Volume 44, No. 2
Volumes > 38 (2010-->)
- Volume 52, No. 2, 2024
- Volume 52, No. 1, 2024
- Volume 51, No. 2, 2023
- Volume 51, No. 1, 2023
- Volume 50, No. 2, 2022
- Volume 50, No. 1, 2022
- Volume 49, No. 2, 2021
- Volume 49, No. 1, 2021
- Volume 48, No. 2, 2020
- Volume 48, No. 1, 2020
- Volume 47, No. 2, 2019
- Volume 47, No. 1, 2019
- Volume 46, No. 2, 2018
- Volume 46, No. 1, 2018
- Volume 45, No. 2, 2017
- Volume 45, No. 1, 2017
- Volume 44, No. 2, 2016
- Volume 44, No. 1, 2016
- Volume 43, No. 2, 2015
- Volume 43, No. 1, 2015
- Volume 42, No. 2, 2014
- Volume 42, No. 1, 2014
- Volume 41, No. 2, 2013
- Volume 41, No. 1, 2013
- Volume 41, Special Issue, 2013
- Volume 40, No. 2, 2012
- Volume 40, No. 1, 2012
- Volume 39, No. 2, 2011
- Volume 39, No. 1, 2011
- Volume 38, No. 2, 2010
- Volume 38, No. 1, 2010
Volumes 28-37 (2000-09)
- Volume 37, No. 3, 2009
- Volume 37, No. 2, 2009
- Volume 37, No. 1, 2009
- Volume 36, No. 2, 2008
- Volume 36, No. 1, 2008
- Volume 35, No. 2, 2007
- Volume 35, No. 1, 2007
- Volume 34, No. 2, 2006
- Volume 34, No. 1, 2006
- Volume 33, No. 2, 2005
- Volume 33, No. 1, 2005
- Volume 32, No. 2, 2004
- Volume 32, No. 1, 2004
- Volume 31, No. 2, 2003
- Volume 31, No. 1, 2003
- Volume 30, No. 2, 2002
- Volume 30, No. 1, 2002
- Volume 29, No. 2, 2001
- Volume 29, No. 1, 2001
- Volume 28, No. 2, 2000
- Volume 28, No. 1, 2000
Volumes 18-27 (1990-99)
- Volume 27, No. 1 & 2, 1999
- Volume 26, No. 1 & 2, 1998
- Volume 24, No. 1 & 2, 1996
- Volume 25, No. 1 & 2, 1997
- Volume 23, No. 2, 1995
- Volume 23, No. 1, 1995
- Volume 22, No. 2, 1994
- Volume 22, No. 1, 1994
- Volume 21, No. 1 & 2, 1993
- Volume 20, No. 1 & 2, 1992
- Volume 19, No. 1, 1991
- Volume 18, No. 1 & 2, 1990
Volumes 5-17 (1978-89) a.k.a 'Cormorant'
- Volume 17, No. 1 & 2, 1989
- Volume 16, No. 1, 1988
- Volume 16, No. 2, 1988
- Volume 15, No. 1 & 2, 1987
- Volume 14, No. 1 & 2, 1987
- Volume 13, No. 2, 1986
- Volume 13, No. 1, 1986
- Volume 12, No. 2, 1985
- Volume 12, No. 1, 1985
- Volume 11, No. 1 & 2, 1984
- Volume 10, No. 2, 1983
- Volume 10, No. 1, 1983
- Volume 9, No. 2, 1982
- Volume 9, No. 1, 1982
- Volume 8, No. 2, 1981
- Volume 8, No. 1, 1981
- Volume 7, 1980
- Volume 5, 1978
Search by author or title:
Ancient Murrelet Synthliboramphus antiquus colony attendance at Langara Island assessed using observer counts and radar in relation to time and environmental conditions
Citation
MAJOR, H. 2016. Ancient Murrelet Synthliboramphus antiquus colony attendance at Langara Island assessed using observer counts and radar in relation to time and environmental conditions.
