Prey resources used for producing egg yolks in four species of seabirds: Insight from stable-isotope ratios

Motohiro Ito; Kentaro Kazama; Yasuaki Niizuma; Hiroshi Minami; Yuzan Tanaka; Yutaka Watanuki

doi:10.2326/osj.11.113

Prey resources used for producing egg yolks in four species of seabirds: Insight from stable-isotope ratios

Motohiro Ito^*, Kentaro Kazama, Yasuaki Niizuma, Hiroshi Minami, Yuzan Tanaka, Yutaka Watanuki

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Carbon and nitrogen stable-isotope ratios were measured in the egg yolks of four species of seabirds in Teuri Island and Rishiri Island, Japan. Delta 15N of the yolks of Rhinoceros Auklets Cerorhinca monocerata (11.2-12.3‰) and Black-tailed Gulls Larus crassirostris (11.3-12.5‰) were lower than those of Slaty-backed Gulls Larus schistisagus (13.4-14.2‰) and Japanese Cormorants Phalacrocorax capillatus (14.0-16.2‰); suggesting that the former two species foraged mainly on low trophic level small fishes and sometimes on krill, while the latter two species fed on higher trophic level prey and larger fishes.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	113-119
Number of pages	7
Journal	Ornithological Science
Volume	11
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.2326/osj.11.113
Publication status	Published - 2012
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Diet
Egg formation
Egg yolk
Seabirds
Stable-isotope ratio

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Animal Science and Zoology

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10.2326/osj.11.113

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title = "Prey resources used for producing egg yolks in four species of seabirds: Insight from stable-isotope ratios",

abstract = "Carbon and nitrogen stable-isotope ratios were measured in the egg yolks of four species of seabirds in Teuri Island and Rishiri Island, Japan. Delta 15N of the yolks of Rhinoceros Auklets Cerorhinca monocerata (11.2-12.3‰) and Black-tailed Gulls Larus crassirostris (11.3-12.5‰) were lower than those of Slaty-backed Gulls Larus schistisagus (13.4-14.2‰) and Japanese Cormorants Phalacrocorax capillatus (14.0-16.2‰); suggesting that the former two species foraged mainly on low trophic level small fishes and sometimes on krill, while the latter two species fed on higher trophic level prey and larger fishes.",

keywords = "Diet, Egg formation, Egg yolk, Seabirds, Stable-isotope ratio",

author = "Motohiro Ito and Kentaro Kazama and Yasuaki Niizuma and Hiroshi Minami and Yuzan Tanaka and Yutaka Watanuki",

year = "2012",

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language = "English",

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publisher = "Ornithological Society of Japan",

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T1 - Prey resources used for producing egg yolks in four species of seabirds

T2 - Insight from stable-isotope ratios

AU - Ito, Motohiro

AU - Kazama, Kentaro

AU - Niizuma, Yasuaki

AU - Minami, Hiroshi

AU - Tanaka, Yuzan

AU - Watanuki, Yutaka

PY - 2012

Y1 - 2012

N2 - Carbon and nitrogen stable-isotope ratios were measured in the egg yolks of four species of seabirds in Teuri Island and Rishiri Island, Japan. Delta 15N of the yolks of Rhinoceros Auklets Cerorhinca monocerata (11.2-12.3‰) and Black-tailed Gulls Larus crassirostris (11.3-12.5‰) were lower than those of Slaty-backed Gulls Larus schistisagus (13.4-14.2‰) and Japanese Cormorants Phalacrocorax capillatus (14.0-16.2‰); suggesting that the former two species foraged mainly on low trophic level small fishes and sometimes on krill, while the latter two species fed on higher trophic level prey and larger fishes.

AB - Carbon and nitrogen stable-isotope ratios were measured in the egg yolks of four species of seabirds in Teuri Island and Rishiri Island, Japan. Delta 15N of the yolks of Rhinoceros Auklets Cerorhinca monocerata (11.2-12.3‰) and Black-tailed Gulls Larus crassirostris (11.3-12.5‰) were lower than those of Slaty-backed Gulls Larus schistisagus (13.4-14.2‰) and Japanese Cormorants Phalacrocorax capillatus (14.0-16.2‰); suggesting that the former two species foraged mainly on low trophic level small fishes and sometimes on krill, while the latter two species fed on higher trophic level prey and larger fishes.

KW - Diet

KW - Egg formation

KW - Egg yolk

KW - Seabirds

KW - Stable-isotope ratio

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JF - Ornithological Science

IS - 2

ER -

Prey resources used for producing egg yolks in four species of seabirds: Insight from stable-isotope ratios

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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