The winter distribution of Chinstrap penguins from Deception Island, Antarctica

X Simposio de Estudios Polares, 15-17 May 2024, Salamanca

The Chinstrap penguin (Pygoscelis antarcticus) is a marine predator, foraging mainly on krill (Euphausia superba) in the Antarctic, and has been designated a key monitoring species under the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR). This species departs from the breeding colonies after chick fledging and spend up to 8 months over-winter at sea. Despite the obvious importance of the non-breeding season to their survival, winter distributions and behaviors of chinstrap penguins in the Antarctic Peninsula are mostly unknown. Several studies have shown for different organisms how their movements can be fitted to different patterns to optimize search of food resources. From GPS locations, we verified the fitting of the movement patterns to the functions of Lévy and Brownian strategies. This analysis of food search patterns can be used as an indirect indicator to track changes in food availability across a broad range of environmental conditions. We used satellite telemetry to track the movements of 21 fully molted adults of the Chinstrap penguin deployed during two seasons (2022/2023 and 2023/2024) at the Vapour Col penguin rookery in Deception Island, South Shetlands (63º 00’S 60º 40’W). The analysis of the satellite location allows us to obtain accurate information on movement patterns, specific geographic regions utilized by penguins during the nonbreeding months, and the spatial overlap between the main fishing and foraging areas which may aid in elucidating factors influencing their survival. The analysis of chinstrap penguins’ wintering movements is important under the current context of global change which is expected to affect migratory species

Peer reviewed