| a comparison of the olfactory abilities of three species of procellariiform chicks. | most studies investigating olfactory sensitivities in procellariiform seabirds have concentrated on adults, but little attention has been paid to how olfactory behaviours develop. we took a first step towards understanding the ontogeny of these behaviours by testing the olfactory abilities of the blue petrel halobaena caerulea, the thin-billed prion pachyptila belcheri, and the common diving petrel pelecanoides urinatrix. we scored the responsiveness of chicks in a sleep-like state to puffs of o ... | 2003 | 12682093 |
| evidence for nest-odour recognition in two species of diving petrel. | in nearly every procellariiform species, the sense of smell appears to be highly adapted for foraging at sea, but the sense of smell among the diving petrels is enigmatic. these birds forage at considerable depth and are not attracted to odour cues at sea. however, several procellariiform species have recently been shown to relocate their nesting burrows by scent, suggesting that these birds use an olfactory signature to identify the home burrow. we wanted to know whether diving petrels use smel ... | 2003 | 12966063 |
| corticosterone in thin-billed prion pachyptila belcheri chicks: diel rhythm, timing of fledging and nutritional stress. | glucocorticosteroids (gcs) of the hypothalam-pituitary-adrenal axis play a role in association with both stressful events and daily life processes. however, relatively little is known about the role of gcs in relation to daily and seasonal life processes in animals in the wild. in this paper, we present data on basal levels of plasma corticosterone cort in chicks of a pelagic seabird, the thin-billed prion, pachyptila belcheri, during two predictable changes in demands, the daily activity patter ... | 2007 | 17569026 |
| variability in leucocyte profiles in thin-billed prions pachyptila belcheri. | because immune function competes for the resources that can be allocated to other activities, studies of immunological ecology may offer a powerful tool for explaining how reproductive effort links to reproductive costs and how conditions experienced early in their development affect growing chicks in later life. we studied the distribution of leucocyte types and the development of h/l ratio, which is indicative of heightened energetic stress, throughout the season 2004-2005 in chicks and adults ... | 2008 | 18420436 |
| acute stress hyporesponsive period in nestling thin-billed prions pachyptila belcheri. | when confronted with acute stressors, vertebrates show a highly conserved evolved sequence of physiological, hormonal and behavioural responses, including the activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. many young vertebrates show a stress hyporesponsive period, where they exhibit a reduced glucocorticoid response. here, we analyzed the stress response of nestling thin-billed prions pachyptila belcheri and compared chicks with different previous experience with capture and handling. w ... | 2009 | 19002692 |
| relationship between plasma leptin-like protein levels, begging and provisioning in nestling thin-billed prions pachyptila belcheri. | while there have been many studies in various species examining the physiological role of leptin, there are so far no data in free-living seabirds. in the present study, we assess whether leptin is expressed in thin-billed prions (pachyptila belcheri) and we investigate its relationship with feeding-related parameters including body condition, begging intensities and provisioning rates. we showed by western blot analysis using leptin-specific antibody that leptin-like protein (14-16kda) is expre ... | 2009 | 19136001 |
| structure and evolution of a new avian mhc class ii b gene in a sub-antarctic seabird, the thin-billed prion (procellariiformes: pachyptila belcheri). | the major histocompatibility complex encodes molecules that present foreign peptides to t cells of the immune system. the peptide binding region (pbr) of these molecules is among the most polymorphic regions found in vertebrate taxa. genomic cloning approaches are improving our understanding of the evolution of this multigene family in nonmodel avian groups. by building a cosmid library, a new mhc class ii b gene, pabe-dab1, was isolated and characterized at the genomic level in a sub-antarctic ... | 2009 | 19209378 |
| differences in the stable isotope signatures of seabird egg membrane and albumen--implications for non-invasive studies. | in many bird species, egg membranes can be obtained non-invasively after the chicks have hatched, and stable isotope analysis of egg membranes can be used to study the diet and foraging distribution of these birds during egg formation. it has been suggested that the enrichment factors of albumen and egg membranes differ for 13c, but are similar for 15n. in this study, we compared carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes of the membranes and albumen of individual eggs of three wild seabird species, th ... | 2009 | 19890954 |
