Distribution, Abundance and Trends of Gulls and Terns Breeding on Sable Island, Nova Scotia, Canada

Ronconi, Robert A.; Stephens, Jessica R.; Crysler, Zoe J.; Pollet, Ingrid L.; Fife, Danielle T.; Horn, Andrew G.; Taylor, Philip D.

doi:10.1675/063.039.sp111

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…While an average adult will have 19 breeding seasons at 95% survival, the number of breeding seasons is reduced to 10 at 90% survival, and six at 85% survival [13]. Declines in Herring Gull abundance have been observed at colonies across Atlantic Canada and the northeastern United States [14, 15]. These declines have been correlated with decreases in fisheries discards due to the collapse of groundfish fisheries and reduced forage fish availability [16, 17], however this is most likely to influence abundance through effects on chick survival rather than adult survival [18, 19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Winter home range and habitat selection differs among breeding populations of herring gulls in eastern North America

et al. 2019

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Background Recognizing the factors influencing migratory individuals throughout their annual cycle is important for understanding the drivers of population dynamics. Previous studies have found that Herring Gulls ( Larus argentatus ) in the Atlantic region have lower survival rates than those in the Great Lakes and the Arctic. One possible explanation for divergent survival rates among these populations is differences in their non-breeding habitats. Methods We tracked Herring Gulls from five populations, breeding in the eastern Arctic, the Great Lakes, Newfoundland, Sable Island, and the Bay of Fundy. We assessed the extent of migratory connectivity between breeding and wintering sites, and tested if there were differences in home range size or habitat selection among these populations during the winter. Results The tracked Herring Gulls had strong migratory connectivity between their breeding and wintering areas. We found that Herring Gulls from the Arctic spent most of the winter in marine habitats, while the other populations used a wider variety of habitats. However, the Newfoundland and Sable Island populations selected for urban habitats, and almost all individuals the specialized in urban habitats came from one of the three Atlantic populations. Conclusions Our results suggest that there could potentially be a link between urban habitat use during the winter and reduced adult survival in Atlantic Canada Herring Gulls. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s40462-019-0152-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Winter home range and habitat selection differs among breeding populations of herring gulls in eastern North America

et al. 2019

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“…Meanwhile, Herring Gulls were not abundant in the Maritime Provinces of Canada at the beginning of the 1900s (Christie et al 2004), but numbers grew rapidly over the next 50 years (Squires 1976) with Kent Island and adjacent islets in the Bay of Fundy supporting the most important colony in North America during the 1930s and 1940s (Ronconi and Wong 2003;Christie et al 2004). The species' range expanded to remote offshore islands in Nova Scotia by the 1950s (Erskine 1954;Ronconi et al 2016).…”

Section: Herring and Great Black-backed Gull Trends In Eastern North mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Predation by gulls on terns has also been reported from Europe (Becker 1995). Population increases of gulls and their impacts on other species were reviewed by Blokpoel and Spaans (1991), though the situation may be more complex than once thought (Finney et al 2003;Oro and Martínez-Abraín 2006;Ronconi et al 2016). Coulson (1991) also discussed the impact of gulls on other species as a reason for lethal management in the United Kingdom, although he listed other justifications including protection of water supplies and reduction of noise and general nuisance in towns.…”

Section: Herring and Great Black-backed Gull Trends In Eastern North mentioning

confidence: 99%

Introduction: A Historical Perspective on Trends in Some Gulls in Eastern North America, with Reference to Other Regions

et al. 2016

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“…Our third site, Sable Island, Nova Scotia (43°56 0 N, 59°54 0 W), is a remote barrier island that serves as a breeding site for approximately 850 pairs of Herring Gulls and 450 pairs of Great Black-backed Gulls (Ronconi et al 2016). From late May to mid-August 2013, we captured adult and sub-adult Herring and Great Blackbacked Gulls using nest traps and hand-captured Great Black-backed Gull chicks.…”

Section: Sampling At Breeding and Non-breeding Sitesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Age and season predict influenza A virus dynamics in urban gulls: consequences for natural hosts in unnatural landscapes

Ineson

Hill

Clark³

et al. 2021

Ecological Applications

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Gulls are ubiquitous in urban areas due to a growing reliance on anthropogenic feeding sites, which has led to changes in their abundance, distribution, and migration ecology, with implications for disease transmission. Gulls offer a valuable model for testing hypotheses regarding the dynamics of influenza A virus (IAV) – for which gulls are a natural reservoir in urban areas. We sampled sympatric populations of Ring‐billed (Larus delawarensis), Herring (L. argentatus), and Great Black‐backed Gulls (L. marinus) along the densely populated Atlantic rim of North America to understand how IAV transmission is influenced by drivers such as annual cycle, host species, age, habitat type, and their interplay. We found that horizontal transmission, rather than vertical transmission, played an outsized role in the amplification of IAV due to the convergence of gulls from different breeding grounds and age classes. We detected overlapping effects of age and season in our prevalence model, identifying juveniles during autumn as the primary drivers of the seasonal epidemic in gulls. Gulls accumulated immunity over their lifespan, however short‐term fluctuations in seroprevalence were observed, suggesting that migration may impose limits on the immune system to maintain circulating antibodies. We found that gulls in coastal urban habitats had higher viral prevalence than gulls captured inland, correlating with higher richness of waterbird species along the coast, a mechanism supported by our movement data. The peak in viral prevalence in newly fledged gulls that are capable of long‐distance movement has important implications for the spread of pathogens to novel hosts during the migratory season as well as for human health as gulls increasingly utilize urban habitats.

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Distribution, Abundance and Trends of Gulls and Terns Breeding on Sable Island, Nova Scotia, Canada

Cited by 7 publications

References 18 publications

Winter home range and habitat selection differs among breeding populations of herring gulls in eastern North America

Winter home range and habitat selection differs among breeding populations of herring gulls in eastern North America

Introduction: A Historical Perspective on Trends in Some Gulls in Eastern North America, with Reference to Other Regions

Age and season predict influenza A virus dynamics in urban gulls: consequences for natural hosts in unnatural landscapes

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