TY - JOUR
T1 - Seabird Migration Strategies
T2 - Flight Budgets, Diel Activity Patterns, and Lunar Influence
AU - Bonnet-Lebrun, Anne Sophie
AU - Dias, Maria P.
AU - Phillips, Richard A.
AU - Granadeiro, José P.
AU - Brooke, M.
AU - Chastel, Olivier
AU - Clay, Thomas A.
AU - Fayet, Annette L.
AU - Gilg, Olivier
AU - González-Solís, Jacob
AU - Guilford, Tim
AU - Hanssen, Sveinn A.
AU - Hedd, April
AU - Jaeger, Audrey
AU - Krietsch, Johannes
AU - Lang, Johannes
AU - Le Corre, Matthieu
AU - Militão, Teresa
AU - Moe, Børge
AU - Montevecchi, William A.
AU - Peter, Hans Ulrich
AU - Pinet, Patrick
AU - Rayner, Matt J.
AU - Reid, Tim
AU - Reyes-González, José Manuel
AU - Ryan, Peter G.
AU - Sagar, Paul M.
AU - Schmidt, Niels M.
AU - Thompson, David R.
AU - van Bemmelen, Rob
AU - Watanuki, Yutaka
AU - Weimerskirch, Henri
AU - Yamamoto, Takashi
AU - Catry, Paulo
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Maria Alho for data cleaning. For long-tailed skua data from NE Greenland, we thank B. Sittler for organizing expeditions to Karupelv Valley and M. Nitze, F. Normann, and A. Lang for assistance in the field. For the work on kittiwakes, we thank Fr?d?ric Angelier, Pierre Bl?vin, Aur?lie Goutte, and Sabrina Tartu for their great help in the field. For data collection on sooty shearwaters, we thank the Falkland Islands Government for research and access permits, and Falklands Conservation, Alastair Baylis, Helen Otley, Sally Poncet, Robin Snape, and Anton Wolfaardt for field and logistic support. For data collection on Leach?s storm-petrel, we are grateful to Chantelle Burke, Laura McFarlane Tranquilla, and Cerren Richards for help in the field, Tony Doyle for transport to the island, and the Parks Division of the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador?s Fisheries and Lands Department for research and access permits for the Baccalieu Island Seabird Ecological Reserve.
Funding Information:
Funding for this work was provided by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal) through project Seamigrant PTDC/BIA-ANM/3743/2014 and strategic project UIDB/04292/2020 and UIDP/04292/2020 granted to MARE, and UIDP/50017/2020 and UIDB/50017/2020 granted to CESAM. Zackenberg thanks Aage V. Jensen Charity foundation; field work at Hochstetter Forland was funded by the French Polar Institute-IPEV (program “Interactions-1036”). The work on long-tailed skuas in Svalbard was funded by the Fram Center flagship “Climate Change in Fjord and Coast” grant no. 232019. The work on Kongsfjord kittiwakes was funded by the French Polar Institute-IPEV (program “Ornitho-Endocrino-330”). Fieldwork at Bird Island (South Georgia) was part of the Ecosystems component of the British Antarctic Survey Polar Science for Planet Earth Programme, funded by the Natural Environment Research Council. Funding for data collection on sooty shearwaters included an NSERC Discovery Grant and Government of Canada’s Program for International Polar Year to WM. The study on Leach’s storm-petrel was supported by Environment and Climate Change Canada. Research at Gough Island on great shearwaters was conducted with permission from the Tristan government and with support from the South African National Antarctic Programme. Funding for data collection on Cape Verde shearwaters was provided by the project Alcyon – Conservation of seabirds from Cabo Verde, coordinated by BirdLife International and funded by the MAVA Fondation pour la nature (MAVA17022), by the Programa ICREA (Acadèmia de la Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats), and by the projects CGL2006-01315/BOS; CGL2009-11278/BOS; CGL2013-42585-P, and CGL2016-78530-R from the Spanish Government.
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2021 Bonnet-Lebrun, Dias, Phillips, Granadeiro, Brooke, Chastel, Clay, Fayet, Gilg, González-Solís, Guilford, Hanssen, Hedd, Jaeger, Krietsch, Lang, Le Corre, Militão, Moe, Montevecchi, Peter, Pinet, Rayner, Reid, Reyes-González, Ryan, Sagar, Schmidt, Thompson, van Bemmelen, Watanuki, Weimerskirch, Yamamoto and Catry.
PY - 2021/10/29
Y1 - 2021/10/29
N2 - Every year, billions of birds undertake extensive migrations between breeding and non-breeding areas, facing challenges that require behavioural adjustments, particularly to flight timing and duration. Such adjustments in daily activity patterns and the influence of extrinsic factors (e.g., environmental conditions, moonlight) have received much more research attention in terrestrial than marine migrants. Taking advantage of the widespread deployment in recent decades of combined light-level geolocator-immersion loggers, we investigated diel organisation and influence of the moon on flight activities during the non-breeding season of 21 migrant seabird species from a wide taxonomic range (6 families, 3 orders). Migrant seabirds regularly stopped (to either feed or rest) during migration, unlike some terrestrial and wetland birds which fly non-stop. We found an overall increase for most seabird species in time in flight and, for several species, also in flight bout duration, during migration compared to when resident at the non-breeding grounds. Additionally, several nocturnal species spent more of the day in flight during migration than at non-breeding areas, and vice versa for diurnal species. Nocturnal time in flight tended to increase during full moon, both during migration and at the non-breeding grounds, depending on species. Our study provides an extensive overview of activity patterns of migrant seabirds, paving the way for further research on the underlying mechanisms and drivers.
AB - Every year, billions of birds undertake extensive migrations between breeding and non-breeding areas, facing challenges that require behavioural adjustments, particularly to flight timing and duration. Such adjustments in daily activity patterns and the influence of extrinsic factors (e.g., environmental conditions, moonlight) have received much more research attention in terrestrial than marine migrants. Taking advantage of the widespread deployment in recent decades of combined light-level geolocator-immersion loggers, we investigated diel organisation and influence of the moon on flight activities during the non-breeding season of 21 migrant seabird species from a wide taxonomic range (6 families, 3 orders). Migrant seabirds regularly stopped (to either feed or rest) during migration, unlike some terrestrial and wetland birds which fly non-stop. We found an overall increase for most seabird species in time in flight and, for several species, also in flight bout duration, during migration compared to when resident at the non-breeding grounds. Additionally, several nocturnal species spent more of the day in flight during migration than at non-breeding areas, and vice versa for diurnal species. Nocturnal time in flight tended to increase during full moon, both during migration and at the non-breeding grounds, depending on species. Our study provides an extensive overview of activity patterns of migrant seabirds, paving the way for further research on the underlying mechanisms and drivers.
KW - bird migration
KW - ecological barriers
KW - migratory behaviour
KW - moon phases
KW - nocturnality
KW - transequatorial migrants
U2 - 10.3389/fmars.2021.683071
DO - 10.3389/fmars.2021.683071
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85119050668
VL - 8
JO - Frontiers in Marine Science
JF - Frontiers in Marine Science
SN - 2296-7745
M1 - 683071
ER -