Marine Ornithology 44: 233
- 240
http://doi.org/10.5038/2074-1235.44.2.1184
Received 10 June 2016, accepted 26 July 2016
Date Published: 2016/10/15
Date Online: 2017/02/28
Key words: Ancient Murrelet, Synthliboramphus antiquus, Langara Island, marine radar, colony attendance, weather, light
Abstract
The decision to attend a colony on any given day or night is arguably the result of a trade-off between survival and reproductive success. It is often difficult to study this trade-off, as monitoring patterns of colony attendance for nocturnal burrow-nesting seabirds is challenging. Here, I 1) examined the effectiveness of monitoring Ancient Murrelet colony arrivals using marine radar, and 2) evaluated differences in colony attendance behavior in relation to time, light, and weather. I found a strong correlation between the number of Ancient Murrelets counted by observers in the colony and the number of radar targets counted, with estimated radar target counts being ~95 times higher than observer counts. My hypothesis that patterns of colony attendance are related to environmental conditions (i.e. light and weather) and that this relationship changes with time after sunset was supported. The top supported model included interactions between time after sunset and light and weather variables, suggesting that they were important predictors of colony arrivals. Contrary to my prediction, results suggest that light conditions (moon absence and cloud cover) and wave height were most important for individuals arriving three hours after sunset (when >75% of arrivals would be breeders). Assuming the majority of birds arriving early in the night are breeders and those arriving late in the night are non-breeders, these results suggest differences in patterns of colony attendance that may be attributed to age and/or breeding status.
References
AMBAGIS, J. 2004. A comparison of census and monitoring techniques for Leach's Storm Petrel. Waterbirds 27: 211-215.
Blomquist, G.E. 2009. Trade-off between age of first reproduction and survival in a female primate. Biology Letters 5: 339-342.
Bourgeois, K., Dromzée, S., Vidal, E. & Legrand, J. 2008. Yelkouan Shearwater Puffinus yelkouan presence and behaviour at colonies: not only a moonlight question. Comptes Rendus Biologies 331: 88-97.
Bretagnolle, V. 1990. Effect of the moon on behavior of Petrels (Class Aves) on the Salvages Islands (Portugal). Canadian Journal of Zoology 68: 1404-1409.
Burnham, K.P. & Anderson, D.R. 2002. Model Selection and Multimodel Inference: A Practical Information Theoretic Approach. New York, USA: Springer-Verlag.
Bertram, D.F., Cowen, L. & Burger, A.E. 1999. Use of radar for monitoring colonial burrow-nesting seabirds. Journal of Field Ornithology 70: 145-157.
Calvert, A.M. & Robertson, G.J. 2002. Colony attendance and individual turnover of Atlantic Puffins in Newfoundland. Waterbirds 25: 382-387.
Cooper, B.A., Raphael, M.G. & Peery, M.A. 2006. Trends in radar-based counts of Marbled Murrelets on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington, 1996-2004. Condor 108: 936-947.
Day, R.H. & Cooper, B.A. 1995. Patterns of movement of Dark-rumped Petrels and Newell's Shearwaters on Kauai. Condor 97: 1011-1027.
Drent, R.H. & Daan, S. 1980. The prudent parent: energetic adjustments in avian breeding. Ardea 68: 225-252.
Diehl, R.H., Larkin, R.P. & Black, J.E. 2003. Radar observations of bird migration over the Great Lakes. Auk 120: 278-290.
Finney, S.K., Wanless, S. & Harris, M.P. 1999. The effect of weather conditions on the feeding behaviour of a diving bird, the Common Guillemot Uria aalge. Journal of Avian Biology 30: 23-30.
Fournier, D.A., Skaug, H.J., Ancheta, J., Ianelli, J., Magnusson, A., Maunder, M., Nielsen, A. & Sibert, J. 2012. AD Model Builder: using automatic differentiation for statistical inference of highly parameterized complex nonlinear models. Optimization Methods Software 27: 233-249.
Gaston, A.J. 1992. The Ancient Murrelet: A Natural History in the Queen Charlotte Islands. London, UK: T. & A.D. Poyser.
Gaston, A.J. & Nettleship, D.N. 1982. Factors determining seasonal-changes in attendance at colonies of the Thick-Billed Murre Uria lomvia. Auk 99:468-473.
