Morphological and blood parameters as indicators of reproductive success in adult male Imperial Cormorants (Phalacrocorax atriceps)

GALLO. L.; QUINTANA, F.; UHART, M.

Conferencia; 2nd World Seabird Conference; 2015

Reproduction is considered one of the most energy-demanding activities in the life history of an organism. In biparental species such as Imperial Cormorants (Phalacrocorax atriceps, ICs), males have a significant influence in their offspring as they share incubation, feeding and chick care with the females. During the 2010 and 2011 breeding seasons at the Punta León colony in Patagonia Argentina, the effectiveness of selected morphological and blood parameters as indicators of reproductive success of IC adult males was evaluated in terms of quality (body mass and body mass corrected by tarsus length of the first-born chick) and quantity of chicks fledged. Our results suggest that during "normal" seasons (i.e. those where reproductive success resembles the mean value (eight years) reported for the study colony), total protein, cholesterol and alkaline phosphatase activity of adult males could be used as indicators of offspring quality. On the other hand, in "bad" seasons (i.e. those where reproductive success is below the mean value (eight years) reported for the study colony), adult male cholesterol and uric acid would predict with greater certainty the number of fledged offspring, with body mass and body mass corrected for body size influencing offspring quality. This study explores for the first time the usefulness of several morphological and blood parameters from breeding males to easily define the possible outcome of a reproductive event in ICs.