2010-2014 Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) United Kingdom Shag, Guillemot, Kittiwake and Razorbill distributions
Population-level estimates of species' distributions can reveal fundamental ecological processes and facilitate conservation. However, these may be difficult to obtain for mobile species, especially colonial central-place foragers (CCPFs; e.g., bats, corvids, social insects), because it is often impractical to determine the provenance of individuals observed beyond breeding sites. Moreover, some CCPFs, especially in the marine realm (e.g., pinnipeds, turtles, and seabirds) are difficult to observe because they range tens to ten thousands of kilometers from their colonies. It is hypothesized that the distribution of CCPFs depends largely on habitat availability and intraspecific competition. Modeling these effects may therefore allow distributions to be estimated from samples of individual spatial usage. Such data can be obtained for an increasing number of species using tracking technology. However, techniques for estimating population-level distributions using the telemetry data are poorly developed. This is of concern because many marine CCPFs, such as seabirds, are threatened by anthropogenic activities. Here, we aim to estimate the distribution at sea of four seabird species, foraging from approximately 5,500 breeding sites in Britain and Ireland. To do so, we GPS-tracked a sample of 230 European Shags Phalacrocorax aristotelis, 464 Black-legged Kittiwakes Rissa tridactyla, 178 Common Murres Uria aalge, and 281 Razorbills Alca torda from 13, 20, 12, and 14 colonies, respectively. Using Poisson point process habitat use models, we show that distribution at sea is dependent on (1) density-dependent competition among sympatric conspecifics (all species) and parapatric conspecifics (Kittiwakes and Murres); (2) habitat accessibility and coastal geometry, such that birds travel further from colonies with limited access to the sea; and (3) regional habitat availability. Using these models, we predict space use by birds from unobserved colonies and thereby map the distribution at sea of each species at both the colony and regional level. Space use by all four species' British breeding populations is concentrated in the coastal waters of Scotland, highlighting the need for robust conservation measures in this area. The techniques we present are applicable to any CCPF. The maps were updated in May 2018 to correct a small error. The updated maps should be used in place of those available before May 2018.
dataset
http://dassh.ac.uk/downloads/DASSHDT00000346-AS01/
name: Download data here
description: A link to the web service or dataset
name: DASSH website
description: A link to the general host site
DASSHDT00000346
http://www.dassh.ac.uk
eng
urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::3575
biota
revision
2008-01-06
revision
2009-11-16
-17.6398
5.5633
63.9608
48.7262
creation
1954-01-01
Bristol Channel
creation
1954-01-01
English Channel
creation
1954-01-01
Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland
creation
1954-01-01
Irish Sea and St. George's Channel
creation
1954-01-01
North Atlantic Ocean
creation
1954-01-01
North Sea
creation
1954-01-01
Norwegian Sea
creation
1954-01-01
Celtic Sea
creation
2014-05-16
VIIh
creation
2014-05-16
VIIf
creation
2014-05-16
VIIg
creation
2014-05-16
VIIk1
creation
2014-05-16
VIIk2
creation
2014-05-16
VIIj2
creation
2014-05-16
IVc
creation
2014-05-16
VIIc1
creation
2014-05-16
VIIc2
creation
2014-05-16
VIIb
creation
2014-05-16
VIIa
creation
2014-05-16
IVb
creation
2014-05-16
VIb1
creation
2014-05-16
VIb2
creation
2014-05-16
VIa
creation
2014-05-16
Vb1a
creation
2014-05-16
XIIa4
creation
2014-05-16
IVa
creation
2014-05-16
Vb1b
creation
2014-05-16
Va2
creation
2014-05-16
IIa2
creation
2014-05-16
Vb2
creation
2014-05-16
XIIa2
creation
2014-05-16
VIIe
creation
2014-05-16
VIId
revision
2010-01-01
atmosphere
revision
2010-01-01
atmospheric boundary layer
2010-05-01
2014-07-31
publication
2017-10-06
notPlanned
"LAEA" projections centred on lat=-7.947 long=-14.30. Diving by tagged seabirds can result in short hiatuses in tracking data. To estimate missing locations, and to standardize sampling effort to exactly 100-s intervals, we resampled GPS tracks data by linear interpolation prior to further analysis. Due to the need to deploy and retrieve loggers at the nest, it is normal practice in tracking studies of breeding seabirds to record and analyze bursts of data from one or more complete foraging trip per individual. However, this usually results in individuals being observed for unequal amounts of time because trip duration typically varies widely among individual seabirds. To reduce this bias we subsampled tracking data by randomly selecting a 24-h burst of locations from each bird (Table 1). We omitted the small number of individuals that were tracked for less than 24 h from our analysis. We then selected locations recorded when birds were at sea, categorized according to distance and time from the nest (see Appendix S1 for details). Prior to analysis, we projected all spatial data in Lambert Azimuthal equal area (LAEA) coordinates. For modelling approach see the paper sighted in the "Additional Information" field under 'Modelling approach' in the 'Materials and Methods' section.
DASSH terms and conditions apply
DASSH terms and conditions apply
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (HQ)
originator
Data Manager
Data Archive for Seabed Species and Habitats (DASSH)
Marine Biological Association of the UK, The Laboratory, Citadel Hill
Plymouth
PL1 2PB
01752 633102
01752 633291
custodian
Data Manager
Data Archive for Seabed Species and Habitats (DASSH)
Marine Biological Association of the UK, The Laboratory, Citadel Hill
Plymouth
PL1 2PB
01752 633102
01752 633291
pointOfContact
2018-05-10