TEMPORAL VARIATION IN ISOTOPIC COMPOSITION OF MAGELLANIC PENGUIN Spheniscus magellanicus AT MARTILLO ISLAND

DODINO SAMANTA; LUCIANA RICCIALDELLI; RAYA REY ANDREA

Iguazú

Congreso; Ornithological Congress of the Americas XVII RAO/ XXIV CBO/ XCV AFO; 2017

Association of Field Ornithologists, Sociedade Brasileira de Ornitologia and Aves Argentinas

Due to their restricted foraging range, flightless seabirds are ideal models to study the short-term variability in the trophic niche in response to food availability in changing environments. In order to estimate potential inter-annual variations in trophic niche of Magellanic penguins at Martillo Island ( Beagle Channel, Argentina), we investigated short-term isotopic variations in 13C and 15N values on feathers collected during 5 seasons (2009, 2013-16) together with oceanographic conditions. We found that in 2009 both isotopic values were higher than those registered for the rest of the studied years (p