Breeding biology and diet of Herring Gulls Larus argentatus were studied on Ile Nue, in the Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Nesting parameters were measured 1994--1996, and fledging success and diet were followed in 1996. Clutch size was low in all three years of the study, and hatching success was low in 1995. Low clutch size and hatching success could not be explained by researcher disturbance, predation, or competition for nest sites, leaving food-stress as the most likely explanation. To reduce the biases associated with determining diet, we used four methods to estimate diet. The 1996 breeding season was divided into three periods using changes in the number of gulf pellets collected from roost sites as an indirect measure of dietary changes; these periods corresponded to the pre-spawning, spawning, and post-spawning periods of capelin Mallotus villosus. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.21516 |
| Date | January 1999 |
| Creators | Boyne, Andrew. |
| Contributors | Titman, Rodger D. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Natural Resource Sciences.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001657191, proquestno: MQ50725, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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