Virtual Posters

The territories are so important to reproductive success of species than the food availability. In Antarctic the free ice areas are indispensable to the reproduction of seabird species as skuas, penguins, petrels, kelp gulls, and others. In present study we analyzed photographs and field notes to evaluate the vegetation used by skuas in their nests. Field work took place in 2004/2005, 2007/2008 and 2008/2009 breeding stations in two breeding sites of Admiralty Bay (Hennequin Point and Keller Peninsula). The nests were categorized in accordance with vegetation cover as follows: 1) little (0-25%), 2) medium (25-75%), and 3) abundant vegetation cover (above 75%). The initial results indicate that the majority of the nests were categorized as 2 and 3 (more than 70%). The results so far indicate that these birds select the areas to establish territories and build nests according to the presence of vegetation. It also indicates that the best breeding areas for skuas are those that have more than 70% vegetation cover. (This work was supported by The National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and Brazilian Antarctic Program (PROANTAR) (process CNPq/PROANTAR 550040/2007-2). ESC received a PhD CNPq fellowship (process 141474/2008-4), and MASA received a CNPq grant (process 3027185/03-6) during development of this work).