The winter diet of the<scp>A</scp>tlantic<scp>P</scp>uffin<i>Fratercula arctica</i>around the<scp>F</scp>aroe<scp>I</scp>slands

Harris, Michael; Leopold, M.F.; Jensen, Jens‐Kjeld; Meesters, H.W.G.; Wanless, Sarah

doi:10.1111/ibi.12272

Cited by 15 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 36 publications

(39 reference statements)

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“…Frederiksen et al 2012, Fayet et al 2017) and the climate factors driving synchrony in seabird population dynamics in such a threatened and declining species as the Atlantic puffin (BirdLife International 2018). We have illustrated the value of tracking data to produce co variates describing climate conditions specific to seabird's non-breeding distributions, rather than relying on large-scale climate indices, which cover a multitude of factors but do not bring us much closer to understanding the mechanisms behind climate-driven mortality (Harris et al 2015). Although we found little evidence of ETCs in wintering areas as a common driver of adult survival, populations most ex posed to extreme storms may experience negative effects.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Inter-population synchrony in adult survival and effects of climate and extreme weather in non-breeding areas of Atlantic puffins

Reiertsen

Layton‐Matthews

Erikstad

et al. 2021

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Seabirds are undergoing drastic declines globally and spend the non-breeding season at sea, making it challenging to study the drivers of their survival. Harsh weather and changes in climate conditions can have large impacts on seabird population dynamics through increased mortality. The intensity and persistence of extreme events are forecasted to increase with global warming. As shared conditions can induce population synchrony, multi-population studies of key demographic parameters are imperative to explore the influence of climate change. We used long-term mark-recapture data and position data to determine non-breeding stop-over areas of 5 Atlantic puffin (Fratercula arctica) populations over a latitudinal gradient in the Northeast Atlantic (56°11’-70°23’N). We investigated synchrony in adult survival in relation to shared stop-over areas. We quantified effects of extreme extra-tropical cyclones (ETCs) specific to populations’ stop-over areas and the North Atlantic Oscillation on adult survival. Populations with overlapping stop-over areas exhibited temporal synchrony in survival rates. Winter ETCs negatively influenced survival in 1 population, which was the one most exposed to extreme weather, but did not directly influence adult survival in the other 4 populations. Synchrony among populations with shared stop-over areas highlights the importance of these areas for adult survival, a key life-history rate. However, extreme weather was not identified as a driving factor for the majority of study populations. This suggests other factors in these areas, likely related to bottom-up trophic interactions, as environmental drivers of synchrony in the survival of Atlantic puffins.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Inter-population synchrony in adult survival and effects of climate and extreme weather in non-breeding areas of Atlantic puffins

Reiertsen

Layton‐Matthews

Erikstad

et al. 2021

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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“…Previous studies have reported shifting summer foraging areas in response to changing prey availability in razorbills [15, 61], whilst puffins have been recorded as maintaining overwintering locations despite changed environmental conditions [25]. Puffins are also known to lower their trophic position and adopt more opportunistic foraging strategies during the harsher winter months [26, 29].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our aims were to 1) test whether differences in overwinter survival were associated with changes in locations within the North Sea and/or trophic position, 2) assess whether such responses were similar in the two species and 3) investigate whether any observed changes in locations and diet could be related to the abundance and distribution of potential prey species. For this final test we collated data on the distribution and abundance of lesser sandeel ( Ammodytes marinus ), sprat ( Sprattus sprattus ) and herring ( Clupea harengus ), lipid-rich high quality prey that are known to be common in the diet of puffins and razorbills during the breeding and winter seasons across the North Sea [26, 27, 37]. We also extracted distribution and abundance data, as well as isotope measurements for snake pipefish ( Entelurus aequoreus ), as this normally rare and nutritionally poor species showed a short-lived population explosion in 2007 and 2008, and was found in the diets of a wide range of marine predators [24, 64].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sympatric Atlantic puffins and razorbills show contrasting responses to adverse marine conditions during winter foraging within the North Sea

