Research report 2009 - Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior

Thin billed prions: “miniature albatrosses” measure climate change in the Southern Ocean

Authors
Quillfeldt, Petra; Masello, Juan Francisco
Departments

Hormonelle Steuerung des Verhaltens bei Seevögeln (Quillfeldt / Emmy-Noether-Programm) (Dr. Petra Quillfeldt)
MPI für Ornithologie, Seewiesen

Vogelwarte Radolfzell (Dr. Wolfgang Fiedler)
MPI für Ornithologie, Seewiesen

Summary
The Southern Ocean is strongly affected by global change. A long-term study of Thin-billed prions, a small seabird feeding on zooplankton in these vast ocean areas, was designed to further our understanding of the changes that currently take place in this ecosytem. Further, this study will look at adaptations that enable the birds to cope with changing conditions, such as flexible provisioning behaviour and physiological regulation of timing and investments in the breeding cycle.

For the full text, see the German version.

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