Albatross response to survey vessels: implications for studies of the distribution, abundance, and prey consumption of seabird populations

Hyrenbach, K. David

doi:10.3354/meps212283

Cited by 34 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…(2) The largest fulmar colonies host considerably more birds than the colony catalog suggests. Hyrenbach (2001) reported that ship-based surveys overestimate albatross densities off California by a factor of 4. While observers in our study were instructed not to count obviously ship-following birds, there is no known antidote against ship-attraction.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeled distribution and abundance of a pelagic seabird reveal trends in relation to fisheries

Renner¹,

Parrish²,

Piatt³

et al. 2013

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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The northern fulmar Fulmarus glacialis is one of the most visible and widespread seabirds in the eastern Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands. However, relatively little is known about its abundance, trends, or the factors that shape its distribution. We used a long-term pelagic dataset to model changes in fulmar at-sea distribution and abundance since the mid-1970s. We used an ensemble model, based on a weighted average of generalized additive model (GAM), multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS), and random forest models to estimate the pelagic distribution and density of fulmars in the waters of the Aleutian Archipelago and Bering Sea. The most important predictor variables were colony effect, sea surface temperature, distribution of fisheries, location, and primary productivity. We calculated a time series from the ratio of observed to predicted values and found that fulmar at-sea abundance declined from the 1970s to the 2000s at a rate of 0.83% (± 0.39% SE) per annum. Interpolating fulmar densities on a spatial grid through time, we found that the center of fulmar distribution in the Bering Sea has shifted north, coinciding with a northward shift in fish catches and a warming ocean. Our study shows that fisheries are an important, but not the only factor, shaping fulmar distribution and abundance trends in the eastern Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeled distribution and abundance of a pelagic seabird reveal trends in relation to fisheries

Renner¹,

Parrish²,

Piatt³

et al. 2013

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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“…A common problem in ecological research is the difficulty of estimating prey consumption by a predator population in a spatial context, and this often limits a satisfactory understanding of trophodynamics in even simple ecosystems (Hyrenbach 2001 . Histogram of linear discriminant scores derived from prey data by separating prey into two groups: fishes (grey bars) and squid (black bars).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Part of this process requires information on both the spatial and the temporal aspects of predator diet (Brown et al 1999;Shurin 2001), and this is particularly important for wide-ranging species that occupy vastly different ecological zones during the course of their regular movements (Hyrenbach 2001). In the case of wideranging top-level marine predators, such as whales, seals and seabirds, there is scant information on diet structure with respect to individual, geographical and temporal variation (Iverson et al 1997b;Hindell et al 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

You are what you eat: describing the foraging ecology of southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) using blubber fatty acids

Bradshaw

Hindell

Best

et al. 2003

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

153

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Understanding the trophodynamics of marine ecosystems requires data on the temporal and spatial variation in predator diet but, particularly for wide-ranging species, these data are often unavailable. The southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina) consumes large quantities of fish and squid prey in the Southern Ocean relative to other marine mammals; however, how diet varies relative to seasonal and spatial foraging behaviour is unknown. We used fatty acid (FA) signature analysis of 63 blubber cores from adult female M. leonina over three seasons (winter 1999, summer 2000 and winter 2001) to determine diet structure. We detected significant differences between seasons and between the main foraging regions (Antarctic continental shelf versus pelagic). We used the FA profiles from 53 fish, squid and krill species to construct a discriminant function that would classify each seal, from its blubber sample as having a fish-or squid-FA profile. We determined that a higher proportion of M. leonina had fish-dominated diets during the winter and when foraging around the Antarctic continental shelf, and the majority had more squiddominated diets during the summer when foraging pelagically. Thus, we were able to measure the coarsescale diet structure of a major marine predator using FA profiles, and estimate its associated seasonal and temporal variation.

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“…These observations, however, have been constrained by the tendency of albatrosses to follow survey vessels, and by the inability of observers to determine the origin, gender, and reproductive status of birds sighted at sea , Hyrenbach 2001.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oceanographic habitats of two sympatric North Pacific albatrosses during the breeding season

Hyrenbach¹,

Fernández²,

Anderson³

2002

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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191

200

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We characterized the movements and oceanographic habitats of black-footed (Phoebastria nigripes) and Laysan (P. immutabilis) albatrosses during the brooding and the rearing periods of the breeding cycle. Analyses of satellite telemetry data in conjunction with remotely sensed sea surface temperature and chlorophyll concentrations revealed substantial differences in habitat use between these 2 sympatrically breeding species. During the brooding period, black-footed albatross restricted their foraging to tropical waters (> 20°C), while Laysan albatross ventured into the colder waters of the Transition Domain (15 to 12°C) and the Subarctic Frontal Zone (12 to 10°C). This pelagic segregation became more apparent with the expansion of the foraging ranges later in the breeding season. During the chick-rearing period, black-footed albatross commuted to the California Current (15 to 12°C) and Laysan albatross foraged in subarctic (<12°C) and Transition Domain (15 to 12°C) waters. The foraging behavior of albatrosses was scale-dependent. Over macro-mega scales of (1000 to 3000 km) albatross dispersion was influenced by large-scale ocean productivity patterns and water mass distributions. Over smaller coarse-meso scales of (10 to 100 km) albatrosses focused their foraging activities along oceanic habitats characterized by elevated ocean productivity and prey aggregation. The foraging birds traveled more slowly in the vicinity of highly productive continental shelves (central California to Washington State, Aleutian Islands), and hydrographic fronts (Transition Domain, North Pacific Transition Zone Chlorophyll Front). Conversely, the satellite tracked albatrosses commuted rapidly over tropical and subtropical waters between these foraging areas and the breeding colony. These results highlight the significance of macro-mega scale of (1000 to 3000 km) water mass distributions and coarse-meso scale (10 to 100 km) hydrographic features to far-ranging marine predators, and underscore the need to understand how physical-biological processes sustain predictable regions of elevated ocean productivity and prey aggregation in marine systems.

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Albatross response to survey vessels: implications for studies of the distribution, abundance, and prey consumption of seabird populations

Cited by 34 publications

References 39 publications

Modeled distribution and abundance of a pelagic seabird reveal trends in relation to fisheries

Modeled distribution and abundance of a pelagic seabird reveal trends in relation to fisheries

You are what you eat: describing the foraging ecology of southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) using blubber fatty acids

Oceanographic habitats of two sympatric North Pacific albatrosses during the breeding season

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