Glew¹,

Wanless²,

Harris³

et al. 2019

Mov Ecol

Self Cite

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BackgroundNatural environments are dynamic systems with conditions varying across years. Higher trophic level consumers may respond to changes in the distribution and quality of available prey by moving to locate new resources or by switching diets. In order to persist, sympatric species with similar ecological niches may show contrasting foraging responses to changes in environmental conditions. However, in marine environments this assertion remains largely untested for highly mobile predators outside the breeding season because of the challenges of quantifying foraging location and trophic position under contrasting conditions.MethodDifferences in overwinter survival rates of two populations of North Sea seabirds (Atlantic puffins (Fratercula arctica) and razorbills (Alca torda)) indicated that environmental conditions differed between 2007/08 (low survival and thus poor conditions) and 2014/15 (higher survival, favourable conditions). We used a combination of bird-borne data loggers and stable isotope analyses to test 1) whether these sympatric species showed consistent responses with respect to foraging location and trophic position to these contrasting winter conditions during periods when body and cheek feathers were being grown (moult) and 2) whether any observed changes in moult locations and diet could be related to the abundance and distribution of potential prey species of differing energetic quality.ResultsPuffins and razorbills showed divergent foraging responses to contrasting winter conditions. Puffins foraging in the North Sea used broadly similar foraging locations during moult in both winters. However, puffin diet significantly differed, with a lower average trophic position in the winter characterised by lower survival rates. By contrast, razorbills’ trophic position increased in the poor survival winter and the population foraged in more distant southerly waters of the North Sea.ConclusionsPopulations of North Sea puffins and razorbills showed contrasting foraging responses when environmental conditions, as indicated by overwinter survival differed. Conservation of mobile predators, many of which are in sharp decline, may benefit from dynamic spatial based management approaches focusing on behavioural changes in response to changing environmental conditions, particularly during life history stages associated with increased mortality.

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“…Since we detected various differences in adult and chick diets, this method is likely imperfect and even our dual-methodology here may be inadequate to fully assess adult puffin invertebrate consumption. Although our decisions regarding which taxa represent intentional consumption were largely substantiated by the available literature (Piatt, 1987; Falk et al, 1992; Bowser et al, 2013; Harris et al, 2015), it’s possible that adult puffins exploit invertebrate prey resources more broadly than currently thought.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiple methods of diet assessment reveal differences in Atlantic puffin adult and chick diets both between and within years

Kennerley,

Clucas,

Lyons

2024

Preprint

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Atlantic puffin (Fratercula arctica, hereafter puffin) reproductive success in the Gulf of Maine (GoM) has decreased following a recent oceanographic regime shift and subsequent rapid warming. Concurrent changes in both the regional forage fish community and puffin chick diet and provisioning rates suggest that inadequate prey resources may be driving this decline. To determine what prey GoM puffins were feeding on during two years of marine heatwave conditions, we assessed puffin diet using two methods: traditional, observational methods that utilize bill-load photography and emerging methods employing fecal DNA metabarcoding. We identified a strong correlation between the composition of chick diet as estimated through traditional and emerging methods, supporting the interpretation of DNA relative read abundance as a quantitative metric of diet composition. Both methods identified the same dominant prey groups, but metabarcoding identified a greater number of species and offered higher taxonomic resolution. Puffin adults and chicks fed on many of the same prey types, although adults consumed a greater variety of taxa and consumed more low quality prey than they provisioned chicks, as predicted by optimal foraging theory. For both age classes, diet varied both between and within years, likely reflecting changes in the local forage fish community in response to environmental variability. During these two years of marine heatwave conditions, puffins exploited unusual abundances of typically-uncommon prey, yet low puffin productivity suggests the observed dietary plasticity was not able to compensate for apparent prey shortages. Continued refinement of molecular tools and the interpretation of the data they provide will enable better assessments of how seabirds of diverse ages and breeding stages are compensating for changing forage fish communities in response to global climate change.

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The winter diet of theAtlanticPuffinFratercula arcticaaround theFaroeIslands

Abstract: Wanless, Sarah. 2015. The winter diet of the Atlantic puffin Fratercula arctica around the Faroe Islands. Ibis, 157 (3).

Cited by 15 publications

References 36 publications

Inter-population synchrony in adult survival and effects of climate and extreme weather in non-breeding areas of Atlantic puffins

Inter-population synchrony in adult survival and effects of climate and extreme weather in non-breeding areas of Atlantic puffins

Sympatric Atlantic puffins and razorbills show contrasting responses to adverse marine conditions during winter foraging within the North Sea

Multiple methods of diet assessment reveal differences in Atlantic puffin adult and chick diets both between and within years

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