Foraging range scales with colony size in high-latitude seabirds

Patterson, Allison; Gilchrist, H. Grant; Benjaminsen, Sigurd; Bolton, Mark; Bonnet-Lebrun, Anne Sophie; Davoren, Gail K.; Descamps, Sébastien; Erikstad, Kjell Einar; Frederiksen, Morten; Gaston, Anthony J.; Gulka, Julia; Hentati‐Sundberg, Jonas; Huffeldt, Nicholas Per; Johansen, Kasper Lambert; Labansen, Aili Lage; Linnebjerg, Jannie Fries; Love, Oliver P.; Merkel, Flemming; Montevecchi, William A.; Mosbech, Anders; Olsson, Olof; Owen, Ellie; Ratcliffe, Norman; Regular, Paul M.; Reiertsen, Tone Kristin; Ropert‐Coudert, Yan; Strøm, Hallvard; Þórarinsson, Þorkell Lindberg; Elliott, Kyle H.

doi:10.1016/j.cub.2022.06.084

Cited by 22 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 39 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Murres at the larger colony traveled further and made longer but fewer trips with higher average daily distances compared to the smaller colony (Figure 4). This trend is consistent with Ashmole's halo hypothesis (Ashmole, 1963) and supported empirically in murres (Elliott, Woo, Gaston, Benvenuti, et al, 2009;Gaston et al, 2007;Patterson et al, 2022), where larger colonies have larger foraging ranges, likely resulting from depleted resources around the colony. Furthermore, these same birds at the larger colony also had a lower nutritional state and lower foraging success compared to murres at a smaller colony.…”

Section: Intercolony Variation In Foraging Behavior Energy Expenditur...supporting

confidence: 85%

“…Meanwhile, western Atlantic populations (breeding colonies in Canada and northwest Greenland), which overwinter in waters off Labrador and Newfoundland, remain stable (Frederiksen et al, 2016(Frederiksen et al, , 2021. In addition to the effect of geographic location and environmental change on seabird breeding success in a changing Arctic, the overall size of breeding colonies is also expected to play an interactive role, as murre colonies can range in size across several orders of magnitude, from fewer than 500 breeding pairs (Merkel et al, 2014) to more than 800,000 breeding pairs (Hickey & Craighead, 1977), and recent work has shown that murre foraging range scales to colony size with an exponent of 0.33 (Patterson et al, 2022).…”

Section: Nutritional Biomarker Name Biological Interpretationmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Lower nutritional state and foraging success in an Arctic seabird despite behaviorally flexible responses to environmental change

Eby

Patterson

Sorenson

et al. 2023

Ecology and Evolution

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The degree to which individuals adjust foraging behavior in response to environmental variability can impact foraging success, leading to downstream impacts on fitness and population dynamics. We examined the foraging flexibility, average daily energy expenditure, and foraging success of an ice-associated Arctic seabird, the thickbilled murre (Uria lomvia) in response to broad-scale environmental conditions at two different-sized, low Arctic colonies located <300 km apart. First, we compared foraging behavior (measured via GPS units), average daily energy expenditure (estimated from GPS derived activity budgets), and foraging success (nutritional state measured via nutritional biomarkers pre-and post-GPS deployment) of murres at two colonies, which differ greatly in size: 30,000 pairs breed on Coats Island, Nunavut, and 400,000 pairs breed on Digges Island, Nunavut. Second, we tested whether colony size within the same marine ecosystem altered foraging behavior in response to broad-scale environmental variability. Third, we tested whether environmentally induced foraging flexibility influenced the foraging success of murres. Murres at the larger colony foraged farther and longer but made fewer trips, resulting in a lower nutritional state and lower foraging success compared to birds at the smaller colony. Foraging behavior and foraging success varied in response to environmental variation, with murres at both colonies making longer, more distant foraging trips in high ice regimes during incubation, suggesting flexibility in responding to environmental variability. However, only birds at the larger colony showed this same flexibility during chick rearing. Foraging success at both colonies was higher during high ice regimes, suggesting greater prey availability. Overall, murres from the larger colony exhibited lower foraging success, and their foraging behavior showed stronger responses to changes in broad-scale conditions such as sea ice regime. Taken together, this suggests that larger Arctic seabird colonies have higher behavioral and demographic sensitivity to environmental change.

show abstract

Section: Intercolony Variation In Foraging Behavior Energy Expenditur...supporting

confidence: 85%

Section: Nutritional Biomarker Name Biological Interpretationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lower nutritional state and foraging success in an Arctic seabird despite behaviorally flexible responses to environmental change

