Birds and marine mammals in southwestern Foxe Basin, Nunavut, Canada

Gaston, Anthony J.; Smith, Stephen A.; Saunders, Robert; Storm, G. Ilya; Whitney, J Autin

doi:10.1017/s0032247406005651

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 15 publications

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“…Nonetheless, many seabird and marine mammal colonies are characterized by several co-existing species with apparently similar dietary niches (Diamond 1978, Croxall & Prince 1980, Gaston 2004. Competition is likely strongest during the reproductive period be cause all individuals are constrained to feed within a limited radius of the central place and cannot wander entire oceans searching for an optimal foraging patch (Ashmole 1963, Gaston et al 2007). Many cliff-or burrownesting seabirds are apparently not limited by nestsites, and competition must occur at sea (Elliott et al 2009b, Masello et al 2010, Wakefield et al 2013, presumably leading to differences in their foraging niches over evolutionary time.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Foraging behaviour of sympatric razorbills and puffins

Shoji¹,

Elliott²,

Fayet³

et al. 2015

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Many marine predators coexist at colonies, creating a zone where there could be significant inter-and intraspecific competition. To minimize the potential for direct competition, under the principle of competitive exclusion, sympatric predators may differ in their foraging behaviour at the colony. At Skomer, Wales, razorbills Alca torda and puffins Fratercula arctica both breed at the same time of year, forage on sand eels Ammodytes sp. and their populations are stable or declining, meaning that they may be close to carrying capacity and experiencing competition. To examine how they differ in their foraging behaviour, time-depth-temperature recorders were attached to the legs of chick-rearing individuals of both species. Puffins have lower wingloading and lower total oxygen stores than razorbills and are therefore expected to invest more time in flying and less time in diving than razorbills. Mean (±1 SE) dive depth was 11.8 ± 0.45 m for puffins and 8.2 ± 0.21 m for razorbills, while mean dive duration was 40 ± 0.45 s for puffins and 24 ± 0.21 s for razorbills. Both species spent most of their dive time making shallow, V-shaped dives during daylight hours. In contrast to our prediction, foraging behaviour was very similar between the 2 species, although puffins tended to spend more time both diving and flying. The higher diving and flying rates of puffins may be associated with multiple prey loading, as puffins tend to bring back smaller (and therefore more) prey items than do razorbills.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Foraging behaviour of sympatric razorbills and puffins

Shoji¹,

Elliott²,

Fayet³

et al. 2015

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Reproduction and survival of Glaucous Gulls breeding in an Arctic seabird colony

Gaston

Descamps

Gilchrist

2009

Journal of Field Ornithology

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Despite being widespread and easily observed, little is known about the life history of Glaucous Gulls (Larus hyperboreus). From 1984 to 2007, we examined their breeding biology and demography at Coats Island, Nunavut, Canada, where they nest alongside a colony of 30,000 pairs of Thick‐billed Murres (Uria lomvia). The gulls fed mainly on murre eggs and chicks and by scavenging adult carcasses. The median age at first breeding was 5 yr, and the mean age was 4.8 ± 0.9 yr. Adult survival was estimated as 0.84 ± 0.03 (SE). The mean clutch size was 2.56 eggs and the mean number of young reared per year was 1.6 (range = 0.9–2.2). Birds reared at the colony provided 40% of recruits. Assuming that survival of locally reared chicks that emigrated was similar to that of chicks that returned to the colony, about 22% of the young gulls survived to breeding age. The timing of breeding by Glaucous Gulls appeared related to the timing of laying by murres. Although the demographic characteristics of Glaucous Gulls in our study were similar to those of populations of other large gulls, adult survival was at the lower end of the range for populations of large Larus gulls. There is some evidence that Glaucous Gulls exhibit lower survival than large gulls breeding in temperate areas, possibly because of contaminant burdens. In general, however, the demographic characteristics of large gulls show little variation and are probably a product of their common phylogeny.

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Coasts of Foxe Basin, Arctic Canada

Martini

Morrison

2014

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Foxe Basin is a down-faulted arctic basin floored by Palaeozoic carbonates, surrounded by metamorphic Precambrian terrains. Quaternary deposits consist of Pleistocene–Holocene glacial drift, and frost-shattered bedrock-clasts mostly reworked by sea waves during post-glacial emergence during the last 5000–6000 yr. The shallow, primarily micro- to meso-tidal sea is covered by ice for c. 9–10 months each year. This ensures that the overall energy of the coasts is low, although strong storm waves develop during ice-free periods. Puccinellia phryganodes dominated salt marshes occur on muddy and sandy shores and grade into inland sedge-forb wetlands and Dryas-dominated tundra. Cold climate processes active on the emerged land have generated typical features such as frost heaving of bedrock blocks, solifluction lobes on slopes, frost boils in flatter areas, frost shattering and solution of surficial carbonate pebbles, thermokarst lakes, and shallow Cryosols.

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Birds and marine mammals in southwestern Foxe Basin, Nunavut, Canada

Cited by 3 publications

References 15 publications

Foraging behaviour of sympatric razorbills and puffins

Foraging behaviour of sympatric razorbills and puffins

Reproduction and survival of Glaucous Gulls breeding in an Arctic seabird colony

Coasts of Foxe Basin, Arctic Canada

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