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The Responses of Seabirds to a Potential Foraging Cue, Dimethyl Sulfide

This study examines the responses of King penguins and Blue petrels to the presence of Dimethyl Sulfide (DMS), a potential foraging cue. It finds that adult King penguins can detect DMS, while their chicks cannot. Additionally, both King penguins and Blue petrels are attracted to DMS, indicating its importance as a foraging cue for these seabirds.

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The Responses of Seabirds to a Potential Foraging Cue, Dimethyl Sulfide

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  1. The Responses of Seabirds to a Potential Foraging Cue, Dimethyl Sulfide Student Names Date Course Number

  2. Activity 1: Can King penguin adults and chicks detect DMS? Figure 1. Mean responses of sleeping adult King penguins to DMS and Control presentations. Average response for adult King penguins to the control odor was 0.41 ± 0.085 (SE). Average response for adult King penguins to the DMS odor was 0.76 ± 0.10 (SE). Penguins responded significantly more to the DMS presentation than the control odor (p = 0.0087) Figure 2. Mean responses of sleeping King penguin chicks to DMS and Control presentations. Average response for chick King penguins to the control odor was 0.59 ± 0.13 (SE). Average response for chick King penguins to the DMS odor was 0.62 ± 0.12 (SE). No significant differences in the responses between treatments were observed (p = 0.468) Concluding statement: Adult King penguins can detect DMS, while their chicks cannot.

  3. Activity 2: Are King penguins attracted to DMS? Figure 4. The number of King penguins swimming in the water following the DMS deployment. There is a significant positive correlation between number of birds visiting the lake and time since odor deployment (R2 = 0.0659, p < 0.0001). Figure 3. The number of King penguins swimming in the water following the Control deployment. There is a negative correlation between number of birds visiting the lake and time since odor deployment (R2 = 0.1034, p < 0.0001). Concluding statement: King penguins recruited more to the lake when the DMS was present, relative to the control. This suggests that the DMS was attractive to the birds.

  4. Activity 3: Are other seabirds sensitive to DMS? Figure 5. The number of Blue petrels choosing either DMS or Control odor release arms in a Y-maze. The birds chose the arm of the maze associated with DMS significantly more often than the arm with the control odor (p = 0.0046). Concluding statement: Blue petrels can detect DMS.

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