Eby

Patterson

Sorenson

et al. 2023

Ecology and Evolution

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This distance corresponds to both the observed negative current support for the first 2.5 days of their journey (Fig. 2) combined with observed movement rates (Table 1) and the estimated median foraging range for this colony size (Patterson et al 2022). Finally, to assess if individual swimming migrations resembled more the most direct route or the use of surface currents, we calculated for each individual the areas encompassed by the chicks track and either the direct path or the least cost path calculated using surface currents.…”

Section: Sea Surface Current Usesupporting

confidence: 66%

Post‐colony swimming migration in the genus Uria

Merkel,

Strøm

2023

Journal of Avian Biology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Seabirds within the Alcini subfamily have a unique breeding strategy, with their offspring leaving the colony flightless, at only a quarter of adult body size, accompanied by the father and fledge (become independent) out at sea. In this study we test several hypotheses about this elusive second part of the breeding season, termed swimming migration, for common guillemots Uria aalge and Brünnich's guillemots Uria lomvia by tracking 34 chicks (of which 17 transmitted data) equipped with satellite linked Argos PTTs (Platform Transmitter Terminals) at Bjørnøya, a major colony in the European Arctic. All chicks, presumably accompanied by their fathers, swam actively towards species‐specific autumn staging areas, rather than passively drifted away from the colony with a swim speed generally twice that observed of surrounding surface currents. They swam fastest during the first two days after departure. This coincides with the only time they actively crossed a current and the time needed to leave the area of prey depletion around the colony. They otherwise took advantage of available currents, while still swimming actively during the remainder of their migration towards species‐specific autumn staging areas. These staging areas corresponded to areas used by breeding adults during their moulting period (as confirmed by complementary light‐level logger tracking of adults), rather than being specific nursery areas. Migration duration correlated with distance resulting in species‐specific migration periods that were only a fraction of previously reported fledging periods out at sea, indicating that not only the swimming migration, but also known adult autumn staging regions constitute in effect breeding areas. This work has important implications for our understanding of population dynamics within the Alcini subfamily and the management of these species under multiple threats, while providing the foundation to investigate swimming migrations across their distributional range.

show abstract

“…Another consideration is that the foraging ranges of species and individuals can be colony-specific, and be influenced by colony size (Patterson et al 2022), the density of conspecifics and other species within the region, and local food availability, as well as habitat features and dynamic environmental conditions that species might target for foraging (Wakefield et al 2017, Critchley et al 2019). For many colonies in the eastern North Atlantic, specific foraging ranges, and details on influencing environmental conditions, are currently unknown.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using foraging range and colony size to assess the vulnerability of breeding seabirds to oil across regions lacking at-sea distribution data

O’Hanlon

Bond

Masden

et al. 2023

Ornithological Applications

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

With the projected increases in shipping activity and hydrocarbon extraction globally, there is an increased risk of negative ecological impacts from oil pollution on the marine environment, including seabirds. Oil Vulnerability Indices (OVIs) are a common approach to assess seabird species vulnerability to oil pollution, and to identify where species are most at risk, typically across regional spatial scales and for a relatively limited number of species. This approach generally requires comprehensive data on at-sea distributions and densities; however, for many regions, these data are limited. We present a simplified OVI to assess seabird species vulnerability to oil pollution. To create the spatial component of the OVI, we used a predictive foraging radius approach, using existing colony size and foraging range data, to project at-sea distributions of seabird populations during the breeding season. We demonstrate this approach over a large spatial scale, the eastern North Atlantic, which includes areas where seabird at-sea data are lacking. Our results reveal areas off west Greenland, Iceland, and Norway where seabirds are most vulnerable to oil pollution during the breeding season, largely driven by large colonies of auks (Alcidae). We also identify locations along the coast of mainland Norway, Iceland, and Scotland, where seabirds are particularly at risk to oil pollution associated with major shipping routes. Identifying areas where species are most at risk can help inform where, and which, measures should be put in place to mitigate the impacts of oil pollution, such as protecting and avoiding high risk areas, for example, through adopting dynamic Areas to be Avoided (ATBAs). Our simplified OVI combined with the predictive foraging radius approach can adapted to other regions globally that lack seabird-at-sea distribution data, to other marine wildlife, and to assess the risk from hydrocarbon extraction and other anthropogenic threats, including fishing activities and offshore renewable developments.

show abstract

Foraging range scales with colony size in high-latitude seabirds

Cited by 22 publications

References 39 publications

Lower nutritional state and foraging success in an Arctic seabird despite behaviorally flexible responses to environmental change

Lower nutritional state and foraging success in an Arctic seabird despite behaviorally flexible responses to environmental change

Post‐colony swimming migration in the genus Uria

Using foraging range and colony size to assess the vulnerability of breeding seabirds to oil across regions lacking at-sea distribution data

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About