The winter diet of the Atlantic puffin Fratercula arctica around the Faroe Islands

Harris, Michael P. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9559-5830; Leopold, Mardik F; Jensen, Jens-Kjeld; Meesters, Erik H.; Wanless, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2788-4606. 2015 The winter diet of the Atlantic puffin Fratercula arctica around the Faroe Islands. Ibis, 157 (3). 468-479. https://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.12272

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Official URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ibi.122...

Abstract/Summary

Most mortality of Puffins occurs outside the breeding season but little is known about the species’ diet at that time. The stomach contents of 176 Puffins shot legally for food around the Faroe Islands between October and January in three winters were examined. The remains of 20 species of fish, six species of crustacea and single species of polychaete, chaetognathid and squid were identified. The most frequently recorded prey in terms of frequency of occurrence were 0 group (less than one year old) Lesser Sandeel Ammodytes marinus (82% of stomachs), followed by mesopelagic fish (52%), nereid worms (41%), Silver Rockling Gaidropsarus argentatus (36%), crustacea (35%), large sandeel (32%) and other large fish (32%). In terms of calculated biomass, nereids (41%), large sandeel (23%) and other large fish (17%) made up the bulk of the diet but the latter two prey types were most important in energetic terms (46% despite accounting for only 9% of items). Stomachs contents collected on the same day and location were significantly more similar than those collected on different dates and locations, suggesting that during winter Puffins are generalists taking any prey they encounter.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.12272
UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:	UKCEH Fellows Watt
ISSN:	0019-1019
Additional Keywords:	sandeel, diet analysis, polychaete worms, meospelagic fish, Northeast Atlantic, prey consumption
NORA Subject Terms:	Ecology and Environment
Date made live:	05 May 2015 13:29 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/510740

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.12272

UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:

UKCEH Fellows
Watt

ISSN:

0019-1019

Additional Keywords:

sandeel, diet analysis, polychaete worms, meospelagic fish, Northeast Atlantic, prey consumption

NORA Subject Terms:

Ecology and Environment