Gaston, A. J. & Shoji, A. 2010. Ancient Murrelet (Synthliboramphus antiquus). In: POOLE, A. (Ed.) The Birds of North America Online. New York, NY: Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
Hamer, T.E., Schuster, S.M. & Meekins, D. 2005. Radar as a tool for monitoring Xantus's Murrelet populations. Marine Ornithology 33: 139-146.
Jones, I.L., Falls, J.B. & Gaston, A.J. 1987. Colony departure of family groups of Ancient Murrelets. Condor 89:940-943.
Jones, I.L., Falls, J.B. & Gaston, A.J. 1989. The vocal repertoire of the Ancient Murrelet. Condor 91:699-710.
Jones, I.L., Falls, J.B. & Gaston, A.J. 1990. Factors affecting colony attendance by Ancient Murrelets (Synthliboramphus antiquus). Canadian Journal of Zoology 68:433-441.
lilliendahl, k., solmundsson, J., gudmundsson, g.a. & taylor, L. 2003. Can surveillance radar be used to monitor the foraging distribution of colonially breeding alcids? Condor 105: 145-150.
Major, H.L. & Jones, I.L. 2011. An experimental study of the use of social information by prospecting nocturnal burrow-nesting seabirds. Condor 113: 572-580.
Mougeot, F. & Bretagnolle, V. 2000. Predation risk and moonlight avoidance in nocturnal seabirds. Journal of Avian Biology 31: 376-386.
Plonczkier, P. & Simms, I.C. 2012. Radar monitoring of migrating Pink-footed Geese: behavioural responses to offshore wind farm development. Journal of Applied Ecology 49: 1187-1194.
R Core Team. 2016. R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. [Available online at: https://r-project.org/; accessed 9 September 2016].
Regehr, H.M., Rodway, M.S., Lemon, M.J.F. & Hipfner, J.M. 2006. Status of the Ancient Murrelet colony on Langara Island in 2004, nine years after eradication of introduced rats. Technical Report Series No. 445. British Columbia, Canada: Canadian Wildlife Service, Pacific and Yukon Region.
Regehr, H.M., Rodway, M.S., Lemon, M.J.F. & Hipfner, J.M. 2007. Recovery of the Ancient Murrelet Synthliboramphus antiquus colony on Langara Island, British Columbia, following eradication of invasive rats. Marine Ornithology 35: 137-144.
Reichert, B.E., Cattau, C.E., Fletcher, R.J., Jr., Kendall, W.L. & Kitchens, W.M. 2012. Extreme weather and experience influence reproduction in an endangered bird. Ecology 93: 2580-2589.
Rice, D.W. & Kenyon, K.W. 1962. Breeding cycles and behaviour of Laysan and Black-footed Albatrosses. Auk 79: 517-567.
Schaffer, W.M. 1974. Optimal reproductive effort in fluctuating environments. American Naturalist 108: 783-790.
Sealy, S.G. 1976. Biology of nesting Ancient Murrelets. Condor 78: 294-306.
Shoji, A., elliott, K.H., aris-brosou, S., crump, d. & gaston, A.J. 2011. Incubation patterns in a central-place forager affect lifetime reproductive success: scaling of patterns from a foraging bout to a lifetime. PLoS One 6: e17760.
Stearns, S. 1989. Trade-offs in life-history evolution. Functional Ecology 3: 259-268.
Stenhouse, I.J. & Montevecchi, W.A. 1999. Indirect effects of the availability of capelin and fishery discards: gull predation on breeding storm-petrels. Marine Ecology Progress Series 184: 303-307.
Votier, S.C., Crane, J.E., Bearhop, S., Et AL. 2006. Nocturnal foraging by Great Skuas Stercorarius skua: implications for conservation of storm-petrel populations. Journal of Ornithology 147: 405-413.
Watanuki, Y. 1986. Moonlight avoidance-behavior in Leach Storm-Petrels as a defense against Slaty-backed Gulls. Auk 103: 14-22.
Weimerskirch, H. 1998. How can a pelagic seabird provision its chick when relying on a distant food resource? Cyclic attendance at the colony, foraging decision and body condition in Sooty Shearwaters. Journal of Animal Ecology 67: 99-109.