| hemosporidian blood parasites in seabirds--a comparative genetic study of species from antarctic to tropical habitats. | whereas some bird species are heavily affected by blood parasites in the wild, others reportedly are not. seabirds, in particular, are often free from blood parasites, even in the presence of potential vectors. by means of polymerase chain reaction, we amplified a dna fragment from the cytochrome b gene to detect parasites of the genera plasmodium, leucocytozoon, and haemoproteus in 14 seabird species, ranging from antarctica to the tropical indian ocean. we did not detect parasites in 11 of the ... | 2010 | 20652673 |
| characterization of mhc class i and ii genes in a subantarctic seabird, the blue petrel, halobaena caerulea (procellariiformes). | the great polymorphism observed in the major histocompatibility complex (mhc) genes is thought to be maintained by pathogen-mediated selection possibly combined with mhc-disassortative mating, guided by mhc-determined olfactory cues. here, we partly characterize the mhc class i and ii b of the blue petrel, halobaena caerulea (procellariiformes), a bird with significant olfactory abilities that lives under presumably low pathogen burdens in subantarctica. blue petrels are long-lived, monogamous b ... | 2011 | 21607694 |
| are acoustical parameters of begging call elements of thin-billed prions related to chick condition? | chicks of burrowing petrels use begging calls to advertise their hunger levels when parents arrived at the nest. in a previous study, adult thin-billed prions pachyptila belcheri responded to higher begging call rates of their single chick by regurgitating larger meals. we tested whether acoustic parameters of begging call elements may also be involved in signalling. to describe variation in begging, we determined begging session parameters, namely the duration, number of calls and the mean and ... | 2010 | 21841890 |
| cool, cold or colder? spatial segregation of prions and blue petrels is explained by differences in preferred sea surface temperatures. | the southern ocean provides one of the largest environmental gradients on earth that lacks geographical barriers, and small but highly mobile petrels living there may offer fine models of evolution of diversity along environmental gradients. using geolocation devices, we investigated the winter distribution of closely related petrel species breeding sympatrically in the southern indian ocean, and applied ecological niche models to compare environmental conditions in the habitat used. we show tha ... | 2015 | 25878044 |
| half a world apart? overlap in nonbreeding distributions of atlantic and indian ocean thin-billed prions. | distant populations of animals may share their non-breeding grounds or migrate to distinct areas, and this may have important consequences for population differentiation and dynamics. small burrow-nesting seabirds provide a suitable case study, as they are often restricted to safe breeding sites on islands, resulting in a patchy breeding distribution. for example, thin-billed prions pachyptila belcheri have two major breeding colonies more than 8,000 km apart, on the falkland islands in the sout ... | 2015 | 26018194 |
| evolutionary factors affecting the cross-species utility of newly developed microsatellite markers in seabirds. | microsatellite loci are ideal for testing hypotheses relating to genetic segregation at fine spatio-temporal scales. they are also conserved among closely related species, making them potentially useful for clarifying interspecific relationships between recently diverged taxa. however, mutations at primer binding sites may lead to increased nonamplification, or disruptions that may result in decreased polymorphism in nontarget species. furthermore, high mutation rates and constraints on allele s ... | 2015 | 25594938 |
| compound-specific stable isotope analyses in falkland islands seabirds reveal seasonal changes in trophic positions. | while nitrogen and carbon stable isotope values can reflect ecological segregation, prey choice and spatial distribution in seabirds, the interpretation of bulk stable isotope values is frequently hampered by a lack of isotopic baseline data. in this study, we used compound-specific isotope analyses of amino acids (csia-aa) to overcome this constraint and to study interspecific differences, seasonal and historical changes in trophic positions of five seabird species, three penguins and two petre ... | 2020 | 32293412 |
| niche switching and leapfrog foraging: movement ecology of sympatric petrels during the early breeding season. | the timing of events in the early part of the breeding season is crucially important for successful reproduction. long-lived animals that migrate large distances independently of each other meet at the breeding sites to re-establish their pair bonds and coordinate their breeding duties with their partners. | 2020 | 32514358 |
| behavioural plasticity in the early breeding season of pelagic seabirds - a case study of thin-billed prions from two oceans. | in long-lived seabirds that migrate large distances independently of each other, the early part of the breeding season is crucially important for a successful reproductive attempt. during this phase, pair bonds are re-established and partners coordinate their breeding duties. we studied the early breeding season in thin-billed prions pachyptila belcheri breeding in the atlantic ocean (falkland/malvinas islands) and indian ocean (kerguelen). despite overlap in the wintering areas, these two popul ... | 2019 | 30693085 |