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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 55(8)

Feeding ecology of little terns Sterna albifrons sinensis in south-eastern Australia and the effects of pilchard mass mortality on breeding success and population size

Iain R. Taylor A C and Emma L. Roe A B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Applied Ornithology Group, Johnstone Centre, Charles Sturt University, PO Box 789, Albury, NSW 2640, Australia.

B Present address: Department of Sustainability and Environment, 7 Service St., Bairnsdale, Vic. 3875, Australia.

C Corresponding author. Email: itaylor@csu.edu.au

Marine and Freshwater Research 55(8) 799-808 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF03203
Submitted: 16 December 2004  Accepted: 13 October 2004   Published: 16 November 2004

Abstract

Little terns Sterna albifrons sinensis breeding on Rigby Island, Gippsland Lakes in south-east Australia fed their chicks entirely on juvenile fish of the families Clupeidae, Engraulidae, Pomatomidae and Carangidae, including pilchard Sardinops neopilchardus, southern anchovy Engraulis australis and blue sprat Spratelloides robustus. The entrance channel to the Lakes was an important feeding site. Numbers feeding there increased on the flood tide and decreased on the ebb tide. Their dive rates followed the same pattern, suggesting they depended on shoals of juvenile fish entering the estuary during high tide. The number feeding varied from day to day, and dive rates were positively correlated with numbers, suggesting that the abundance of juvenile fish entering the channel also varied from day to day. There was no evidence that breeding success or number of breeding pairs were adversely affected by the 1995 mass mortalities of pilchard in the area. However, breeding success was reduced significantly in 1999 and 2000 following the 1998/1999 pilchard mortality. The 1995 mortality affected mainly larger size classes of pilchard, whereas the 1998/1999 mortality also affected younger age classes. This difference may explain why little terns seemed only to be adversely affected by the second mortality event.

Extra keywords: diet, foraging areas, seabirds, trophic relations.


Acknowledgments

This study was funded by a grant from the Johnstone Centre of Charles Sturt University. We would like to thank all members of the Victorian Little Tern Task Force who assisted in many ways and allowed use of data on little tern numbers and breeding success between 1977 and 2002. Risa Handler, Cameron Sharpe, Isla Croft and the late Beth Chissum assisted with field observations. Simon McDonald prepared the maps. We are grateful to two referees and the editor for their valuable comments that greatly improved the manuscript.


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