Migration pattern of Icelandic Lesser Black-backed Gulls Larus fuscus graellsii: indications of a leap-frog system

Hallgrímsson, Gunnar Þór; Gunnarsson, Hallgrimur V.; Torfason, Olafur; Buijs, Roland-Jan; Camphuysen, Kees

doi:10.1007/s10336-012-0816-4

Cited by 18 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Our study confirmed a range of wintering areas similar to those previously reported in ringing recovery studies (Thomson , Harris , Marques et al , Hallgrimsson et al ) and satellite tracking for other populations (Klaassen et al ) around the North Sea and North Atlantic Ocean. Unlike the previously mentioned ringing studies which provide general spatiotemporal patterns at the population level, our tracking data clearly shows that some individuals do spend the entire non‐breeding season in Great Britain.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Short distance migrants travel as far as long distance migrants in lesser black‐backed gulls Larus fuscus

Shamoun‐Baranes

Burant

Loon

et al. 2017

Journal of Avian Biology

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Migration strategies differ greatly among and within avian populations. The associated trade‐offs and fitness consequences of diverse strategies and how they persist are pertinent questions in migration research. Migration is a costly endeavour, presumably compensated for by better survival conditions in the non‐breeding area. One way to assess the cost of alternative strategies is to investigate the investment in movement across the entire annual cycle, an assessment made increasingly feasible with improvements in tracking technology. Our study focuses on lesser black‐backed gulls, generalist seabirds that exploit a broad range of resources, exhibit diverse migration strategies and have potentially altered migration strategies in response to human activities and climate change. We used GPS tracking to quantify lesser black‐backed gulls’ movement throughout their annual cycle and compare trade‐offs among four migration strategies. The annual cumulative distance travelled by long distance migrants wintering in west Africa, over 4000 km from their breeding colony, did not differ significantly from individuals of the same breeding colony wintering only a few hundred kilometres away in Great Britain. Short distance migrants returned to the colony first, and long distance migrants returned last. Sex and wing length were not correlated with maximum range, cumulative distance travelled or timing. Individuals spent only a small proportion of their time in flight and spent on average 17% of their time at sea throughout an annual cycle, suggesting a reliance on inland resources for many individuals. Analysing movement throughout the annual cycle can change our perspective and understanding of consequences of different migration strategies. Our study shows that a range of migration strategies coexists and we propose that the long term costs and benefits of these strategies balance out. Diversity in migration strategies may contribute to the resilience of this species in the face of ongoing anthropogenic impact on the environment.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Short distance migrants travel as far as long distance migrants in lesser black‐backed gulls Larus fuscus

Shamoun‐Baranes

Burant

Loon

et al. 2017

Journal of Avian Biology

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“…The latter is an unusual migration pattern at the species level, first described in a North American passerine, the fox sparrow (Passerella iliaca; Swarth, 1920) and later reported in other passerine (Bell, 1996(Bell, , 1997Fraser et al, 2012;Stanley et al, 2015) and nonpasserine species, particularly waders (Charadriiformes; Salomonsen, 1955;Pienkowski et al, 1985;Boland, 1990;Alves et al, 2012;Duijns et al, 2012). Among seabirds, however, leapfrog migration has never been reported, suggesting that it is uncommon in this group of birds (but see Wernham et al, 2002;Hallgrimsson et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Leapfrog migration and habitat preferences of a small oceanic seabird, Bulwer's petrel (Bulweria bulwerii)

