Plasticity of penguin foraging behaviour in the face of environmental change ? implications for conservation

MATTERN, THOMAS; PUTZ, KLEMENS; ELLENBERG, URSULA; SEDDON, PHIL; GARCIA BORBOROGLU, P.

Cape Town

Congreso; 9th International Penguin Congress; 2016

Seabirds are often protected at their breeding colonies whereas conservation of their marine habitat is lagging behind. Even the definition of marine important bird areas (IBAs) proves difficult due to limited understanding of large scale dynamic marine processes that will affect seabird distribution and foraging success. A first step are national efforts to protect marine habitat adjacent to important breeding colonies. Species with a restricted breeding distribution are thought to be particularly vulnerable to environmental change and perturbations in their marine habitat Using two New Zealand penguin species as an example we illustrate current challenges and opportunities for effective and anticipatory protection of coastal marine habitat in the face of environmental change.Both, Yellow-eyed and Fiordland penguins are endemic to southern New Zealand and classified as threatened, although there is a mismatch in threat categories considered by the IUCN and New Zealand?s own classification system (Yellow-eyed penguins, IUCN endangered, NZ vulnerable; Fiordland penguins, IUCN vulnerable, NZ endangered). . Fiordland penguins (Eudyptes pachyrhynchus) breed discontinuously confined to a mere ~500km stretch along New Zealand?s rugged southwest coast. Yet, despite their limited distributional range, the species appears remarkably adaptable using diverse oceanic habitats, ranging from shallow coastal and continental shelf, to pelagic and even fjord ecosystems with an agility we are just beginning to appreciate (see presentation by Mattern et al.). Yellow-eyed penguins (Megadyptes antipodes), in comparison, appear less flexible in their foraging strategies. As almost exclusive bottom foragers Yellow-eyed penguins are limited to the shallow continental shelf regions along the more accessible southeast coast of the South Island, Stewart Island and outliers. We know next to nothing about Yellow-eyed penguin populations on the sub-Antarctic Auckland and Campbell Islands other than they may be declining like their mainland counterpart. While threats on land are reasonably well understood and managed, the threats they are exposed to at sea require urgent attention. We will discuss how the differences in marine ecology and behavioural plasticity of Fiordland and Yellow-eyed penguins may affect their ability to cope with environmental change, and provide data to inform and refine current conservation efforts.