Anthopric debris in gentoo penguin (Pygoscelis papua) diet at Stranger Point (Antartic Peninsula)

JAZMÍN FÓGEL; PABLO PERCHIVALE; LUCAS RODRÍGUEZ PIRANI; MERCEDES SANTOS; MARIANA JUÁRES

Jornada; 7 th World Seabird Twitter Conference; 2021

We assessed the diet of 15 gentoo penguins (Pygoscelis papua) during the chick-rearing period at Stranger Point (25 de Mayo/King George Island, Antarctica), during the last austral summer 2020/2021. Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) dominated the diet of penguins (100% of frequency of occurrence and 97.8% by mass). Fish was a secondary prey, which occurred in 33.3% of the samples although with low contribution by mass (2.1%). In addition, we found an anthropic debris (6.7% of occurrence), possibly a paint scrap that shows signs of a potential accidental ingestion. Given that penguins are used as bioindicators of ecosystem health, this work highlights the importance of researching anthropic pollution in the Antarctic Peninsula and its potential effect on top and meso-predators