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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.

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.

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).

The concentrations of copper, zinc, cadmium, selenium and mercury were determined in eggs, muscle, liver, kidney and stomach content of nestlings and adults of the Antarctic petrel, Thalassoica antarctica, and its predator, the south polar skua, Chataracta maccormicki, from Svarthamaren, Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica. The dominant food of the petrels is krill, Euphausia superba. The results show relatively high levels of cadmium in krill, which is assumed to be the main reason for the high levels of cadmium in petrels and skuas. Cadmium is almost absent in eggs, but accumulates very rapidly with age in nestlings. The copper concentrations in livers of nestling petrels reach very high levels during growth. This may be seen in connection with physiological development processes. Mercury seems to be accumulated with age and between trophic levels. Among the nestlings, the mercury levels decrease with increasing age, which may be accomplished by the excretion of mercury through the growth of feathers and as a dilution effect during growth. Selenium and mercury are inversely correlated in nestlings. The levels of zinc were similar for different nestling stages and between nestlings and adults in skuas and petrels.

Considerable interspecific variation exists in the frequency of extrapair fertilizations (EPFs) in birds. In general, EPFs are more common and occur at higher frequencies in passerines than in nonpasserines (Westneat and Sherman 1997). Lower rates of EPFs are typical for territorial nonpasserines as well as those that breed colonially (Westneat and Sherman 1997). This seems to contradict Birkhead and Møller's (Birkhead and Møller 1992, Møller and Birkhead 1993) hypothesis of intense sperm competition in colonial birds. Their arguments were based on the assumption that the need for nest defense in dense aggregations restricts the ability of males to guard their mates, and that the high number of potential extrapair mates available in colonies selects for a high rate of extrapair copulations (EPCs). In contrast, Westneat and Sherman (1997) found no correlation across species between the frequency of EPFs and nesting dispersion, local breeding density, or breeding synchrony, although EPFs were related to nesting density within species. This suggests that EPC rates are not informative regarding EPF rates in colonial birds (Westneat and Sherman 1997), or that the pattern reported by Møller and Birkhead (1993) does not hold true when more species are included. The conflicting evidence regarding the relationship between extrapair activities and breeding density calls for more empirical studies, especially among colonial nonpasserines. Social monogamy is the predominant mating system in the Procellariiformes (Warham 1990). Several aspects of their breeding biology may, however, provide favorable opportunities for extrapair sexual activity. First, colonial breeding provides ample opportunities for EPCs because many potential partners are available at close range (Birkhead and Møller 1992, Møller and Birkhead 1993). Second, when the sexes are spatially and/or temporally separated, as may be the case in procellariiforms where adults seek food far from the colony, males have few cues to assess whether their mates have been unfaithful. Hence, few reasons exist to expect a facultative decrease in male parental investment if cuckolded, in contrast to the case for many territorial species where a male may have more reliable cues to his mate's unfaithfulness (e.g. female disappearance, high intrusion rate, etc.). Accordingly, colonial breeding may facilitate EPCs for both sexes, and colonial species may be expected to display high rates of EPC. Paternity studies require error-free sex determination of adults. This is straightforward for clearly dimorphic species, or if sex determination can be done from genitalia during the fertile period. But if fieldwork can be performed only during the nestling period, sex determination may be problematic for largely monomorphic species, and indirect methods must be used. In the Antarctic Petrel (Thalassoica antarctica), the two sexes differ slightly in mean body size. Lorentsen and Røv (1994) used this difference to determine the sex of Antarctic Petrels by discriminant function analysis (DFA). The procedure correctly determined the sex of 92% of the birds in a sample from the same year. This does not necessarily imply a similar resolution if the discriminant function is adopted for samples from other years, or if data are collected by other observers. Moreover, although useful for many purposes, 92% resolution in sex determination is insufficient for paternity studies. Therefore, we performed molecular sexing of all breeding adults according to the PCR-based method of Griffiths et al. (1998). The main aim of our study was to analyze whether extrapair paternity occurs in a colonial procellariiform, the Antarctic Petrel. We also tested the robustness of morphological sex determination (from DFA) across seasons relative to that obtained from molecular techniques.