The Journal of Experimental Biology 207, 3537-3544 3537 Published by The Company of Biologists 2004 doi:10.1242/jeb.01198 Testing olfactory foraging strategies in an Antarctic seabird assemblage Gabrielle Nevitt1,*, Keith Reid2 and Phil Trathan2 1Section of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behaviour, University of California, Davis, California 95616, USA and 2High Cross, British Antarctic Survey, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 OET, UK *Author for correspondence (e-mail:
[email protected]) Accepted 19 July 2004 Summary Procellariiform seabirds (petrels, albatrosses and chinned petrels (Procellaria aequinoctialis) were sighted at shearwaters) forage over thousands of square kilometres least 1.8–4 times as often at pyrazine-scented slicks than for patchily distributed prey resources. While these birds at control slicks. Black-browed albatrosses (Diomedea are known for their large olfactory bulbs and excellent melanophris) were only sighted at pyrazine-scented slicks sense of smell, how they use odour cues to locate prey and never at control slicks. Wilson’s storm-petrels patches in the vast ocean is not well understood. Here, we (Oceanites oceanicus), black-bellied storm-petrels investigate species-specific responses to 3-methyl pyrazine (Fregetta tropica), great shearwaters (Puffinus gravis) and in a sub-Antarctic species assemblage near South Georgia prions (Pachyptila sp.) were sighted with equal frequency Island (54°00′ S, 36°00′ W). Pyrazines are scented at control and pyrazine-scented slicks. As expected, compounds found in macerated Antarctic krill (Euphausia responses to herring oil were more common. With the superba), a primary prey item for many seabird species in exception of great shearwaters (Puffinus gravis), each of this region.