Population Trends in Royal and Sandwich Terns Along the Mid-Atlantic Seaboard, USA, 1975–2005

Emslie, Steven D.; Weske, John S.; Browne, Micou M.; Cameron, Sue; Boettcher, Ruth; Brinker, D.J.; Golder, Walker

doi:10.1675/063.032.0106

Cited by 6 publications

(9 citation statements)

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“…Both Sooty and Angel Terns show extensive natal philopatry but lack genetic structure across a large geographic range [ 32 , 35 ]. Secondly, due to the preference for vegetation-sparse habitats during the breeding season, plant succession will lead to colony abandonment in Royal Terns [ 41 ]. Thus Royal Terns, like other seabirds, may show strong nesting fidelity over several years with occasional interruption.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Population genetic studies have not been undertaken on Royal terns, thus little is known of the degree of gene flow among populations [39]. Banding data in southern North Carolina [39,40] indicates high levels of breeding site fidelity, while nest and chick census data in North Carolina, Maryland and Virginia indicates a gradual decrease in recruitment since the 1980s followed by a recent increase during the early 21 st Century [41]. Little is known about demographic patterns outside of these states and the species is classified with moderate concern in the North American waterbird conservation plan [42].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Genome skimming identifies polymorphism in tern populations and species

2012

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BackgroundTerns (Charadriiformes: Sterninae) are a lineage of cosmopolitan shorebirds with a disputed evolutionary history that comprises several species of conservation concern. As a non-model system in genetics, previous study has left most of the nuclear genome unexplored, and population-level studies are limited to only 15% of the world's species of terns and noddies. Screening of polymorphic nuclear sequence markers is needed to enhance genetic resolution because of supposed low mitochondrial mutation rate, documentation of nuclear insertion of hypervariable mitochondrial regions, and limited success of microsatellite enrichment in terns. Here, we investigated the phylogenetic and population genetic utility for terns and relatives of a variety of nuclear markers previously developed for other birds and spanning the nuclear genome. Markers displaying a variety of mutation rates from both the nuclear and mitochondrial genome were tested and prioritized according to optimal cross-species amplification and extent of genetic polymorphism between (1) the main tern clades and (2) individual Royal Terns (Thalasseus maxima) breeding on the US East Coast.ResultsResults from this genome skimming effort yielded four new nuclear sequence-based markers for tern phylogenetics and 11 intra-specific polymorphic markers. Further, comparison between the two genomes indicated a phylogenetic conflict at the base of terns, involving the inclusion (mitochondrial) or exclusion (nuclear) of the Angel Tern (Gygis alba). Although limited mitochondrial variation was confirmed, both nuclear markers and a short tandem repeat in the mitochondrial control region indicated the presence of considerable genetic variation in Royal Terns at a regional scale.ConclusionsThese data document the value of intronic markers to the study of terns and allies. We expect that these and additional markers attained through next-generation sequencing methods will accurately map the genetic origin and species history of this group of birds.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genome skimming identifies polymorphism in tern populations and species

2012

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“…ROYT have been extensively banded on the breeding grounds in the mid-Atlantic region of North America as part of multiple research and monitoring activities (e.g., Buckley & Buckley, 1977;Emslie et al, 2009;Erwin, 1978; Chicks were initially marked through organized banding drives that occurred from late June through mid-July, in which researchers walked through the nesting colony and herded the creche of chicks into a previously constructed corral. Following capture, chicks large enough to retain a band, were fit with a standard issue U.S.…”

Section: Mark-recapture Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Because climate change and commercial fishing both have the potential to independently alter predator-prey dynamics between seabirds and fish, a detailed understanding of each of these processes is important for seabird conservation (Barbraud et al, 2012) throughout the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Pacific coasts of North America, with a non-breeding range that extends into the Caribbean and coastal South America (Buckley et al, 2021). Although not considered to be a species of conservation concern, regional ROYT populations throughout the United States have declined in abundance since the 1970s (Emslie et al, 2009;Foster et al, 2009;Jodice et al, 2007). Similar to many other seabirds, habitat degradation, reductions in food availability, and incidental take associated with fishing are considered likely drivers of regional population declines (Buckley et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change and commercial fishing practices codetermine survival of a long‐lived seabird

