there is a need for methods to measure changes in movement patterns along a pathway through the landscape. We used simulated pathways and satellite tracking of a long-ranging seabird to explore the properties of first-passage time as a measure of search effort along a path. The first-passage time is defined as the time required for an animal to cross a circle with a given radius. It is a measure of how much time an animal uses within a given area. First-passage time is scale dependent, and a plot of variance in first-passage time vs. spatial scale reveals the spatial scale at which the animal concentrates its search effort. By averaging the first-passage time on a geographical grid, it is possible to relate first-passage time to environmental variables and the search pattern of other individuals.

In Procellariiformes, parents guard the chick for some time after it has attained homeothermy. Such a strategy may have evolved to protect the chick from predation or inclement weather, but it is costly because only one parent can forage at a time. Therefore, the decision to leave the chick seems to be a trade-off between the chick's ability to care for itself, body condition of the parent present at the nest, and ability of the bird out foraging to return to the nest before its mate's body condition has degraded. We studied chick growth and survival together with number of days Snow Petrel (Pagodroma nivea) chicks were guarded before being left alone for the first time in relation to the parents body condition and ability to return to the nest in time. Parents in good body condition were more likely to produce a chick that survived the guard stage. They also guarded their chick for a longer period (range 2–8 days, x̄ = 4.5) and finally left it alone with a higher body mass than those in poor body condition. However, whether the foraging bird was able to return to the nest in time to relieve its mate was also strongly related to number of days the chick was guarded and its body mass. The chicks' survival from when they were left alone and until day 10 posthatch was positively related both to number of days they were guarded and their body condition (body mass corrected for age).

Life histories are state-dependent, and an individual's reproductive decisions are determined by its available resources and the needs of its offspring. Here we test how a chick's needs for food and protection influence parental decisions in the Antarctic petrel, Thalassoica antarctica, where the parents, due to their long breeding lifespan, are expected to give priority to their own needs before those of the young. We exchanged one-day-old chicks with four-day-old chicks and studied how the parents subsequently provided care to the chick. The duration of the guarding period was adjusted, and parents left older chicks earlier and younger chicks later compared to controls. Three mechanisms were responsible for the adjustments. 1) Parents with an older chick co-ordinated fewer guarding spells whereas parents with a younger chick co-ordinated more guarding spells. 2) At the last guarding spell, i.e. where a parent left the chick alone before the partner returned, less time was spent with older chicks, and more time with younger chicks. 3) Foraging trip duration was shortened by parents given older chicks and prolonged by parents given younger chicks, probably in response to the chick's food demand. Hence, the parents responded quickly to the altered needs of the chick. Parents with high body mass guarded longer and were better able to co-ordinate the guarding spells compared to lighter parents. In conclusion, Antarctic petrels adjust reproductive decisions to their own, their mate's, and their chick's state, and they seem to respond to the chick's needs for both food and protection.

A large number of studies have reported a positive relationship between the egg size of birds and the subsequent growth and/or survival of nestlings, but such effects may partly be due to confounding variables, e.g. parental quality. In order to evaluate the potential effects of egg size, and of parental quality, on early nestling growth in the Antarctic petrel, we performed an experiment in which eggs of different size were swapped between nests. 2. From a sample of 300 nests with eggs of known size, we selected eggs belonging to the lower quartile (small eggs), and those belonging to the upper quartile (large eggs), with respect to volume. Half of the small eggs were exchanged with small eggs from other nests, and the other half with large eggs. A similar procedure was used for large eggs. Growth and survival of the nestlings were recorded until 12 days old. 3. Hatching success was positively related to egg size. 4. Egg size influenced nestling body mass until the age of 3 days, and tarsus length was affected until 12 days old. However, these effects were not due to an effect of egg size on growth rates, but reflected instead the influence of egg size on hatchling size. 5. In contrast to most previous studies, we found no effect of parental quality (as reflected in the size of own eggs) on foster nestling size or growth until 12 days old. This could be because egg size does not reliably reflect parental quality in the species, or because parental effects become evident only at later nestling stages. 6. We discuss why egg size variation is maintained in this and other species where egg size influences parental fitness through the survival of eggs or nestlings.

In species where incubation is shared by both parents, the mate's ability to fast on the nest may constrain the time available for foraging. The decision to return to the nest should therefore be a compromise between an animal's own foraging success and its mate's ability to fast on the nest. To examine how the body conditions of incubating Antarctic petrels, Thalassoica antarctica, influence both the length of foraging trips and incubation shifts, we experimentally handicapped females by increasing their flight costs during a foraging trip by adding lead weights to their legs. Handicapped females spent more time at sea and had lower body conditions at arrival to the colony than controls, and, moreover, females in poor body condition at arrival to the colony spent generally more time at sea than those with higher body condition. The prolonged time period spent at sea by handicapped females was associated with higher desertion rates than among controls. The time the incubating mates fasted increased with their body condition at arrival to the colony, suggesting that a high body condition of the incubating bird may reduce the probability of nest desertion. Accordingly, our results suggest that the time spent foraging is adjusted to the body conditions of both the foraging and incubating mate.

