Assessing performance constraints in penguins with externally-attached devices
Yan Ropert‐Coudert, RP Wilson, Ken Yoda, Akiko Kato · Marine Ecology Progress Series · 2007
MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 333:281-289 (2007) - doi:10.3354/meps333281 Assessing performance constraints in penguins with externally-attached devices Yan Ropert-Coudert1,*, Rory P. Wilson2, Ken Yoda3,4, Akiko Kato1 1National Institute of Polar Research, 1-9-10 Kaga, Itabashi Tokyo 173-8515, Japan 2School of Biological Sciences, University of Wales-Swansea, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK 3Department of Zoology, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kitashirakawa, Sakyo, Kyoto, 606-8502, Japan 4Present address: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Santa Cruz, 100 Shaffer Road, Santa Cruz, California 95060-5730, USA *Email: [email protected] ABSTRACT: Externally-attached transmission and logging devices have greatly helped elucidate the biology of free-living animals over the last 50 yr. However, such devices may hinder animals so that the behaviour monitored is not representative of unequipped conspecifics. We suggest that if animals are equipped with devices of varying size, the change in recorded parameters with size can be used to extrapolate to the condition in unencumbered animals. Use of this approach with Adélie penguins Pygoscelis adeliae showed that unequipped birds are predicted to range farther, swim faster, dive deeper and be more efficient underwater than equipped birds. The derived data not only set baseline information for the species concerned but also allow us to put the deleterious effects of the devices into perspective. KEY WORDS: Data-logger impact · Bio-logging · Spheniscids · Adélie penguins · Pygoscelis adeliae · Swim speed · Diving performance · Foraging Full text in pdf format PreviousNextExport citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 333. Online publication date: March 12, 2007 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2007 Inter-Research.