Gibson

Riecke

Catlin

et al. 2022

Global Change Biology

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Understanding the environmental mechanisms that govern population change is a fundamental objective in ecology. Although the determination of how top-down and bottom-up drivers affect demography is important, it is often equally critical to understand the extent to which, environmental conditions that underpin these drivers fluctuate across time. For example, associations between climate and both food availability and predation risk may suggest the presence of trophic interactions that may influence inferences made from patterns in ecological data. Analytical tools have been developed to account for these correlations, while providing opportunities to ask novel questions regarding how populations change across space and time. Here, we combine two modeling disciplines-path analysis and mark-recapture-recovery models-to explore whether shifts in sea-surface temperatures (SSTs) influenced topdown (entanglement in fishing equipment) or bottom-up (forage fish production) population constraints over 60 years, and the extent to which these covarying processes shaped the survival of a long-lived seabird, the Royal tern. We found that hemispheric trends in SST were associated with variation in the amount of fish harvested along the Atlantic coast of North America and in the Caribbean, whereas reductions in forage fish production were mostly driven by shifts in the amount of fish harvested by commercial fisheries throughout the North Atlantic the year prior. Although the indirect (i.e., stock depletion) and direct (i.e., entanglement) impacts of commercial fishing on Royal tern mortality has declined over the last 60 years, increased SSTs during this time period has resulted in a comparable increase in mortality risk, which disproportionately impacted the survival of the youngest age-classes of Royal terns. Given climate projections for the North Atlantic, our results indicate that threats to Royal tern population persistence in the Mid-Atlantic will most likely be driven by failures to recruit juveniles into the breeding population.

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“…Almost all studies in the scientific literature deal with sites in the USA (Soots and Parnell 1975;Soots and Landin 1978;Melvin and Webb 1998;Delaney et al 2000;Shafer and Streever 2000;Zedler 2000;Erwin et al 2001;Perry et al 2001;Neckles et al 2002;Erwin et al 2003;Darnell and Smith 2004;Yozzo et al 2004;Guilfoyle et al 2007;Spear et al 2007;Golder et al 2008;Emslie et al 2009). However, very few studies exist for European countries, where these particular types of man-made sites are far less common and of very small size (ABP Southampton 1998; Atkinson et al 2001;de Jonge and de Jong 2002;Atkinson 2003;Bakker and Piersma 2006;Gallego Fernández and García 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of artificial intertidal sites by birds in a Mediterranean lagoon and their importance for wintering and migrating waders

Scarton¹,

Montanari

2015

J Coast Conserv

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Man-made habitats provide suitable nesting, resting and feeding habitats for many birds at coastal sites. Despite intensive study outside Europe, very few data are available to date on the bird communities that exploit artificial intertidal sites along the European coasts. Between July 2009 and December 2010, 32 ornithological surveys were performed at six artificial intertidal sites in the lagoon of Venice (Italy). Overall, 101 species (with 23,399 birds) were observed, about a third of those occurring in the lagoon of Venice; 58 of these species were of conservation concern. Ten species comprised about 80 % of the total; bird abundance was the highest during the post-breeding migration and wintering period. Multivariate analysis identified similarity among sites, seasons and observed behaviours. Dredge islands were mostly used by waders as foraging sites, when surrounding tidal flats were still flooded. In winter the six dredged islands supported about 2 % of the dunlins Calidris alpina occurring in the whole lagoon of Venice and about 10 % of the grey plovers Pluvialis squatarola. Since the study sites comprised just the 6 % of the total dredge island area available in 2009-2010, the results indicate as large fractions of these shorebird populations might exploit the dredge island habitats for foraging. Among the newly created habitats, intertidal ponds and inner tidal flats were the most heavily used by birds, followed by dykes and mounds with ruderal vegetation. Maintenance of the habitat mosaic is a need for a conservation-based management of the dredge islands.

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Population Trends in Royal and Sandwich Terns Along the Mid-Atlantic Seaboard, USA, 1975–2005

Cited by 6 publications

References 9 publications

Genome skimming identifies polymorphism in tern populations and species

Genome skimming identifies polymorphism in tern populations and species

Climate change and commercial fishing practices codetermine survival of a long‐lived seabird

Use of artificial intertidal sites by birds in a Mediterranean lagoon and their importance for wintering and migrating waders

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