Meeting Abstract

P2.49  Jan. 5  Fair Weather Food: The effect of weather variation on total plasma antioxidant levels of Leach�s storm-petrels MOE, MK*; VAUGHN, EA; MAUCK, RA; HAUSSMANN, MF; Kenyon College moem@kenyon.edu

Weather has been demonstrated to significantly affect the reproductive success of seabirds. However, the physiological relationship between weather variation and chick growth or parent body condition is not fully understood. In this study, we offer a proximate mechanism to link weather variation and body condition as measured by total plasma antioxidant level. Antioxidants act to reduce oxidative damage by scavenging reactive oxygen species that cause damage to lipids, proteins, and DNA. We collected whole blood from breeding adult Leach�s storm-petrels (Oceanodroma leucorhoa; N=64) on Kent Island, New Brunswick, Canada over a fourteen-day period. Weather conditions, including maximum nighttime temperature and visibility, were recorded to determine the relationship between weather the night before a sample was collected to blood plasma total antioxidant level of the sample. High antioxidant levels were positively correlated with temperature (p=0.0008) and visibility (p<0.0001) during the night before samples were collected (F2,69 = 39.7, r2=0.55, p = 0.0001), suggesting that plasma antioxidant levels are highest on warm, clear nights. Leach�s storm-petrels are open water foragers that prey on euphausiids and myctophid fish, vertical migrants which respond to warm temperatures and light to rise to the surface of the water at night. An abundance of prey on warm, clear nights may promote high blood antioxidant levels of Leach�s storm-petrels. In this way, weather variation may indirectly reduce oxidative damage and, therefore, influence body condition in Leach's storm-petrels.