A lone petrel was shot from the decks of an Italian warship (the 'Magenta') while it was sailing the South Pacific Ocean in 1867, far from land. The species, unknown to science, was named the 'Magenta petrel' (Procellariiformes, Procellariidae, Pterodroma magentae). No other specimens of this bird were collected and the species it represented remained a complete enigma for over 100 years. We co...

Hybridization in natural populations provides an opportunity to study the evolutionary processes that shape divergence and genetic isolation of species. The emergence of pre-mating barriers is often the precursor to complete reproductive isolation. However, in recently diverged species, pre-mating barriers may be incomplete, leading to hybridization between seemingly distinct taxa. Here we repo...

The foraging ecology of small seabirds remains poorly understood because of the difficulty of studying them at sea. Here, the extent to which 3 sympatric seabirds (blue petrel, thinbilled prion and common diving petrel) alter their foraging ecology across the annual cycle was investigated using stable isotopes. δ13C and δ15N values were used as proxies of the birds’ foraging habitat and diet, r...

Most studies investigating olfactory sensitivities in procellariiform seabirds have concentrated on adults, but little attention has been paid to how olfactory behaviours develop. We took a first step towards understanding the ontogeny of these behaviours by testing the olfactory abilities of the blue petrel Halobaena caerulea, the thin-billed prion Pachyptila belcheri, and the common diving pe...

Title of Dissertation: CONSERVATION GENETICS OF THE ENDANGERED HAWAIIAN PETREL (PTERODROMA SANDWICHENSIS) ACROSS SPACE AND TIME Andreanna Jo Welch, Doctor of Philosophy, 2011 Dissertation directed by: Dr. Robert C. Fleischer Center Head, Center for Conservation and Evolutionary Genetics, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, National Zoological Park Dr. David J. Hawthorne Associate Profes...

The diet of the brown skua (Catharacta skua loÈnnbergi) was studied at Mayes Island, Kerguelen archipelago, by collection of prey remains on 11 territories during the complete breeding cycle of the species there. In nine territories, collections were daily or every two days for a quantitative investigation of the diet. The blue petrel (Halobaena caerulea) and thin-billed prion (Pachyptila belch...

The Chatham petrel (Pterodroma axillaris) is an endangered species restricted to a single population on South East Island, Chatham Islands, New Zealand. The key threat to Chatham petrel breeding success is interference with chicks by broad-billed prions (Pachyptila vittata) prospecting for burrows for their oncoming breeding season. This burrow competition has resulted from alteration to breedi...

Human exploitation of marine ecosystems is more recent in oceanic than near shore regions, yet our understanding of human impacts on oceanic food webs is comparatively poor. Few records of species that live beyond the continental shelves date back more than 60 y, and the sheer size of oceanic regions makes their food webs difficult to study, even in modern times. Here, we use stable carbon and ...

A southern giant petrel (Macronectes giganteus) was found dead at Potter Peninsula, King George Island, South Shetland, Antarctica. The adult male was discovered approximately 48 hr after death. Macroscopic and microscopic lesions were compatible with avian cholera and the bacterium Pasteurella multocida subsp. gallicida, serotype A1 was isolated from lung, heart, liver, pericardial sac, and ai...