Long term data series on Patagonian diving birds

QUINTANA FLAVIO; GABRIELA S. BLANCO; SALA, JUAN-EMILIO; GOMEZ LAICH, AGUSTINA

Santa Marta

Workshop; Global Ocean Observing System South Americal Regional Workshop; 2018

Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS)

The goals of this project are to generate a long-term database of biological, ecological and environmental variables related to the foraging effort of key marine top predator species, and to show the usefulness of miniaturized electronic technology on key marine species for obtaininglong-term marine biological and environmental data. The project focuses on the Magellanic Penguin and the Imperial Cormorant, the most important top predators of the Patagonian coast and sea, in terms of abundance, biomass and consumption of marine resources, as well as two important indicators of marine ecosystem health. Data series includes 950 deployments in Cormorants (2007-2017) and 580 deployments on Penguins (2005-2017). Variables measured during 13-14 uninterrupted years include:? Use of marine and coastal areas? Movements? Diving behavior? Foraging effort and prey consumption? Energy management? Environment exploration and monitoringLoggers include physical sensors (e.g. temperature) which have been able to describe thermal fronts and thermoclines off the Patagonian coast and provide in-situ calibration to satellitederived sea surface temperature (SST). In addition to temperature, data loggers include time, position, depth, acceleration, and light. As biological platforms, penguins and other seabirds are relatively inexpensive and can access where ships can often not get to. However, they are complementary to ship-based observations, not to completely replace them.