Breeding tropical shearwaters use distant foraging sites when self-provisioning
McDuie, Fiona, Weeks, Scarla J., Miller, Mark G.R., and Congdon, Bradley C. (2015) Breeding tropical shearwaters use distant foraging sites when self-provisioning. Marine Ornithology, 43. pp. 123-129.
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Abstract
To determine whether breeding tropical shearwaters use "at-distance" locations during the long-trip phase of their bimodal foraging cycle,we deployed PTT satellite trackingdevices on adult Wedge-tailed Shearwaters Ardenna pacifica of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), Australia, over three breeding seasons. During the long-trip phase (8–14 d), a component of a bimodal pattern of foraging not seen previously in a tropical shearwater, birds travelled to distant sites in the Coral Sea between 300 and 1 100 km from the breeding colony, primarily to the north and east. At-distance foraging sites were in deeper water and closer to seamounts than were near-colony foraging sites used for chick provisioning, a combination of features indicating enhanced prey availability at these at-distance locations. These findings imply that long-term reproductive success at this and likely other GBR colonies is strongly dependent on the continued stability of these at-distance locations,yet at present all are outside the current Great Barrier Reef Marine Park management zone. To adequately conserve GBR seabirds and other marine species using these resources, a conservation strategy integrated with current management practices is needed for the open waters of the Coral Sea.
Item ID: | 39159 |
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Item Type: | Article (Research - C1) |
ISSN: | 2074-1235 |
Additional Information: | Papers posted by Marine Ornithology can be freely distributed and archived under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License (CC BY-SA). |
Funders: | Australian Research Council (ARC), Marine and Tropical Sciences Research Facility (MTSRF), National Environmental Research Program (NERP), Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA), Birdlife Australia Stuart Leslie Bird Research Award |
Projects and Grants: | ARC LP0562157 |
Date Deposited: | 16 Jun 2015 22:53 |
FoR Codes: | 06 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 0602 Ecology > 060201 Behavioural Ecology @ 60% 06 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 0602 Ecology > 060205 Marine and Estuarine Ecology (incl Marine Ichthyology) @ 20% 05 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 0501 Ecological Applications > 050101 Ecological Impacts of Climate Change @ 20% |
SEO Codes: | 96 ENVIRONMENT > 9608 Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity > 960808 Marine Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity @ 100% |
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