Examining patterns in nocturnal seabird activity and recovery across the Western Aleutian Islands, Alaska, using automated acoustic recording

Buxton, Rachel T.; Major, Heather L.; Jones, Ian L.; Williams, Jeffrey C.

doi:10.1525/auk.2013.12134

Cited by 31 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 51 publications

(57 reference statements)

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“…This finding builds on previous work (Brandes 2008;Buxton and Jones 2012;Buxton et al 2013;Borker et al in press) and suggests that acoustic recording may offer a practically feasible approach to monitor relative population changes of nocturnal burrow-nesting seabirds on remote islands. Continuous developments in hardware and data management (McKown et al 2012) as well as automated call recognition algorithms (Digby et al 2013) will make acoustic monitoring a useful tool for many remote seabird breeding colonies.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

“…Based on our work we are doubtful that the absolute size of seabird populations can be estimated with sufficient precision and accuracy based on acoustic recordings alone. Nonetheless, because the recorded calling rate of shearwaters increased with local nest density in our study, we believe that vocal activity recorded with autonomous acoustic recorders can be used as an adequate index of population size for long-term monitoring or assessing the effects of island restoration (Buxton et al 2013). Such an approach relies on fewer assumptions than our extrapolations of population size, and may therefore be more reliable for long-term monitoring.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…Monitoring the population size of nocturnal burrow-nesting seabirds has recently benefited from autonomous acoustic recording devices, which can be deployed on remote islands to record the vocal activity of seabirds (Buxton and Jones 2012;Buxton et al 2013;McKown et al 2012;Borker et al in press). Acoustic recording is a promising approach for many biodiversity assessments (Celis-Murillo et al 2012;Penone et al 2013;Sueur et al 2008;Wimmer et al 2013), and has been successfully employed to assess the changes in seabird breeding populations following island restoration (Buxton et al 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Acoustic recording is a promising approach for many biodiversity assessments (Celis-Murillo et al 2012;Penone et al 2013;Sueur et al 2008;Wimmer et al 2013), and has been successfully employed to assess the changes in seabird breeding populations following island restoration (Buxton et al 2013). The number of recorded seabird vocalisations is expected to increase in larger colonies, but to our knowledge no attempt has been made to estimate absolute population size of a nocturnal burrow-nesting seabird species based on vocal activity rates measured from acoustic recordings.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Estimating population size of a nocturnal burrow-nesting seabird using acoustic monitoring and habitat mapping

Oppel¹,

Hervías²,

Oliveira³

et al. 2014

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Estimating population size of a nocturnal burrow-nesting seabird using acoustic monitoring and habitat mapping. Nature Conservation 7: 1-13. doi: 10.3897/natureconservation.7.6890 Abstract Population size assessments for nocturnal burrow-nesting seabirds are logistically challenging because these species are active in colonies only during darkness and often nest on remote islands where manual inspections of breeding burrows are not feasible. Many seabird species are highly vocal, and recent technological innovations now make it possible to record and quantify vocal activity in seabird colonies. Here we test the hypothesis that remotely recorded vocal activity in Cory's shearwater (Calonectris borealis) breeding colonies in the North Atlantic increases with nest density, and combined this relationship with cliff habitat mapping to estimate the population size of Cory's shearwaters on the island of Corvo (Azores). We deployed acoustic recording devices in 9 Cory's shearwater colonies of known size to establish a relationship between vocal activity and local nest density (slope = 1.07, R 2 = 0.86, p < 0.001). We used this relationship to predict the nest density in various cliff habitat types and produced a habitat map of breeding cliffs to extrapolate nest density around the island of Corvo. The mean predicted nest density on Corvo ranged from 6.6 (2.1-16.2) to 27.8 (19.5-36.4) nests/ha. Extrapolation of habitat-specific nest densities across the cliff area of Corvo resulted in an estimate of 6326 Cory's shearwater nests (95% confidence interval: 524). This population size estimate is similar to previous assessments, but is too imprecise to detect moderate changes in population size over time. While estimating absolute population size from acoustic recordings may not be sufficiently precise, the strong positive relationship that we found between local nest density and recorded calling rate indicates that passive acoustic monitoring may be useful to document relative changes in seabird populations over time. RESEARCH ARTICLE Launched to accelerate biodiversity conservation A peer-reviewed open-access journalSteffen Oppel et al. / Nature Conservation 7: 1-13 (2014) 2

