Little auks buffer the impact of current Arctic climate change

Grémillet, David; Welcker, Jörg; Karnovsky, Nina J.; Walkusz, Wojciech; Hall, Margaret E.; Fort, Jérôme; Brown, Zachary W.; Speakman, John R.; Harding, Matt

doi:10.3354/meps09590

Cited by 72 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Nonetheless, in the experiment with corticosterone-implanted parents, we observed no significant increase in the feeding rate of the untreated partner. However, the delivery rate by the partners was one of the highest observed in the studied colony and other Little Auk colonies to date (Stempniewicz and Jezierski 1987;Jakubas et al 2007;Welcker et al 2009;Karnovsky et al 2010;Kwasniewski et al 2010;Grémillet et al 2012;Kidawa et al 2012;Hovinen et al 2014;Kidawa et al 2015). It is likely that these birds provisioned chicks at near their maximal rates.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parent-offspring interactions in a long-lived seabird, the Little Auk (Alle alle): begging and provisioning under simulated stress

2016

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Long-lived seabirds are good models to study the mechanisms that mediate the parent-offspring interactions. Contrary to studies under natural conditions, experimental manipulations allow us to assess the birds' reactions in a short time period. We used the stress hormone corticosterone as an independent experimental factor to simulate the stress reaction, to examine changes in the behaviour of Little Auk chicks and parent birds. In the first experiment, we hypothesised that after enhancement of the corticosterone level Little Auk (Alle alle) chicks intensify their begging performance and attain a higher pre-fledging body mass than the control chicks. In the second experiment, we hypothesized that parent Little Auks with an increased corticosterone level feed their chicks less frequently and spend less time at the colony than their untreated partners and the control birds. We also expected that chicks with one parent implanted with corticosterone fledge later and with a lower body mass than chicks of two untreated parents. The obtained results supported the above hypotheses. We demonstrated that modification of begging performance in Little Auks constitutes an adaptive mechanism that guards against the decrease in the chicks' body condition during stressful periods. Even though the provisioning rate in Little Auks can be regulated according to the chick's needs (expressed by the intensity of the begging display), it appears that adult birds regulate their provisioning strategy primarily according to their body state. The results suggest that parent Little Auks under stressful conditions will decrease their parental effort and redirect the available energy towards self-maintenance. The study provides novel insights into the behaviour of long-lived alcids using an experimental approach on free-living birds.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parent-offspring interactions in a long-lived seabird, the Little Auk (Alle alle): begging and provisioning under simulated stress

2016

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“…As shown by Sandvik et al (2012), to understand the 'fitness landscape', fecundity and survival need to be measured simultaneously with concurrent measurements of changes in the physical environment. Seabirds may be buffered sufficiently to overcome nutritional deficits and reproduce successfully (Grémillet et al 2012), but this could come at the cost of their survival. Third, given the need for a global assessment and greater understanding of mechanisms involving primary productivity and food webs, both physical oceanography and ecosystem science will be a backbone for seabird climate change ecology.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seabirds and climate change: roadmap for the future

Sydeman¹,

Thompson²,

Kitaysky³

2012

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

109

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Based in part on a symposium held at the first World Seabird Conference in September, 2010 in Victoria, BC, Canada, we present a Theme Section (TS) on the topic of seabirds and climate change. We introduce this TS with a meta-analysis of key attributes of the current seabird−climate literature, based on 108 publications representing almost 3000 seabird− climate associations (mostly correlations) published up to 2011. Using the papers in this TS and our metaanalysis, a brief roadmap for the future of seabird−climate change research is presented. Seabird studies have contributed substantially to the literature on marine climate effects. To improve our understanding of climate change effects on seabirds at the global scale, however, additional lowlatitude, mechanistic, and 'end-to-end' modeling studies, including integration of climatic, oceanographic, food web, and population dynamics models, should be conducted. This approach will enhance our understanding of the relationship between climate and population dynamics, and facilitate seabird conservation in a changing world.

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“…Plasticity in species traits and behavior are relatively well-studied and have been shown to allow species to compensate for changing climate (Crozier and Hutchings, 2014). For example, plasticity of foraging behavior has allowed the little Auk, Alle alle, to maintain fitness across a range of sea surface temperatures in the Greenland Sea (Gremillet et al, 2012). In the longer-term, as climate continues to change, evolutionary adaptation may be required.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Responses of Marine Organisms to Climate Change across Oceans

et al. 2016

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Climate change is driving changes in the physical and chemical properties of the ocean that have consequences for marine ecosystems. Here, we review evidence for the responses of marine life to recent climate change across ocean regions, from tropical seas to polar oceans. We consider observed changes in calcification rates, demography, abundance, distribution, and phenology of marine species. We draw on a database of observed climate change impacts on marine species, supplemented with evidence in the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. We discuss factors that limit or facilitate species' responses, such as fishing pressure, the availability of prey, habitat, light and other resources, and dispersal by ocean currents. We find that general trends in species' responses are consistent with expectations from climate change, including shifts in distribution to higher latitudes and to deeper locations, advances in spring phenology, declines in calcification, and increases in the abundance of warm-water species. The volume and type of evidence associated with species responses to climate change is variable across ocean regions and taxonomic groups, with predominance of evidence derived from the heavily-studied north Atlantic Ocean. Most investigations of the impact of climate change being associated with the impacts of changing temperature, with few observations of effects of changing oxygen, wave climate, precipitation (coastal waters), or ocean acidification. Observations of species responses that have been linked to anthropogenic climate change are widespread, but are still lacking for some taxonomic groups (e.g., phytoplankton, benthic invertebrates, marine mammals).

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Little auks buffer the impact of current Arctic climate change

Cited by 72 publications

References 34 publications

Parent-offspring interactions in a long-lived seabird, the Little Auk (Alle alle): begging and provisioning under simulated stress

Parent-offspring interactions in a long-lived seabird, the Little Auk (Alle alle): begging and provisioning under simulated stress

Seabirds and climate change: roadmap for the future

Responses of Marine Organisms to Climate Change across Oceans

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