1. Two hypotheses may explain how long-lived seabirds regulate the food provisioning to their chick. The fixed level of investment hypothesis states that the parents provide food for their chick according to an intrinsic rhythm, independent of their chick's need. The flexible investment hypothesis states that the parents adjust their food provisioning both according to their chick's and their own need. 2. We tested how the Antarctic petrels adjust the food-provisioning according to their own body condition or to their chick's need. First, we selected parents in poor and good body condition. Then we gave all parents randomly a chick of different body mass, but of the same age. We then measured the chicks daily until they were fed for the first time after swapping. 3. Parents in good body condition at hatching were more likely to produce a chick that was still alive 9 days after hatching than parents in poor body condition. Chick body mass at day 9 and at the end of the guarding period was positively related to the mean body condition of the parents at hatching. 4. The meal size provided by parents in good body condition was larger than that provided by parents in poor body condition. Parents in good body condition delivered more food to small than to large chicks, whereas no such relationship was found among parents in poor body condition. 5. Our results suggest that the Antarctic petrel parents adjust the amount of food delivered to their chick according to both the chick's need and their own body condition, and that the ability to respond to the chick's need is dependent upon their own body condition.

In Procellariiformes, the parents guard the chick after it has attained homeothermy. This strategy may reduce the probability that a small chick is taken by predators, but is costly as only one parent can forage at a time. The decision to leave the chick may therefore be a compromise between the chick's vulnerability to predators, the body condition of the parent on the nest and whether the foraging parent returns in time. We studied how the number of days that parents guarded the chick was related to the body mass of the parent at the nest and the time the foraging parent spent at sea in the Antarctic petrel Thalassoica antarctica. We also examined how the body mass of the parent on the nest and the duration of the foraging trips influenced the chicks' body condition at the end of the guarding period. When the foraging parent did not return to the nest in time to relieve its mate, the number of days the parent on the nest kept guarding the chick was positively related to its body mass on arrival in the colony. The number of days the foraging parent spent at sea was positively related to the body mass of its mate, but those that returned in time had a shorter stay at sea relative to their mate's body mass than those that did not return before their mate had left. Apparently, both the body mass of the parent at the nest and the ability of the foraging parent to adjust its stay at sea to the mate's body mass is important for the number of days the parents guard the chick and also the chick's body condition at this point. The inability to return to the nest before the mate has left may be the result of needing a minimum amount of time at sea to find food, or because some parents having low foraging success and therefore prolong their stay at sea.

We examined how variation in parental quality influences the reproductive success of a long-lived seabird, the Antarctic Petrel (Thalassoica antarctica). In particular, we focused on how quality of parents can interact with and influence the effects of stochastic variation in the environment due to varying climatic conditions. Large annual variation was found in reproductive success. However, body mass of individual chicks at the end and be­ ginning of the nestling period was strongly correlated in two of the study years, suggesting consistent variation among parents in their ability to feed offspring. Furthermore, chick mass was related both to overall body size and to body mass of their parents. Short brooding-shift intervals also were important for growth and survival of chicks. The probability of chick survival to the age of 30 days (ca. two weeks before fledging) was strongly correlated with chick mass when the chick was left unattended. However, the relative importance of different parental characteristics differed between years. These results show that reproductive success of the Antarctic Petrel is influenced by stochastic variation in the environment, probably re­ lated to climatic conditions. Effects of this stochastic variation may depend on body mass and/ or body condition of the parents.

Different organochlorine compounds (OCs) were measured in the blood of breeding south polar skuas (Catharacta maccormicki) at Svarthamaren, Dronning Maud Land (Antarctica) and compared to those in two species of northern hemisphere gulls:  the Arctic glaucous gull (Larus hyperboreus) and the subarctic great black-backed gull (Larus marinus). The skuas had 8% and 29% of the ∑OC levels (45 ng/g, wet weight) of glaucous gulls (591 ng/g) and great black-backed gulls (158 ng/g), respectively. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and p,p‘-dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (p,p‘-DDE) were very low in skuas compared to northern gulls, but the mean hexachlorobenzene (HCB) level was 1.7 times higher than in great black-backed gulls and one-third of the glaucous gull level. Mirex levels in skuas were among the highest reported in birds, the mean level being 3 and 26 times higher than those in glaucous gull and great black-backed gulls, respectively. In skuas, the mean levels of HCB, oxychlordane, p,p‘-DDE, and PCBs increased by about 30% during a 2-week period, and mirex increased by nearly 60%. In glacuous gulls, HCB, p,p‘-DDE, and PCBs increased by 10−20%. For HCB, mirex, and oxychlordane, only a relatively small proportion of the increase in skuas could be explained by changes in lipid pools and the levels at first sampling, compared to glaucous gulls. Thus, skuas were probably accumulating these compounds when present in Antarctica. p,p‘-DDE and PCB levels, in contrast, seemed much more stable in the skuas. Relatively high levels of mirex and HCB in south polar skuas are concerning with regard to potential adverse effects.