Does tourist visitation affect nest and pair fidelity in Magellanic penguins?

VILLANUEVA, M. C.; BERTELLOTTI, M.; WALKER, B.

Auckland

Congreso; International Congress for Conservation Biology - ICCB 2011; 2011

Society for Conservation Biology

Several species of penguins show high rates of nest and pair fidelity. However, disturbances such as human visitation in tourist sites could cause them to move to undisturbed areas. We studied the return rates and nest and pair fidelity of Magellanic penguins (Spheniscus magallanicus) in San Lorenzo colony, at Peninsula Valdés, Argentina. We followed banded pairs in a) a visited trail opened to tourism 11 years ago (16 pairs), b) in a newly opened trail (17 pairs) and c) in a non-visited area (23 pairs) during three reproductive seasons. We found that the return rates of penguins diminished among years. We did not find differences in the returning penguins between the old and new trails, but fewer penguins returned to the non-visited area. We also found that fewer females than males returned to the colony. We did not find differences in the nest fidelity among areas or seasons. We found that pair fidelity was higher in the old and new trail than the non-visited area. We conclude that tourist visitation is not causing penguins to move away from the tourist trail, not even in a newly opened area, were penguins had to get use to human visitation. Pair fidelity was also not affected by tourist visitation. However differential survival between females and males raises concerns about what other conditions are affecting Magellanic penguins in their migratory routes.