Meeting Abstract
Animals’ external characteristics reveal details of their age, physiology, and/or body condition. Gentoo penguins (Pygoscelis papua) display a deep red beak spot, varying substantially between individuals, and shown experimentally to reflect concentration of carotenoid pigments. Carotenoid pigments may be used in mating displays or in the immune system, meaning that birds showing the deepest red are in the best condition. We sampled 50+ birds at each of 10 breeding colonies on the Antarctic peninsula. Using a color standard placed next to the bird in each photo, we standardized light levels of the photos before measuring hue, saturation, and brightness. We calculated colony-wide mean values along each of those parameters, and found substantial variation between the colonies. We compare those means with other publicly-available data to assess possible causes of the variation, considering prey availability, tourism visits, latitude, and ambient temperature changes as possible correlates. Importantly, we found no correlation between tourist visits and colony health. Our work will not only allow better management of human activities such as tourism and fishing in the Antarctic, it may help us predict future changes on the Antarctic peninsula.
