WHERE DO THEY GO? YEAR-ROUND MOVEMENTS REVEAL A SHIFT IN THE DISTRIBUTION OF SOUTHERN GIANT PETRELS DURING WINTER

Abstract

: We aimed to evaluate the year-round distribution of an Antarctic population of the Southern Giant Petrel Macronectes giganteus. Twelve BAS MK9 geolocators were recovered in November 2011 from animals tagged in January 2011. We applied month Fixed Kernel Densities and compared the geographical positions of individuals between breeding and non-breeding periods. During breeding, petrels remained predominantly above the 60ºS parallel, but during the non-breeding period they used mostly the areas below 60ºS, with many individuals using the coast of Argentina, west of Falkland Islands. Th e results are exciting in the sense that now the information on where the Southern Giant Petrels spend the winter will allow the understanding of the infl uences of climate and fi sheries over the population dynamics.