Diet and Foraging Ecology of Roseate Terns and Lesser Noddies Breeding Sympatrically on Aride Island, Seychelles

Monticelli, David; Ramos, Jaime A.; Tavares, Paulo Amador; Bataille, Baptiste; Lepoint, Gilles; Devillers, Pierre

doi:10.1675/1524-4695(2008)31[231:dafeor]2.0.co;2

Cited by 9 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…There are no data on the diet of roseate terns during the breeding season of 2006. However, the present study and others (Ramos 2000, Monticelli et al 2008 have shown that roseate terns feed their chicks almost exclusively with Mullidae and, consequently, breeding success is highly dependent on the abundance of this prey (Ramos 2000). The mortality of virtually all non-fledged roseate tern chicks during the first 2 wk of August 2006 suggests that, as happened with lesser noddies, roseate terns were unable to shift diet when Mullidae became less abundant.…”

Section: Inter-annual and Seasonal Variations In Diet Compositionmentioning

confidence: 41%

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Comparative foraging ecology of a tropical seabird community of the Seychelles, western Indian Ocean

Catry¹,

Ramos²,

Jaquemet³

et al. 2009

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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We studied the foraging ecology of a tropical seabird community in 2 islands of the Seychelles from 2005 to 2007. Chick dietary samples were used to compare feeding habits among species and assess inter-annual and seasonal variations in diet. Fish prey dominated the diet of the community (68 to 100% of prey consumed), although cephalopods were present in 61.3, 40.0, 27.1 and 32.9% of the food samples from white-tailed tropicbirds, sooty terns, brown noddies and wedgetailed shearwaters, respectively. We found high diet overlap between species (Mullidae fish being the first prey consumed [30 to 90%] for all species except for the white-tailed tropicbird [< 2%]) but some segregation in prey length. Other important prey were Exocoetidae, Carangidae, Scombridae and Clupeidae mainly for white-tailed tropicbirds, sooty terns and brown noddies, Hemiramphidae and Coryphaenidae for white-tailed tropicbirds, and Engraulidae and fish larvae for lesser noddies and Audubon's shearwaters. Despite some inter-annual and seasonal variations in diet, these were not consistent within the community. Responses of the seabird community to an environmental perturbation that negatively affected chick growth and breeding success of lesser noddies emphasised the higher vulnerability of species with smaller foraging ranges and/or with lower ability to switch diet (lesser noddy, roseate tern) compared to less range-restricted and/or more opportunistic ones (white-tailed tropicbird, brown noddy, sooty tern, white tern). Although situated in a tropical region, the food availability in the Seychelles seems to be predictable at a large (annual) temporal scale, but highly unpredictable at a small (intra-seasonal or daily) temporal scale.

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Section: Inter-annual and Seasonal Variations In Diet Compositionmentioning

confidence: 41%

“…Nevertheless, other studies have also found low inter-annual changes in the diet composition of tropical seabirds in the Indian Ocean (e.g. Le Corre et al 2003, Jaquemet et al 2008, Monticelli et al 2008.…”

Section: Inter-annual and Seasonal Variations In Diet Compositionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Comparative foraging ecology of a tropical seabird community of the Seychelles, western Indian Ocean

Catry¹,

Ramos²,

Jaquemet³

et al. 2009

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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show abstract

“…Thus, to test for a lagged effect of local SST and CC conditions on lesser noddy chick growth, a second set of regression analyses was conducted between the weekly averages of RDM and date-lagged composites of SST and CC. To determine the most likely time lag, we followed a previous life history and growth study of Upeneus goatfishes (one of the main prey items fed to lesser noddy chicks; Monticelli et al, 2008) from the Great Barrier Reef (Australia) in which McCormick (1994) reported that pelagic goatfish larvae gather into large schools from approx. 7.5 mm in size (standard length) and subsequently grow at a daily rate ranging from 0.5 to 1.0 mm.…”

Section: Chick Mass Incrementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reproductive parameters of tropical lesser noddies respond to local variations in oceanographic conditions and weather