Ramos

Sanz

Militão

et al. 2015

Journal of Biogeography

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Aim Our current understanding of migratory strategies and the reasons for their high 27 variability along the phylogenetic tree remains relatively poor. Most of the hypotheses 28 relating to migration have been formulated for terrestrial taxa; classically, oceanic migrations 29 were considered as merely dispersive due to the scarcity of observations in the open ocean. 30We describe for the first time, the migration strategy of a small seabird, the Bulwer's petrel 31 (Bulweria bulwerii), and provide new insights into the ecology and evolution of long-distance 32 marine migrations. 33 Location Subtropical and tropical Atlantic Ocean. 34Methods Using cutting-edge geolocators, we examined the year-round distribution and at-sea 35 activity patterns of adult Bulwer's petrels sampled at 5 localities throughout its breeding 36 range in the Atlantic: the Azores, Salvages, Canary and Cape Verde archipelagos. We 37 assessed the migratory connectivity of the species and its habitat use at population and meta-38 population scales. 39Results Our results provide the first evidence of an oriented leapfrog migration in oceanic 40 seabirds. Ecological niche models based on breeding-season data effectively predicted that 41 subtropical waters of the South Atlantic would be the preferred habitat for the northern 42 populations of Bulwer's petrels during the non-breeding season. Habitat modelling also 43 highlighted similarities in distributions between the breeding and non-breeding periods for the 44 southern populations. Data on at-sea activity patterns suggested that birds from the northern 45 and southern populations behave differently during the breeding season, as well as in the 46 northern and southern non-breeding ranges during the non-breeding period. 47Main conclusions These results indicate that specific habitat preferences, presumably related 48 to differences in prey availability, explain the observed distributions and hence the pattern of 49 leapfrog migration described for Bulwer's petrel. Our study demonstrates the utility of 50Page 3 integrating diverse tracking data from multiple populations across international boundaries, 51 and habitat modelling, for identifying important areas common to many marine species in the 52 vast oceanic environments. 53 54 Keywords: Activity patterns, Bulweria bulwerii, Bulwer's petrel, capture-mark-recapture, 55 geolocator data, habitat modelling, Macaronesian seabirds, meta-population studies, oceanic 56 migrations. 57Page 4 INTRODUCTION 58Migration is an integral part of the annual life-cycle and life-history of many animal species. 59

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“…Ringing data, in particular colour-ringing studies since 1980, have provided insights into the movements of the large gulls (e.g. Rock 1999Rock , 2002Hallgrimsson et al 2012 and are beginning to illuminate the ecology of urban gulls (e.g. Rock 2005;Rock & Vaughan 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Results from the first GPS tracking of roof-nesting Herring GullsLarus argentatusin the UK

Rock

Camphuysen

Shamoun‐Baranes

et al. 2016

Ringing & Migration

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Recent developments in GPS tracking technology are allowing the movements of bird species to be followed in ever greater detail. Seabird research is benefiting greatly due to the challenges of tracking species that often roam widely out at sea. Amongst the gulls, one of the pressing issues is to understand the ecology of the relatively recent urban colonists and how they differ from their counterparts in traditional rural colonies. Here, we present what we believe are the first GPS results from roof-nesting gulls. Four adult Herring Gulls (two males, two females) were fitted with GPS tags in May 2014 in the seaside town of St Ives, Cornwall (breeding colony ca. 250 pairs) and tracked for ca 100 days through the 2014 breeding season. We estimated the home ranges of the four individuals and how their movement behaviour varied through the 24h period and across the breeding season. The results highlight how variable movement behaviour was among individuals: whilst one bird roamed widely (90% range estimate = 560km 2 ), heading >50km offshore and often active at night or roosting at sea, two birds had small ranges (<10km 2 ), always attended the colony at night and rarely headed more than a few hundred metres offshore, with the fourth displaying intermediate behaviour. All of the birds regularly utilised a few key sites within the agricultural landscape south of St Ives. Whilst this study was too small to allow general conclusions about urban Herring Gulls to be drawn, it reinforces how variable individual behaviour can be in the large gulls and will be particularly interesting when applied to a larger sample of birds, especially in big urban gull colonies further upcountry.

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Migration pattern of Icelandic Lesser Black-backed Gulls Larus fuscus graellsii: indications of a leap-frog system

Cited by 18 publications

References 19 publications

Short distance migrants travel as far as long distance migrants in lesser black‐backed gulls Larus fuscus

Short distance migrants travel as far as long distance migrants in lesser black‐backed gulls Larus fuscus

Leapfrog migration and habitat preferences of a small oceanic seabird, Bulwer's petrel (Bulweria bulwerii)

Results from the first GPS tracking of roof-nesting Herring GullsLarus argentatusin the UK

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