Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Vermeer, K.
Right arrow Articles by Sealy, S. G.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Vermeer, K.
Right arrow Articles by Sealy, S. G.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

JOURNAL OF PLANKTON RESEARCH | VOLUME 7 | NUMBER 4 | PAGES 443-459 | 1985
© Oxford University Press

research-article

Differential use of zooplankton prey by Ancient murrelets and Cassin's auklets in the Queen Charlotte Islands

Kees Vermeer1, John D. Fulton2 and Spencer G. Sealy3

1Canadian Wildlife Service P.O. Box 340, Delta, British Columbia, V4K 3Y3 2Fisheries Research Branch Pacific Biological Station, Nanaimo, British Columbia, V9R 5K6 3Department of Zoology, University of Manitoba Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3T 2N2, Canada

Received on December 1, 1983; accepted on February 1, 1985 The distribution at sea and the food of two similar sized plankton-feeding alcids were examined during the 1981 breeding seasons in the northwestern Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia. The two alcids, the Ancient murrelet (Synthliboramphus antiquus) and the Cassin's auklet (Prychoramphus aleuticus) have different chick-rearing strategies. Both species fed predominantly at the shelf break, although the Cassin's auklet also foraged over seamounts. The feeding distributions of the species appear to be related to those of their prey. Zooplankton sampling indicated that each alcid selects a small and different portion of the zooplankton available in surface waters. The Ancient murrelet's main foods were euphausiids (Thysanoessa spinifera and Euphausia pacifica) and larval and juvenile fishes. The Cassin's auklet chicks fed chiefly on calanoid copepods (Neocalanus cristatus). euphausiids (mostly Thysanoessa longipes in 1981, but in other years also Thysanoessa spinifera), and larval and juvenile fishes. The Cassin's auklets took smaller prey than the Ancient murrelet. Differences in the diets of the two alcid species were associated with differences in morphology and chick-rearing strategies.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.