Abstract
Satellite transmitters and other tracking devices are valuable tools for furthering our understanding of bird movements, and their use has been steadily increasing. Since the necessary handling of birds to deploy transmitters can have deleterious consequences and the transmitter itself can add substantial mass, particularly to small species, or bring discomfort to the individual birds to which they are attached, it is important to quantify the effect such devices on both the behavior and the fitness of equipped animals. Very few studies have focused on the demographic effects of equipping birds with a satellite transmitter, with the vast majority of such studies focusing on short-term behavioral effects. We have assessed the demographic effects of attaching a satellite transmitter to the back of adult breeding Wandering Albatross individuals using long-term demographic data (20 years) and recent developments in capture–recapture methodology. We found no evidence of any negative effects of the attached devices on the probability of survival, breeding, or breeding successfully in the current or following season in either males or females. We conclude that the current satellite transmitters and smaller devices used by researchers are valuable conservation and research tools that do not adversely affect the demographic traits of large albatrosses. Similar tests should be carried out on smaller species, which are more likely to be affected.
Zusammenfassung
Abschätzung des Effekts von Satellitensendern auf die Demographie des Wanderalbatrosses Diomedea exulans
Satellitensender und andere Routen-Kontrollgeräte sind wertvolle Hilfsmittel, um die Bewegungen von Vögeln zu verstehen, und werden zunehmend benutzt. Das Handling, das notwendig ist, um die Sender einzusetzen, kann jedoch schädliche Folgen haben, und die Sender können besonders bei kleinen Arten beträchtliches Gewicht hinzufügen oder für die Tiere, an denen sie befestigt werden, unangenehm sein. Daher ist es wichtig, ihren Effekt auf das Verhalten und insbesondere auf die Fitness der damit ausgestatteten Tiere zu quantifizieren. Nur sehr wenige Studien haben sich auf die demographischen Effekte von Satellitensendern auf Vögel konzentriert, und die überwiegende Mehrheit hat lediglich kurzzeitige Verhaltenseffekte untersucht. Wir haben die demographischen Effekte von Satellitensendern, die auf dem Rücken adulter brütender Wanderalbatrosse angebracht waren, abgeschätzt, unter Verwendung demographischer Langzeitdaten (20 Jahre) und neuer Entwicklungen in der Fang-Wiederfang- Methodik. Wir haben keine Belege für negative Effekte von angebrachten Geräten auf die Wahrscheinlichkeit, zu überleben, zu brüten oder in der aktuellen oder in zukünftigen Saisons erfolgreich zu brüten, bei Männchen und Weibchen gefunden. Wir folgern, dass die derzeit von Forschern verwendeten Satellitensender und kleineren Geräte nützliche Schutz- und Forschungshilfsmittel sind, welche die demographischen Eigenschaften großer Albatrosse nicht nachteilig beeinflussen. Ähnliche Tests sollten für kleinere Arten durchgeführt werden, die mit größerer Wahrscheinlichkeit beeinträchtigt sind.
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Acknowledgments
The present research project No. 109 was performed on Possession Island, Crozet Island and was supported by the French Polar Institute (IPEV) and Terres Australes et Antarctiques Françaises. We thank all of the field workers involved in the demographic study on Possession Island and Dominique Besson and Karine Delord for data managing. The methods described (modeling survival in biennial species) were used following those developed by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Albatross Demography Workshops, funded by NSF Grant DEB-0343820 and led by Hal Caswell and Christine Hunter.
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Communicated by P. H. Becker.
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Barbraud, C., Weimerskirch, H. Assessing the effect of satellite transmitters on the demography of the Wandering Albatross Diomedea exulans . J Ornithol 153, 375–383 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-011-0752-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-011-0752-8