Skip Navigation

ICES Journal of Marine Science: Journal du Conseil 1997 54(4):624-630; doi:10.1006/jmsc.1997.0240
© 1997 by ICES/CIEM International Council for the Exploration of the Sea/Conseil International pour l'Exploration de la Mer
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Lilliendahl, K.
Right arrow Articles by Solmundsson, J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Lilliendahl, K.
Right arrow Articles by Solmundsson, J.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

An estimate of summer food consumption of six seabird species in Iceland

K. Lilliendahl and J. Solmundsson

Marine Research Institute Skúlagata 4, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland.

Correspondence to K. Lilliendahl: tel: +3545520240; fax: +3545623790; email: klill{at}hafro.is

The diet of the six most numerous seabird species found in Iceland was investigated during the summers of 1994 and 1995. A total of 1481 stomachs was analysed from common guillemots (Uria aalge), Brünnich's guillemots (U. lomvia), razorbills (Alca torda), puffins (Fratercula arctica), kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla), and northern fulmars (Fulmarus glacialis). The combined summer populations of these species in Icelandic waters are estimated at eighteen million individuals. All species except the fulmar rely heavily on capelin (Mallotus villosus), sandeel (Ammodytes marinus), and euphausiids as food. The food of fulmars is different from the others, with discards and offal from fishing vessels probably comprising a substantial part of the summer diet. The estimated annual summer food consumption of the bird species investigated is 171 000 t of capelin, 184 000 t of sandeel, and 34 000 t of euphausiids. These estimates are likely to have wide confidence intervals but probably display the general picture. The results indicate that the consumption of capelin by seabirds needs to be taken into account when modelling trophic relationships involving capelin, for example, with commercially important fish species. Furthermore, capelin are fished commercially around Iceland and these seabird species may be eating about 8% of the total capelin biomass each summer. The results further emphasize the importance of sandeel and euphausiids as prey for the birds.

Keywords: capelin, consumption, euphausiids, Iceland, sandeel, seabirds, summer diets


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Proc R Soc BHome page
K. L Laidre, M. P. Heide-Jorgensen, J. Nyeland, A. Mosbech, and D. Boertmann
Latitudinal gradients in sea ice and primary production determine Arctic seabird colony size in Greenland
Proc R Soc B, December 7, 2008; 275(1652): 2695 - 2702.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 ICES J. Mar. Sci.Home page
R. T. Barrett, G. Chapdelaine, T. Anker-Nilssen, A. Mosbech, W. A. Montevecchi, J. B. Reid, and R. R. Veit
Seabird numbers and prey consumption in the North Atlantic
ICES J. Mar. Sci., January 1, 2006; 63(6): 1145 - 1158.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.