Cool, cold or colder? Spatial segregation of prions and blue petrels is explained by differences in preferred sea surface temperatures

Quillfeldt, Petra; Cherel, Yves; Delord, Karine; Weimerkirch, Henri

doi:10.1098/rsbl.2014.1090

Cited by 38 publications

(67 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Kerguelen Archipelago is the only place where the two species nest sympatrically in significant numbers. While AP and TBP show no obvious spatial and trophic segregation during breeding (Cherel et al, 2002a), both GLS data and feather δ 13 C-values confirm a latitudinal segregation during the inter-breeding period, with AP and TBP favoring temperate and subantarctic/Antarctic waters, respectively (Cherel et al, 2002a;Quillfeldt et al, 2015a). However, the exact location of the molting zones within these broad oceanographic sectors is still unknown.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Our first hypothesis was that the time spent sitting on water would peak at that time. Our second hypothesis was that the corresponding molting areas were located in Antarctic waters, because (i) the low δ 13 C-values indicated feather growth at high latitudes, and (ii) GLS data showed that blue petrels mostly remain south the Polar Front during the inter-breeding period (Cherel et al, 2002bQuillfeldt et al, 2015a). In a second step, the occurrence of a transient increase in time spent on water was checked in two closely-related species of prions, namely the Antarctic (Pachyptila desolata AP) and thin-billed (Pachyptila belcheri, TBP) prions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Combination of At-Sea Activity, Geolocation and Feather Stable Isotopes Documents Where and When Seabirds Molt

et al. 2016

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Key facets of the foraging ecology of seabirds during the inter-breeding period still remain poorly understood because of the difficulty of studying them at sea, including during the energy-demanding molting stage. Here, the extent to which three sympatric petrels (Antarctic and thin-billed prions, and blue petrel) from the subantarctic Kerguelen Islands modify their foraging ecology during molt was investigated using a combination of complementary tools, namely miniaturized saltwater immersion geolocators (GLS) and the isotopic method. Firstly, molting behavior was first characterized in the blue petrel, a reference species that is known to renew its plumage in autumn. GLS and feather stable isotopes ( 13 δ C as a proxy of the birds' foraging habitat) indicated that the post-breeding molt of blue petrel occurred in Antarctic waters. Importantly, activity recorders showed that molt was marked by a strong peak in time spent daily sitting on water, which thereafter declined to lower values during the remaining winter months. Secondly, the peak in time spent sitting on water was used as a proxy to characterize the contrasted molt strategies of the two prion species. As blue petrels demonstrated, thin-billed prions molted during the post-breeding period in cold Antarctic waters where they fed primarily on low trophic level prey, most likely Antarctic krill ( 15 δ N as a proxy of the birds' diet). By contrast, Antarctic prions presented an unexpected pre-breeding molt of longer duration that took place further north, in warm subtropical waters. Interestingly, the two Antarctic molting species, the blue petrel and thin-billed prion, renewed their plumage at the same time and within the same oceanic zone that is likely to be a previously undescribed hot spot of seabird diversity during the Austral autumn. The study contributes to a growing body of evidence that closely-related species exhibit various foraging strategies allowing ecological segregation and sheds new light on the poorly known critical molting stage of seabirds.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Combination of At-Sea Activity, Geolocation and Feather Stable Isotopes Documents Where and When Seabirds Molt

et al. 2016

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“…These favorable conditions can cascade up the whole food web to seabirds, which occupy the higher trophic levels in marine ecosystems. SST is therefore a proxy indirectly related to prey abundance or availability, and it is the most important predictor of distribution for seabirds in Arctic and Antarctic waters (Quillfeldt et al 2015).…”

Section: Sdms Of Seabird Distributions At Seamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All these data have great potential for use in SDM approaches, e.g. to define conservation areas (González Carman et al 2016) and to improve our understanding of seabird ecology (Quillfeldt et al 2015).…”

Section: Modeling Seabirds At Seamentioning

confidence: 99%

Avian SDMs: current state, challenges, and opportunities

Engler

Stiels

Schidelko

et al. 2017

Journal of Avian Biology

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Quantifying species distributions using species distribution models (SDMs) has emerged as a central method in modern biogeography. These empirical models link species occurrence data with spatial environmental information. Since their emergence in the 1990s, thousands of scientific papers have used SDMs to study organisms across the entire tree of life, with birds commanding considerable attention. Here, we review the current state of avian SDMs and point to challenges and future opportunities for specific applications, ranging from conservation biology, invasive species and predicting seabird distributions, to more general topics such as modeling avian diversity, niche evolution and seasonal distributions at a biogeographic scale. While SDMs have been criticized for being phenomenological in nature, and for their inability to explicitly account for a variety of processes affecting populations, we conclude that they remain a powerful tool to learn about past, current, and future species distributions -at least when their limitations and assumptions are recognized and addressed. We close our review by providing an outlook on prospects and synergies with other disciplines in which avian SDMs can play an important role.

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“…In the western South Atlantic, recent tracking indicates that while the non-breeding distribution of Antarctic prions extends from Antarctic to subtropical waters, the majority of birds use sub-Antarctic waters between the sub-Antarctic and subtropical fronts (Quillfeldt et al 2013(Quillfeldt et al , 2015. In the western South Pacific, the sub-Antarctic front is situated ca.…”

Section: Historical Distributions Inferred From Stable Isotope Ratiosmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contrasting migratory responses of two closely related seabirds to long-term climate change

Grecian¹,

Taylor²,

Loh³

et al. 2016

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Many marine predators migrate between breeding and non-breeding areas to target resources that are seasonal but spatio-temporally predictable, and so are vulnerable to climateinduced changes in prey phenology and abundance. In the Southern Ocean, small petrels are major consumers, but perturbations in the ecosystem through ocean warming are altering foodweb structure and have been linked to poleward shifts in the distribution of their cold-water zooplankton prey. In this study, we focused on 2 small congeneric petrels: the broad-billed prion Pachyptila vittata and the Antarctic prion P. desolata. Both are planktivorous, but the broad-billed prion specialises in feeding on large copepods. We investigated historical trends in non-breeding distribution by analysing feather stable isotope ratios from a time-series dating back to 1926, and examined contemporary non-breeding distributions of broad-billed prions tracked using miniaturised geolocation-immersion loggers. After controlling temporally for the Suess effect, we found that the δ 13 C signatures of Antarctic prions, but not broad-billed prions, declined during the study period. This suggests a southward shift in Antarctic prion non-breeding distribution over the last century. Both species exhibited significant declines in δ 15 N during the same period, indicative of long-term decreases in marine productivity in their moulting areas, or changes in the trophic structure of prey communities. Tracked broad-billed prions migrated ca. 1000 km to an area east of the breeding colony where the Louisville seamount chain bisects the subtropical front. Topographically driven upwellings are stable and predictable features and may be crucial in aggregating plankton. Targeting seamounts could therefore mitigate the impact of climate-induced prey shifts by providing refugia for the broad-billed prion.

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Cool, cold or colder? Spatial segregation of prions and blue petrels is explained by differences in preferred sea surface temperatures

Cited by 38 publications

References 18 publications

Combination of At-Sea Activity, Geolocation and Feather Stable Isotopes Documents Where and When Seabirds Molt

Combination of At-Sea Activity, Geolocation and Feather Stable Isotopes Documents Where and When Seabirds Molt

Avian SDMs: current state, challenges, and opportunities

Contrasting migratory responses of two closely related seabirds to long-term climate change

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