Monticelli

Ramos

Catry

et al. 2014

Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science

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Keywords:breeding phenology chick mass gain chlorophyll-a fledging success Indian Ocean dipole mode ocean primary productivity sea surface temperature Regional terms:Western Indian Ocean Seychelles Anous tenuirostris a b s t r a c t Most attempts to link seabirds and climate/oceanographic effects have concerned the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans with comparatively few studies in the tropical Indian Ocean. This paper examines the reproductive response of the lesser noddy Anous tenuirostris to temporal fluctuations in oceanographic and climatic conditions using 8 years of monitoring data from Aride Island (Seychelles), tropical Western Indian Ocean. We tested the hypothesis that breeding parameters (mean hatching date, mean egg size, hatching and fledging successes) and chick growth are influenced by local, seasonal oceanographic conditions as expressed by ocean primary productivity (surface chlorophyll-a concentrations; CC), sea surface temperature (SST) and wind speed. We also examined the relationship between lesser noddy breeding parameters and climate conditions recorded at the basin-wide scale of the Indian Ocean (Indian Ocean Dipole Mode Index, DMI). Our findings suggest that birds had a tendency to lay slightly larger eggs during breeding seasons (years) with higher CC during AprileJune (pre-laying, laying and incubation periods). Hatching date was positively related to SST in AprileJune, with the regression parameters suggesting that each 0.5 C increase in SST meant a delay of approx.10 days in hatching date. A negative linear relationship was also apparent between hatching success and SST in JuneeAugust (hatching and chick-rearing periods), while the quadratic regression models detected a significant effect of wind speed in JuneeAugust on fledging success. Body mass increments of growing chicks averaged over 7-day periods were positively related with (2-week) lagged CC values and negatively related with (2-week) lagged SST values. No significant relationship between DMI and lesser noddy breeding parameters was found, but DMI indices were strongly correlated with local SST. Altogether, our results indicate that the reproduction of this top marine predator is dictated by fluctuations in local environmental conditions around the colony, while the effects of large-scale oceanographic processes (DMI) on our study population might be mediated by an effect on local SST.

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The role of stable isotopes and mercury concentrations to describe seabird foraging ecology in tropical environments

Catry

Ramos

Corre³

et al. 2008

Mar Biol

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International audienceNitrogen (δ15N) and carbon (δ13C) stable isotopes and contaminants, such as mercury, have been widely used to characterise foraging ecology of temperate and polar seabirds. In this study, for the first time, we used isotopic signatures and mercury levels of feathers and blood of eight tropical seabird species, that forage in a range-gradient between inshore and offshore areas, to describe the foraging habits of a large tropical seabird community (from two neighbouring islands of the Seychelles archipelago, western Indian Ocean) during both the breeding and interbreeding periods. Overall, we found a high overlap in both δ15N and δ13C signatures among species. The high interspecific overlap in δ15N values was expected, given the similarities in the diet of the species from this community. However, several unexpected results, such as (1) the consistently higher δ15N signatures of white terns (Gygis alba), (2) the large variation in inter-specific differences in δ15N signatures among the sampling groups (season, age, island and tissue) and (3) the consistent low δ15N values of breeding birds during the northwest monsoon (austral summer), suggest that δ15N signatures cannot be used as indicators of seabird trophic levels in this community. The high interspecific overlap in δ13C signatures and the absence, during the breeding season, of a δ13C gradient that follows the inshore-offshore foraging gradient within the community can be explained by the habitat homogeneity of the Seychelles continental shelf and suggest that birds forage mostly within the limits of this "plateau". On the other hand, the similarities in δ13C values between the breeding and inter-breeding periods in species that are known to show post-breeding dispersal, strongly support the hypothesis of a lack of latitudinal variation in δ13C signatures of POM in the central Indian Ocean, and the consequent inaccuracy of δ13C values to track seabird movements within this geographic area. Inter-specific differences in mercury levels seem to be related to prey size, while consistent higher mercury concentrations in one of the studied islands suggest different island mercury-backgrounds and possible segregation in foraging areas between the seabirds of the two islands

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Diet and Foraging Ecology of Roseate Terns and Lesser Noddies Breeding Sympatrically on Aride Island, Seychelles

Cited by 9 publications

References 42 publications

Comparative foraging ecology of a tropical seabird community of the Seychelles, western Indian Ocean

Comparative foraging ecology of a tropical seabird community of the Seychelles, western Indian Ocean

Reproductive parameters of tropical lesser noddies respond to local variations in oceanographic conditions and weather

The role of stable isotopes and mercury concentrations to describe seabird foraging ecology in tropical environments

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