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Important marine sectors for the top predator community around Kerguelen Archipelago

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Abstract

The French Kerguelen Archipelago represents an important breeding place for many species of marine top predators within the Southern Ocean, making the plateau hosting the archipelago and surrounding waters (CCAMLR area 58.5) a crucial area to design conservation measures. In this study, available tracking data from nine species of seabirds and marine mammals breeding at Kerguelen were analysed to define potential boundaries for a Marine Protected Area. Maps of time spent per square of each species were first used to describe high-use areas within the Kerguelen Plateau. Habitat models were then developed for four species (Black-browed albatross, Wandering albatross, King penguin and Antarctic fur seal) chosen on the basis of their contrasted foraging ecology and diet to represent the top predator community. Predictive models were then applied to the main colonies of the four species for which no tracking data were available to illustrate the most important feeding areas at the scale of the entire study zone. An area delineated by the central part of the plateau and its slopes appeared to be of great importance for the top predators’ community and would appropriately complete the limits of the existing Australian marine reserve of Heard and McDonald Islands.

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Acknowledgments

The project was supported financially and logistically by the Institut Polaire Français (IPEV) (prog. 109, resp. H. Weimerskirch and 394, resp. C.A Bost.), Terres Australes et Antarctiques Françaises (TAAF), the ANR 05 REMIGE, ANR 07 Biodiv ‘Glides’, Prince Albert 2 de Monaco Foundation and Argonautica (CNES) and the Agence des Aires Marines protégées (AAMP). We would like to thank all the volunteers and colleagues involved in the research on top predator ecology. LT was funded by Foundation Albert 2 de Monaco and Région Poitou-Charentes. We thank David Pinaud, Baptiste Picard and Tiphaine Jeanniard du Dot for helping with data collection and analyses.

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  1. Centre d’Études Biologiques de Chizé, UMR 7372 du CNRS-Université de La Rochelle, 79360, Villiers en Bois, France

    Laurie Thiers, Karine Delord, Charles-André Bost, Christophe Guinet & Henri Weimerskirch

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  1. Laurie Thiers
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  2. Karine Delord
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  3. Charles-André Bost
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Correspondence to Laurie Thiers.

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Thiers, L., Delord, K., Bost, CA. et al. Important marine sectors for the top predator community around Kerguelen Archipelago. Polar Biol 40, 365–378 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-016-1964-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-016-1964-4

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