University of Tasmania
Browse

File(s) not publicly available

Coarse-scale relationships between seabirds and zooplankton off south-eastern Tasmania

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-16, 12:34 authored by Reid, TA, Mark HindellMark Hindell
Observations were made of seabird and zooplankton distribution in the waters adjacent to south-eastern Tasmania to examine correspondence at coarse scales (tens of kilometres). The distribution of seabirds was related mainly to changes in the water depth (and distance from land) over the length of the transect, whereas the distribution of zooplankton related to temporal changes. Significantly different associations of seabird species occurred in Storm Bay (mainly species breeding within the bay), and over the shelf-edge (with many non-breeding species dominant). Zooplankton diversity varied during the study, being greatest at the beginning (May) and end (September) of the study. Little correspondence was found between the distribution of seabirds and zooplankton at the community level, but there were significant relationships for several species, such as diving petrels and gannets. The lack of an overall correspondence between seabirds and zooplankton may have been due to the patchiness of seabird and zooplankton distribution, limits to the requirements of seabirds to find maximum prey densities (instead only needing to find 'enough'), the lack of certainty about whether seabirds were foraging when observed, and behavioural interactions among seabirds.

History

Publication title

Marine and Freshwater Research

Volume

51

Issue

8

Pagination

789-798

ISSN

1323-1650

Department/School

Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies

Publisher

CSIRO Publishing

Place of publication

Australia

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Assessment and management of coastal and estuarine ecosystems

Usage metrics

    University Of Tasmania

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC