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Sooty Shearwater (Puffinus griseus) on Guafo Island: the largest seabird colony in the world?

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Abstract

Sooty Shearwater (Puffinus griseus) is the most common Procellariiform seabird along the south-eastern South American coast. In recent years the wintering population off California has declined noticeably. This decline has been confirmed on the breeding grounds in New Zealand. In Chile, knowledge of the population is limited. Investigations on Isla Guafo were carried out during two seasons (03/04 and 04/05), beginning an ongoing monitoring and evaluation of the breeding population of this species in southern South America. On Isla Guafo we estimate a population of about 4 million birds that nest above 150 m above sea level (m.a.s.l.) under a forest without understory. Sooty Shearwaters on Isla Guafo prefer north and western slopes that we hypothesise protect them from the predominantly southerly winds. Population of the species from New Zealand and Australia are compared with the Isla Guafo population and the state of its conservation is discussed.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the Dirección de Extensión, Universidad Austral de Chile (Valdivia, Chile) and The Claremont College (Claremont CA, USA) for partially funding this study and to the Armada de Chile for the logistic support. Thanks are given to Javier Arata, Daniela Guicking, Jeffrey Mangel, Henrik Moller, Kieran Lawton, Philip Lyver, Leandro Tamini, Alejandro Simeone, Paul Scofield and Jorge Valenzuela for providing information. We would also like to thank Paul Scofield for their values comments and reviews on this manuscript. To Cesar Barrales for his help in the field. Ronnie Reyes-Arriagada Ph.D. student of the Ph.D. in Science Programme, on Systematic and Ecology, UACH, is being supported by MECESUP Higher Education Programme (UCO 0214).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Zoología, Casilla 567 Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile

    Ronnie Reyes-Arriagada, Paulo Campos-Ellwanger & Roberto P. Schlatter

  2. Joint Science Department, The Claremont College, Keck Science Center, 925 North Mills Avenue, Claremont, CA, 91711, USA

    Cheryl Baduini

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  1. Ronnie Reyes-Arriagada
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  2. Paulo Campos-Ellwanger
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  3. Roberto P. Schlatter
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Correspondence to Ronnie Reyes-Arriagada.

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Reyes-Arriagada, R., Campos-Ellwanger, P., Schlatter, R.P. et al. Sooty Shearwater (Puffinus griseus) on Guafo Island: the largest seabird colony in the world?. Biodivers Conserv 16, 913–930 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-006-9087-9

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