Produção Nacional
Revisado por pares
Female-biased mortality of Magellanic Penguins ( Spheniscus magellanicus ) on the wintering grounds
2013; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 113; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1071/mu12060
ISSN1448-5540
AutoresRalph Eric Thijl Vanstreels, Andréa Corrado Adornes, Paula Lima Canabarro, Valéria Ruoppolo, Marcos Amaku, Rodolfo Pinho da Silva-Filho, José Luiz Catão‐Dias,
Tópico(s)Marine and fisheries research
ResumoAbstractMagellanic Penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus) migrate thousands of kilometres from their breeding colonies every winter. Despite the significance of this seasonal movement, aspects of its ecology and implications for conservation biology remain enigmatic. We examined the sex of 528 Magellanic Penguins either beachcast (found dead ashore) or stranded (found alive ashore) in wintering grounds of southern Brazil from 2002 to 2009. We found evidence that: (a) among beachcast Penguins, females significantly outnumbered males; (b) for stranded Penguins that had not been oiled, the sex-ratio was significantly female-biased, whereas among oiled Penguins the sex-ratio was even; (c) among stranded Penguins, females had a lower rate of survival through rehabilitation than males; and (d) for both sexes, juvenile Penguins surviving rehabilitation had greater body mass upon admission than those that died. Our findings suggest an increased mortality of juvenile and adult females might occur during migration, and emphasise that sex may play a significant role in the movement ecology and conservation of this species. Conservation efforts might thus benefit from incorporating sex-based strategies to ensure that biased sex mortality does not have a negative effect on the species, and researchers are encouraged to consider sex as a key component in the ecological research and conservation efforts of this, and other, species of penguin.Additional keywords: seabirdSouth American birdsecologysurvivalsexual dimorphism
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