Laysan albatross exhibit complex behavioral plasticity in the subtropical and subarctic North Pacific Ocean

Abstract

Animals that regularly traverse habitat extremes between the subtropics and subarctic are expected to exhibit foraging behaviors that respond to changes in dynamic ocean habitats, and these behaviors may facilitate adaptations to novel and changing climates. During the chick-provisioning stage, Laysan albatross Phoebastria immutabilis parents regularly undertake short- and long-distance foraging trips throughout the vast central North Pacific Ocean. We examined GPS tracking data among chick-provisioning albatrosses in Hawai‘i to characterize habitats during short- and long-distance trips. The study period encompassed a marine heatwave (2014) and the cooling period after an extreme El Niño event (2016), enabling us to examine foraging habitats under novel and changing climates. First passage time and generalized additive mixed models indicated that during 183 short and 110 long trips (n = 32 birds), wind-assisted flight efficiency, proximity to productive areas, and moonlit-searching were important in both subtropical and subarctic habitats. Laysan albatross took foraging trips that had similar lengths and durations in 2014 and 2016 and visited similar areas, indicating that their foraging range did not expand in response to climatic variability. A strategy that uses similar foraging areas across years combined with reliance on environmental processes that enhance flight efficiency (wind) and that enable searching behaviors (moonlight) indicate that Laysan albatross exhibit complex behavioral plasticity that allows them to utilize subtropical and subarctic habitats affected by dynamic climate variability. This strategy may benefit their ability to respond to oceanographic and climatic change, including expanding warm water regions and changing atmospheric conditions influenced by global warming.

Divergent post-breeding spatial habitat use of Laysan and black-footed albatross

“…Studies of two closely related and sympatrically breeding species of albatross in the North Pacific, Laysan (Phoebastria immutabilis) and black-footed (P. nigripes) albatross, highlight the gaps in our understanding of their breeding and post-breeding distributions. While many studies have assessed and compared the spatial habitat use of Laysan and black-footed albatross, most of these studies have examined habitat use during breeding (Fernández et al, 2001;Hyrenbach et al, 2002;Finkelstein et al, 2006;Kappes et al, 2010Kappes et al, , 2015Conners et al, 2015;Gutowsky et al, 2015;Thorne et al, 2015Thorne et al, , 2016Gilmour et al, 2022). Drawing broad habitat conclusions from these studies is difficult due to the focus on a single species (Hyrenbach, 2001;Hyrenbach and Dotson, 2003;Young et al, 2009;Gutowsky et al, 2014b;Henry et al, 2021;Gilmour et al, 2022), deployments from sympatric species from a single colony (Hyrenbach et al, 2002;Finkelstein et al, 2006;Kappes et al, 2010Kappes et al, , 2015Block et al, 2011;Žydelis et al, 2011;Gutowsky et al, 2014a;Conners et al, 2015;Thorne et al, 2015Thorne et al, , 2016Antolos et al, 2017), or deployments of tagged individuals at-sea, which does not allow colony-level differences to be assessed (Hyrenbach, 2001;Hyrenbach and Dotson, 2003;Fischer et al, 2009;Suryan and Fischer, 2010).…”

“…While many studies have assessed and compared the spatial habitat use of Laysan and black-footed albatross, most of these studies have examined habitat use during breeding (Fernández et al, 2001;Hyrenbach et al, 2002;Finkelstein et al, 2006;Kappes et al, 2010Kappes et al, , 2015Conners et al, 2015;Gutowsky et al, 2015;Thorne et al, 2015Thorne et al, , 2016Gilmour et al, 2022). Drawing broad habitat conclusions from these studies is difficult due to the focus on a single species (Hyrenbach, 2001;Hyrenbach and Dotson, 2003;Young et al, 2009;Gutowsky et al, 2014b;Henry et al, 2021;Gilmour et al, 2022), deployments from sympatric species from a single colony (Hyrenbach et al, 2002;Finkelstein et al, 2006;Kappes et al, 2010Kappes et al, , 2015Block et al, 2011;Žydelis et al, 2011;Gutowsky et al, 2014a;Conners et al, 2015;Thorne et al, 2015Thorne et al, , 2016Antolos et al, 2017), or deployments of tagged individuals at-sea, which does not allow colony-level differences to be assessed (Hyrenbach, 2001;Hyrenbach and Dotson, 2003;Fischer et al, 2009;Suryan and Fischer, 2010). Further, previous studies have primarily focused on breeding Laysan and black-footed albatross at Tern Island (e.g., Kappes et al, 2010Kappes et al, , 2015Žydelis et al, 2011;Conners et al, 2015) despite the smaller population of both species breeding at Tern Island compared to Midway Atoll (approx.…”