Quantity over quality? Prey-field characteristics influence the foraging decisions of little penguins (Eudyptula minor) Sutton, Grace and Arnould, John 2022, Quantity over quality? Prey-field characteristics influence the foraging decisions of little penguins (Eudyptula minor), Royal Society Open Science, vol. 9, pp. 1-10, doi: 10.1098/rsos.211171. Title Quantity over quality? Prey-field characteristics influence the foraging decisions of little penguins (Eudyptula minor) Author(s) Sutton, Grace Arnould, John orcid.org/0000-0003-1124-9330 Journal name Royal Society Open Science Volume number 9 Start page 1 End page 10 Total pages 10 Publisher Royal Society Publishing Place of publication London, Eng. Publication date 2022 ISSN 2054-5703 Keyword(s) Science & Technology Multidisciplinary Sciences Science & Technology - Other Topics penguin camera patch size prey foraging predator-prey interactions FEEDING-BEHAVIOR TOP PREDATORS BASS STRAIT MARINE TEMPERATURE CONSEQUENCES PERFORMANCE PATTERNS SEABIRDS predator–prey interactions Summary Quantifying prey characteristics is important for understanding the foraging behaviour of predators, which ultimately influence the structure and function of entire ecosystems. However, information available on prey is often at magnitudes which cannot be used to infer the fine-scale behaviour of predators, especially so in marine environments where direct observation of predator-prey interactions is rarely possible. In the present study, animal-borne video data loggers were used to determine the influence of prey type and patch density on the foraging behaviour of the little penguin (Eudyptula minor), an important predator in southeastern Australia. We found that numerical density positively influenced time spent foraging at a patch. However, when accounting for calorific value in density estimates, individuals spent longer at dense patches of lowquality prey. This may reflect a trade-off between capture effort and calorific gain as lower quality prey were captured at higher rates. During the breeding season, foraging trip distance and duration is constrained by the need to return to the colony each day to feed offspring. The results of the study suggest that, under these spatio-temporal constraints, little penguins maximize foraging performance by concentrating efforts at larger quantities of prey, irrespective of their calorific quality. Language eng DOI 10.1098/rsos.211171 HERDC Research category C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal Free to Read? Yes Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30173608 Document type: Journal Article Collections: Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment School of Life and Environmental Sciences Open Access Collection Related Links Link Description Link to full-text (open access)   Connect to Elements publication management system Go to link with your DU access privileges     Unless expressly stated otherwise, the copyright for items in DRO is owned by the author, with all rights reserved. Every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that permission has been obtained for items included in DRO. If you believe that your rights have been infringed by this repository, please contact drosupport@deakin.edu.au. Versions Version Filter Type Fri, 24 Jun 2022, 08:24:07 EST Fri, 24 Jun 2022, 16:36:07 EST Fri, 24 Jun 2022, 16:38:20 EST Tue, 26 Jul 2022, 16:04:32 EST Wed, 27 Jul 2022, 16:43:17 EST Wed, 27 Jul 2022, 16:43:58 EST Wed, 27 Jul 2022, 17:01:32 EST Filtered Full Citation counts:   Cited 0 times in TR Web of Science Cited 0 times in Scopus Search Google Scholar Access Statistics: 6 Abstract Views  -  Detailed Statistics Created: Fri, 24 Jun 2022, 08:24:07 EST