Flexibility in otherwise consistent non-breeding movements of a long-distance migratory seabird, the long-tailed skua

Marine ecology progress series

, Jannik Hansen¹  , Niels Martin Schmidt²  , Benoît Sittler³  , Johannes Lang⁴  *, Børge Moe⁵  , Sveinn Are Hanssen⁶  , Ingrid Tulp⁷  , Loïc Bollache⁸  , Olivier Gilg⁹  Rob van Bemmelen^1,10  , Raymond Klaassen^1,11 

[1] Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark;Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark. Arctic Research Centre, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark;Groupe de Recherche en Ecologie Arctique, 21440 Francheville, France. Chair for Nature Protection and Landscape Ecology, University of Freiburg, 79106 Freiburg, Germany;Groupe de Recherche en Ecologie Arctique, 21440 Francheville, France. Working Group for Wildlife Biology, Justus Liebig University Giessen, 35392 Giessen, Germany;Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, 7034 Trondheim, Norway;Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, FRAM - High North Research Centre for Climate and the Environment, 9007 Tromsø, Norway;Wageningen Marine Research, 1970 AB, IJmuiden, The Netherlands;Wageningen Marine Research, 1970 AB, IJmuiden, The Netherlands. Groupe de Recherche en Ecologie Arctique, 21440 Francheville, France. Laboratoire Chrono-environnement, 25000 Besançon, France. Université de Bourgogne France Comté, 21000 Dijon Cedex, France;Wageningen Marine Research, 1970 AB, IJmuiden, The Netherlands. Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, 7034 Trondheim, Norway. Groupe de Recherche en Ecologie Arctique, 21440 Francheville, France;Wageningen Marine Research, 1970 AB, IJmuiden, The Netherlands. Resource Ecology Group, Wageningen University & Research, 6708 PB, Wageningen, The Netherlands;Wageningen Marine Research, 1970 AB, IJmuiden, The Netherlands. Resource Ecology Group, Wageningen University & Research, 6708 PB, Wageningen, The Netherlands. Dutch Montagu’s Harrier Foundation and Conservation Ecology Group, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences (GELIFES), University of Groningen, 9700 CC, Groningen, The Netherlands

关键词: Individual consistency;    Repeatability;    Stercorarius longicaudus;    Seabirds;    Tracking;    Non-breeding movements;    Flexibility;   

DOI  :  10.3354/meps12010

学科分类：海洋学与技术

来源: Inter-Research

【 摘 要 】

Quantifying within- and between-individual variation in animal migration strategies is a first step towards our understanding of the ability of migrants to adjust to changes in the environment. We studied consistency (or, conversely, flexibility) in movement patterns at large (>1000 km) to meso-scales (100-1000 km) during the non-breeding season of the long-tailed skua Stercorarius longicaudus, a long-distance migratory Arctic seabird, using light-based geolocation. We obtained 97 annual tracks of 38 individuals and quantified similarity between routes. Overall, tracks of the same individual were generally within about 200 to 300 km of their previous year’s route, and more similar than tracks of different individuals. Some flexibility was observed during migration, but individuals were faithful to their staging areas in the North Atlantic and in the Benguela Current off Namibia and South Africa. Over the course of the winter, an increasing number of individuals started to deviate—up to 5200 km—from the previous year’s route. Intriguingly, individuals could be highly consistent between 2 consecutive years and flexible between other years. Site-shifts in late winter seem to reflect responses to local conditions, but what promotes this larger flexibility remains unclear and requires further study. Our results show that individual long-tailed skuas are generally consistent in their itineraries, but can show considerable flexibility in some years. The flexibility in itineraries suggests that long-tailed skuas are able to adjust to environmental change, but the mechanisms leading to the observed within- and between-individual variation in movement patterns are still poorly understood.

【 授权许可】

Unknown