Abstract
The Arctic region is currently experiencing major modifications in sea ice extent and phenology due to global climate and anthropogenic changes. As Arctic marine ecosystems rely greatly on the presence of sea ice and its seasonal dynamics, these changes could have major impacts on Arctic biota. The ivory gull (Pagophila eburnea) is an endemic Arctic seabird whose populations are declining in Canada and Svalbard. Its affinity for sea ice makes it a good sentinel species of current changes in the high Arctic. We explored the influence of sea-ice-related features and anthropogenic subsidies on the foraging behaviour of ivory gulls during the breeding season. To this end, we analysed the movement of adult ivory gulls in north-east Greenland. We confirmed that ivory gulls use a dual foraging strategy, with birds faithful to their foraging areas at short distances from the colony, but used individual-specific areas during long-distance foraging trips. We highlight that ivory gulls are spatially specialised individuals within a generalist species. We demonstrated that human settlements attracted foraging birds, which shows that human presence in such a remote place may influence the seabird behaviour. Finally, by combining hidden Markov models and resource selection functions, we showed that ivory gulls selected highly concentrated sea ice for foraging during the breeding season. Our study provides key information on the use of space and foraging strategies of ivory gulls during the breeding season, and more broadly, how Arctic seabirds use ice features.
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Data availability
Part of the dataset analysed in the present study is available in the MOVEBANK repository (Movebank ID: 1,123,149,708). The rest of the dataset is available on request, and will be made available on MOVEBANK upon publication.
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Acknowledgements
We thank David Boertmann, Henrik Haaning Nielsen, and Jonas Koefoed Rømer for their help during fieldwork. We also thank Jørgen Skafte, Bjarne Jensen, and colleagues at the Villum Research Station, as well as Hans Christian Have (Arktisk Kommando) and personnel at Station Nord, for logistical support. We also thank Thomas Broquet and Anne Loison for discussions and comments on earlier drafts, and Joe Gambier for his attentive and careful reading of the manuscript. Finally, we thank the three anonymous reviewers that commented on our first submission. Their sharp and positive comments helped improve our study greatly.
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MF was supported by the North-East Greenland Environmental Study Program, financed by the Greenland Government, and GY was supported by the French Polar Institute-IPEV [Program “Ivory 1210”].
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KD and GY designed the study, with input from OG and MF. GE, MF and GY performed fieldwork and collected data. KD analysed the data with help from NC and input from ACC. KD led the writing of the manuscript. All authors commented on previous drafts and approved the final manuscript.
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This project was approved by the Government of Greenland (Permits Nanoq—ID No. 7708144 (2018), Nanoq—ID No. 8246959 (2018), and Nanoq—ID No. 10615955 (2019).
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Dumas, K., Gilg, O., Courbin, N. et al. Influence of sea-ice-related features and anthropogenic subsidies on the foraging behaviour of a high-Arctic seabird, the ivory gull (Pagophila eburnea). Mar Biol 169, 151 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-022-04137-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-022-04137-5