How to translate text using browser tools
1 March 2018 Mudflat Use and Predation on Male Southwestern Atlantic Fiddler Crabs (Uca uruguayensis) by Gull-billed Terns (Gelochelidon nilotica)
Pablo D. Ribeiro, Diego D. Navarro, Luciano M. Jaureguy, Oscar O. Iribarne
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

Gull-billed Terns (Gelochelidon nilotica) comprise a group of cosmopolitan subspecies that make use of a wide range of aquatic ecosystems and have a broad dietary spectrum. This study documents the use of a southwestern Atlantic mudflat in Argentina and depredation of the southwestern Atlantic fiddler crab (Uca uruguayensis) by Gull-billed Terns. Gull-billed Terns preyed exclusively on male fiddler crabs. This may have been due to the observed presence of Gull-billed Terns mainly between 2 and 3 hr after low tide, when more than 80% of fiddler crabs active on the surface were males. Gull-billed Terns spent 66.9% of the time flying over and feeding on fiddler crabs. Gull-billed Terns landed without feeding 9.3% of the time. Gull-billed Terns succeeded in capturing prey in 29.8% of cases. Food capture rate of Gull-billed Terns was 68.9 items/hr, which is higher than rates reported for the species feeding on fiddler crabs in Mauritania and Guinea Bissau.

Pablo D. Ribeiro, Diego D. Navarro, Luciano M. Jaureguy, and Oscar O. Iribarne "Mudflat Use and Predation on Male Southwestern Atlantic Fiddler Crabs (Uca uruguayensis) by Gull-billed Terns (Gelochelidon nilotica)," Waterbirds 41(1), 68-72, (1 March 2018). https://doi.org/10.1675/063.041.0109
Received: 30 March 2017; Accepted: 1 September 2017; Published: 1 March 2018
KEYWORDS
Gelochelidon nilotica
Gull-billed Terns
sex-biased predation
southwestern Atlantic fiddler crabs
time budgets
Uca uruguayensis
RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS
Get copyright permission
Back to Top