Trophic behavior and parasite communities in kelp gulls from the northern Patagonian coast, Argentina

Autores
Lorenti, Eliana Andrea; Cremonte, Florencia; Minardi, Graciela; Bertellotti, Marcelo; Navone, Graciela Teresa; Diaz, Julia Inés
Año de publicación
2025
Idioma
inglés
Tipo de recurso
artículo
Estado
versión publicada
Descripción
Parasites are important components of biodiversity and play multiple roles in natural systems. In aquatic birds, endoparasites are acquired mainly through the diet; thus, the environment is the main determinant of the parasitic community. The kelp gull is a widespread, generalist and opportunistic seabird species. Owing to their feeding plasticity, the aim of this study was to analyse the composition and structure of the helminth community of two kelp gull groups on the northern Patagonian coast: one group pecked on the backs of southern right whales, whereas the other fed on fishing discards. These results were compared with those of a previous study in which a kelp gull group fed on natural prey items in Península Valdés. Among the 95 analysed gulls, 92.6% were parasitized by at least one helminth species, including Cestoda, Trematoda, Nematoda and Acanthocephala, with trematodes being the most diverse. The pecking of gulls on whale backs resulted in a more depauperate parasitic community. The parasitological results suggest that altered feeding behavior in kelp gulls reduces natural prey consumption, emphasizing the importance of parasites as integral components of biodiversity and trophic markers. It also highlights the urgent need to manage urban waste and fishery discards on the northern Patagonian coast to reduce kelp gull-whale interactions.
Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores
Materia
Biología
Parasites
Trophic markers
Kelp gulls
Fishing discards
Southern right whales
Patagonia
Nivel de accesibilidad
acceso abierto
Condiciones de uso
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
Repositorio
SEDICI (UNLP)
Institución
Universidad Nacional de La Plata
OAI Identificador
oai:sedici.unlp.edu.ar:10915/193495
Acceder
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network_name_str SEDICI (UNLP)
spelling Trophic behavior and parasite communities in kelp gulls from the northern Patagonian coast, ArgentinaLorenti, Eliana AndreaCremonte, FlorenciaMinardi, GracielaBertellotti, MarceloNavone, Graciela TeresaDiaz, Julia InésBiologíaParasitesTrophic markersKelp gullsFishing discardsSouthern right whalesPatagoniaParasites are important components of biodiversity and play multiple roles in natural systems. In aquatic birds, endoparasites are acquired mainly through the diet; thus, the environment is the main determinant of the parasitic community. The kelp gull is a widespread, generalist and opportunistic seabird species. Owing to their feeding plasticity, the aim of this study was to analyse the composition and structure of the helminth community of two kelp gull groups on the northern Patagonian coast: one group pecked on the backs of southern right whales, whereas the other fed on fishing discards. These results were compared with those of a previous study in which a kelp gull group fed on natural prey items in Península Valdés. Among the 95 analysed gulls, 92.6% were parasitized by at least one helminth species, including Cestoda, Trematoda, Nematoda and Acanthocephala, with trematodes being the most diverse. The pecking of gulls on whale backs resulted in a more depauperate parasitic community. The parasitological results suggest that altered feeding behavior in kelp gulls reduces natural prey consumption, emphasizing the importance of parasites as integral components of biodiversity and trophic markers. It also highlights the urgent need to manage urban waste and fishery discards on the northern Patagonian coast to reduce kelp gull-whale interactions.Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores2025-07-01info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionArticulohttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:ar-repo/semantics/articuloapplication/pdfhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-07544-yhttp://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/193495enginfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-07544-y.pdfinfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/issn/2045-2322info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)reponame:SEDICI (UNLP)instname:Universidad Nacional de La Platainstacron:UNLP2026-05-13T12:59:56Zoai:sedici.unlp.edu.ar:10915/193495Institucionalhttp://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/Universidad públicaNo correspondehttp://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/oai/snrdalira@sedici.unlp.edu.arArgentinaNo correspondeNo correspondeNo correspondeopendoar:13292026-05-13 12:59:57.049SEDICI (UNLP) - Universidad Nacional de La Platafalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Trophic behavior and parasite communities in kelp gulls from the northern Patagonian coast, Argentina
title Trophic behavior and parasite communities in kelp gulls from the northern Patagonian coast, Argentina
spellingShingle Trophic behavior and parasite communities in kelp gulls from the northern Patagonian coast, Argentina
Lorenti, Eliana Andrea
Biología