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Estimating population size of a nocturnal burrow-nesting seabird using acoustic monitoring and habitat mapping

Oppel¹,

Hervías²,

Oliveira³

et al. 2014

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“…One of the main goals of eradication is to facilitate the re-colonization and colony expansion (hereafter ''recovery'') of affected burrow-nesting seabird populations (Jones et al 2011). Evidence suggests that some seabird species have recovered on a number of islands after predator eradication (Buxton et al 2013a;Jones 2010;Towns et al 2006;Veitch et al 2011). However, the key factors driving patterns of recovery has received relatively little research attention .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Release of constraints on nest-site selection in burrow-nesting petrels following invasive rat eradication

et al. 2014

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Introduced mammals have been eradicated from many offshore islands around the world, removing predation pressure from burrow-nesting seabirds and other affected wildlife. Nest-site selection in procellariiform seabirds is mediated by nesting habitat characteristics and social information, although it is unclear if, or how, nest-site selection will affect post-eradication colony growth. Using a Bayesian hierarchical modeling approach we assessed how nest-site selection differs among burrow-nesting seabird colonies at different stages of recovery after Pacific rat (Rattus exulans) eradication. We compared nest-site selection in a community of seven procellariiform species among six offshore islands in northeastern New Zealand: four designated rat-free over a continuum within the last 26 years, an island which never had rats, and an island with rats present. We hypothesized that, immediately after eradication, birds would be constrained to nesting habitat where they were less vulnerable to predation, and as time since eradication increased birds would eventually spread to new habitat. We found a positive relationship between mean burrow density and time since rat eradication. Soil depth was the most important predictor of burrow presence, abundance, and occupancy in plots among islands, with more burrows found in deeper soil. We found that the relationships between habitat covariates and nest-site selection decreased with increasing time since eradication. The probability of a covariate having a significant effect on nest-site selection decreased with increasing time since eradication and decreasing variability in the covariate across an island. Our results suggest that the eradication of rodents reduced constraints on petrel nesting distribution and that nest-site selection in burrow-nesting petrels may be influenced by burrow density, where selection of particular nesting habitat characteristics may be relatively more important in small recovering populations. We conclude that colony expansion immediately after predator removal is complex, influenced by numerous interacting factors, but may be partly limited by the availability of suitable nesting habitat.

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Genetic diversity, population structure, and historical demography of a highly vagile and human‐impacted seabird in the Pacific Ocean: The red‐tailed tropicbird, Phaethon rubricauda

Varela

Brokordt

Ismar-Rebitz

et al. 2020

Aquatic Conservation

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1. Many seabird breeding colonies have recovered from heavy anthropogenic disturbance after conservation actions. The widely distributed red-tailed tropicbird, Phaethon rubricauda, was used as a model species to assess potential anthropogenic impacts on the genetic diversity of breeding colonies in the Pacific Ocean. 2. Cytochrome c oxidase subunit I and control region sequences analyses were conducted across the range of the species in the Pacific Ocean. The study sites were at islands without human-related disturbance (non-impacted islands) and with human-related disturbance (impacted islands). We hypothesized that (i) breeding colonies of the red-tailed tropicbird on impacted islands have lower genetic diversity compared with colonies on non-impacted islands, and (ii) breeding colonies of the red-tailed tropicbird show significant fine and broad-scale genetic structure across the Pacific Ocean. Bayesian skyline analyses were conducted to infer past changes in population sizes. 3. Genetic diversity was similar between impacted and non-impacted islands. There was significant broad-scale genetic structure among colonies separated by over 6,000 km, but a lack of significant fine-scale genetic structure within Australasia and Hawai'i, although a significant level of differentiation was found within Chile with Φ ST analyses. Skyline analyses showed that effective population sizes

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Examining patterns in nocturnal seabird activity and recovery across the Western Aleutian Islands, Alaska, using automated acoustic recording

Abstract: BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses.

Cited by 31 publications

References 51 publications

Estimating population size of a nocturnal burrow-nesting seabird using acoustic monitoring and habitat mapping

Estimating population size of a nocturnal burrow-nesting seabird using acoustic monitoring and habitat mapping

Release of constraints on nest-site selection in burrow-nesting petrels following invasive rat eradication

Genetic diversity, population structure, and historical demography of a highly vagile and human‐impacted seabird in the Pacific Ocean: The red‐tailed tropicbird, Phaethon rubricauda

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