Ardea
Official journal of the Netherlands Ornithologists' Union

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Reinhardt K. (1997) Breeding success of southern hemisphere skuas Catharacta spp.: The influence of latitude. ARDEA 85 (1): 73-82
The breeding success of southern hemisphere skuas is reviewed. In total, 54 site-year records of clutch size, hatching success, fledged chicks per pair or breeding success are available for the South Polar Skua, 33 for the Brown Skua, six for mixed pairs of the two species, and one for the Falkland Skua. There are no data on the Chilean Skua and the Tristan Skua. In the South Polar Skua, breeding success (fledged young per egg found) and hatching success are significantly negatively correlated with the increase of latitude. In the Brown Skua, hatching success and number of chicks fledged per breeding pair were inversely correlated to latitude. It is argued that food availability may explain this geographical pattern for the South Polar Skua and food availability and laying date for the Brown Skua.


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