Parasites
Trophic markers
Kelp gulls
Fishing discards
Southern right whales
Patagonia
title_short Trophic behavior and parasite communities in kelp gulls from the northern Patagonian coast, Argentina
title_full Trophic behavior and parasite communities in kelp gulls from the northern Patagonian coast, Argentina
title_fullStr Trophic behavior and parasite communities in kelp gulls from the northern Patagonian coast, Argentina
title_full_unstemmed Trophic behavior and parasite communities in kelp gulls from the northern Patagonian coast, Argentina
title_sort Trophic behavior and parasite communities in kelp gulls from the northern Patagonian coast, Argentina
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Lorenti, Eliana Andrea
Cremonte, Florencia
Minardi, Graciela
Bertellotti, Marcelo
Navone, Graciela Teresa
Diaz, Julia Inés
author Lorenti, Eliana Andrea
author_facet Lorenti, Eliana Andrea
Cremonte, Florencia
Minardi, Graciela
Bertellotti, Marcelo
Navone, Graciela Teresa
Diaz, Julia Inés
author_role author
author2 Cremonte, Florencia
Minardi, Graciela
Bertellotti, Marcelo
Navone, Graciela Teresa
Diaz, Julia Inés
author2_role author
author
author
author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Biología
Parasites
Trophic markers
Kelp gulls
Fishing discards
Southern right whales
Patagonia
topic Biología
Parasites
Trophic markers
Kelp gulls
Fishing discards
Southern right whales
Patagonia
dc.description.none.fl_txt_mv Parasites are important components of biodiversity and play multiple roles in natural systems. In aquatic birds, endoparasites are acquired mainly through the diet; thus, the environment is the main determinant of the parasitic community. The kelp gull is a widespread, generalist and opportunistic seabird species. Owing to their feeding plasticity, the aim of this study was to analyse the composition and structure of the helminth community of two kelp gull groups on the northern Patagonian coast: one group pecked on the backs of southern right whales, whereas the other fed on fishing discards. These results were compared with those of a previous study in which a kelp gull group fed on natural prey items in Península Valdés. Among the 95 analysed gulls, 92.6% were parasitized by at least one helminth species, including Cestoda, Trematoda, Nematoda and Acanthocephala, with trematodes being the most diverse. The pecking of gulls on whale backs resulted in a more depauperate parasitic community. The parasitological results suggest that altered feeding behavior in kelp gulls reduces natural prey consumption, emphasizing the importance of parasites as integral components of biodiversity and trophic markers. It also highlights the urgent need to manage urban waste and fishery discards on the northern Patagonian coast to reduce kelp gull-whale interactions.
Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores
description Parasites are important components of biodiversity and play multiple roles in natural systems. In aquatic birds, endoparasites are acquired mainly through the diet; thus, the environment is the main determinant of the parasitic community. The kelp gull is a widespread, generalist and opportunistic seabird species. Owing to their feeding plasticity, the aim of this study was to analyse the composition and structure of the helminth community of two kelp gull groups on the northern Patagonian coast: one group pecked on the backs of southern right whales, whereas the other fed on fishing discards. These results were compared with those of a previous study in which a kelp gull group fed on natural prey items in Península Valdés. Among the 95 analysed gulls, 92.6% were parasitized by at least one helminth species, including Cestoda, Trematoda, Nematoda and Acanthocephala, with trematodes being the most diverse. The pecking of gulls on whale backs resulted in a more depauperate parasitic community. The parasitological results suggest that altered feeding behavior in kelp gulls reduces natural prey consumption, emphasizing the importance of parasites as integral components of biodiversity and trophic markers. It also highlights the urgent need to manage urban waste and fishery discards on the northern Patagonian coast to reduce kelp gull-whale interactions.
publishDate 2025
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2025-07-01
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
Articulo
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
info:ar-repo/semantics/articulo
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-07544-y
http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/193495
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-07544-y
http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/193495
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-07544-y.pdf
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/issn/2045-2322
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:SEDICI (UNLP)
instname:Universidad Nacional de La Plata
instacron:UNLP
reponame_str SEDICI (UNLP)
collection SEDICI (UNLP)
instname_str Universidad Nacional de La Plata
instacron_str UNLP
institution UNLP
repository.name.fl_str_mv SEDICI (UNLP) - Universidad Nacional de La Plata
repository.mail.fl_str_mv alira@sedici.unlp.edu.ar
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