TY - JOUR
T1 - The year-round distribution of Northeast Atlantic seabird populations
T2 - Applications for population management and marine spatial planning
AU - Fauchald, Per
AU - Tarroux, Arnaud
AU - Amélineau, Françoise
AU - Bråthen, Vegard Sandøy
AU - Descamps, Sébastien
AU - Ekker, Morten
AU - Helgason, Hálfdán Helgi
AU - Johansen, Malin Kjellstadli
AU - Merkel, Benjamin
AU - Moe, Borge
AU - Åström, Jens
AU - Anker-Nilssen, Tycho
AU - Bjørnstad, Oskar
AU - Chastel, Olivier
AU - Christensen Dalsgaard, Signe
AU - Danielsen, Jóhannis
AU - Daunt, Francis
AU - Dehnhard, Nina
AU - Erikstad, Kjell Einar
AU - Ezhov, Alexey
AU - Gavrilo , Maria
AU - Hallgrimsson, Gunnar Thor
AU - Hansen, Erpur Snær
AU - Harris, Mike
AU - Helberg, Morten
AU - Jónsson, Jón Einar
AU - Kolbeinsson, Yann
AU - Krasnov, Yuri
AU - Langset, Magdalene
AU - Lorentsen, Svein-Håkon
AU - Lorentzen, Erlend
AU - Newell, Mark
AU - Olsen, Bergur
AU - Kristin Reiertsen, Tone
AU - Systad , Geir Helge
AU - Thompson, Paul
AU - Thórarinsson, Thorkell Lindberg
AU - Wanless, Sarah
AU - Wojczulanis-Jakubas, Katarzyna
AU - Strøm, Hallvard
N1 - Acknowledgement
We thank all the fieldworkers for their hard work collecting data. Funding for this study was provided by the Norwegian Ministry for Climate and the Environment, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Norwegian Oil and Gas Association along with eight oil companies through the SEATRACK project (www.seapop.no/en/seatrack). Fieldwork in Norwegian colonies (incl. Svalbard
and Jan Mayen) was supported by the SEAPOP program (www.seapop.no grant number 192141). The French Polar Institute Paul Emile Victor, funded the ORNITHO-ENDOCRINO program (IPEV program 330 to O. Chastel) on Kongsfjord kittiwakes. Russian field operations were enabled by the crew on SY Alter Ego and Open Ocean project team. A.V. Ezhov and Yu.V. Krasnov were supported by the project No 0228-2019-0004 “Ornithofauna of the northern seas: peculiarities of the nonbreeding season” with the framework of MMBI research plan and the state order for 2109-2021. The work on the Isle of May was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council (Award NE/R016429/1 as part of the UK-SCaPE programme delivering National Capability). ES Hansen was supported by Veiðikortasjóður
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Tracking data of marine predators are increasingly used in marine spatial management. We developed a spatial dataset with estimates of the monthly distribution of six pelagic seabird species breeding in the Northeast Atlantic. The dataset is based on year-round global location sensor (GLS) tracking data of 2356 adult seabirds from 2006-2019 from a network of seabird colonies, datadescribing the physical environment, and data on seabird population sizes. Tracking and environmental data were combined in monthly species distribution models (SDMs). Cross-validations were used to assess the transferability of models between years and breeding locations. The analyses showed that birds from colonies close to each other (< 500 km) used the same nonbreeding habitats, while birds from distant colonies (>1000 km) used colony-specific, and in many cases, non11 overlapping habitats. Based on these results, the SDM from the nearest model colony was used to predict the distribution of all seabird colonies lying within a species-specific cut-off distance (400-500 km). The uncertainties in predictions were estimated by cluster bootstrap sampling. The resulting dataset consists of 4692 map layers, each layer predicting the densities of birds from a given species, colony and month across the North Atlantic. The dataset represents the annual distribution of 23.5 million adult pelagic seabirds, or 87% of the Northeast Atlantic breeding population of the study species. We show how the dataset can be used in population and spatial management applications, including the detection of population-specific nonbreeding habitats and identifying populations influenced by marine protected areas.
AB - Tracking data of marine predators are increasingly used in marine spatial management. We developed a spatial dataset with estimates of the monthly distribution of six pelagic seabird species breeding in the Northeast Atlantic. The dataset is based on year-round global location sensor (GLS) tracking data of 2356 adult seabirds from 2006-2019 from a network of seabird colonies, datadescribing the physical environment, and data on seabird population sizes. Tracking and environmental data were combined in monthly species distribution models (SDMs). Cross-validations were used to assess the transferability of models between years and breeding locations. The analyses showed that birds from colonies close to each other (< 500 km) used the same nonbreeding habitats, while birds from distant colonies (>1000 km) used colony-specific, and in many cases, non11 overlapping habitats. Based on these results, the SDM from the nearest model colony was used to predict the distribution of all seabird colonies lying within a species-specific cut-off distance (400-500 km). The uncertainties in predictions were estimated by cluster bootstrap sampling. The resulting dataset consists of 4692 map layers, each layer predicting the densities of birds from a given species, colony and month across the North Atlantic. The dataset represents the annual distribution of 23.5 million adult pelagic seabirds, or 87% of the Northeast Atlantic breeding population of the study species. We show how the dataset can be used in population and spatial management applications, including the detection of population-specific nonbreeding habitats and identifying populations influenced by marine protected areas.
KW - Fulmarus glacialis
KW - Uria aalge
KW - Uria lomvia
KW - Alle alle
KW - Fratercula arctica
KW - marine spatial planning
KW - SEATRACK
U2 - 10.3354/meps13854
DO - 10.3354/meps13854
M3 - Article
VL - 676
SP - 255
EP - 276
JO - Marine Ecology Progress Series
JF - Marine Ecology Progress Series
SN - 0171-8630
ER -
