Combining survey and remotely sensed environmental data to estimate the habitat associations, abundance and distribution of breeding thin-billed prions Pachyptila belcheri and Wilson’s storm-petrels Oceanites oceanicus on a South Atlantic tussac island
Abstract Small petrels are the most abundant seabirds in the Southern Ocean. However, because they breed in burrows on remote and often densely vegetated islands, their colony sizes and conservation status remain poorly known. To estimate the abundance of these species on Bird Island in the Falkland...
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Springer Science and Business Media LLC
2021
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00300-021-02842-3 http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00300-021-02842-3.pdf http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00300-021-02842-3/fulltext.html |
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crspringernat:10.1007/s00300-021-02842-3 2023-05-15T15:44:41+02:00 Combining survey and remotely sensed environmental data to estimate the habitat associations, abundance and distribution of breeding thin-billed prions Pachyptila belcheri and Wilson’s storm-petrels Oceanites oceanicus on a South Atlantic tussac island Stokes, Allan W. Catry, Paulo Matthiopoulos, Jason Boldenow, Megan Clark, T. J. Guest, Amy Marengo, Ilaria Wakefield, Ewan D. Natural Environment Research Council Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal Falkland Islands Government Environmental Studies Budget 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00300-021-02842-3 http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00300-021-02842-3.pdf http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00300-021-02842-3/fulltext.html en eng Springer Science and Business Media LLC https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 CC-BY Polar Biology volume 44, issue 4, page 809-821 ISSN 0722-4060 1432-2056 General Agricultural and Biological Sciences journal-article 2021 crspringernat https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-021-02842-3 2022-01-04T16:14:57Z Abstract Small petrels are the most abundant seabirds in the Southern Ocean. However, because they breed in burrows on remote and often densely vegetated islands, their colony sizes and conservation status remain poorly known. To estimate the abundance of these species on Bird Island in the Falkland archipelago, we systematically surveyed their breeding burrow density and occupancy across this near-pristine tussac ( Poa flabellata )-covered island. By modelling burrow density as functions of topography and Sentinel 2 satellite-derived Normalised Difference Vegetation Index data, we inferred habitat associations and predicted burrow abundance of the commonest species—Thin-billed Prions ( Pachyptila belcheri ) and Wilson’s Storm-petrels ( Oceanites oceanicus ). We estimate that there are 631,000 Thin-billed Prion burrows on the island (95% CI 496,000–904,000 burrows). Assuming that burrow occupancy lies between 12 and 97%, this equates to around 76,000–612,000 breeding pairs, making Bird Island the second or third largest P. belcheri colony in the world, holding approximately 3–27% of the species’ breeding population. We estimate that 8200–9800 (95% CI 5,200–18,300 pairs) pairs of Wilson’s Storm-petrels also breed on the island. Notably, the latter burrowed predominantly under and within tussac pedestals, whereas they are usually assumed to breed in rock cavities. Thin-billed Prions are declining in the Kerguelen archipelago, but their population trends in the Falklands are unknown. Given the wide confidence intervals around our own and other population estimates for these cryptic species, we recommend that their populations should be monitored regularly, at multiple sites. Article in Journal/Newspaper Bird Island Polar Biology Southern Ocean Springer Nature (via Crossref) Bird Island ENVELOPE(-38.060,-38.060,-54.004,-54.004) Burrows ENVELOPE(163.650,163.650,-74.300,-74.300) Kerguelen Southern Ocean Polar Biology 44 4 809 821 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Springer Nature (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crspringernat |
language |
English |
topic |
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences |
spellingShingle |
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences Stokes, Allan W. Catry, Paulo Matthiopoulos, Jason Boldenow, Megan Clark, T. J. Guest, Amy Marengo, Ilaria Wakefield, Ewan D. Combining survey and remotely sensed environmental data to estimate the habitat associations, abundance and distribution of breeding thin-billed prions Pachyptila belcheri and Wilson’s storm-petrels Oceanites oceanicus on a South Atlantic tussac island |
topic_facet |
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences |
description |
Abstract Small petrels are the most abundant seabirds in the Southern Ocean. However, because they breed in burrows on remote and often densely vegetated islands, their colony sizes and conservation status remain poorly known. To estimate the abundance of these species on Bird Island in the Falkland archipelago, we systematically surveyed their breeding burrow density and occupancy across this near-pristine tussac ( Poa flabellata )-covered island. By modelling burrow density as functions of topography and Sentinel 2 satellite-derived Normalised Difference Vegetation Index data, we inferred habitat associations and predicted burrow abundance of the commonest species—Thin-billed Prions ( Pachyptila belcheri ) and Wilson’s Storm-petrels ( Oceanites oceanicus ). We estimate that there are 631,000 Thin-billed Prion burrows on the island (95% CI 496,000–904,000 burrows). Assuming that burrow occupancy lies between 12 and 97%, this equates to around 76,000–612,000 breeding pairs, making Bird Island the second or third largest P. belcheri colony in the world, holding approximately 3–27% of the species’ breeding population. We estimate that 8200–9800 (95% CI 5,200–18,300 pairs) pairs of Wilson’s Storm-petrels also breed on the island. Notably, the latter burrowed predominantly under and within tussac pedestals, whereas they are usually assumed to breed in rock cavities. Thin-billed Prions are declining in the Kerguelen archipelago, but their population trends in the Falklands are unknown. Given the wide confidence intervals around our own and other population estimates for these cryptic species, we recommend that their populations should be monitored regularly, at multiple sites. |
author2 |
Natural Environment Research Council Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal Falkland Islands Government Environmental Studies Budget |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Stokes, Allan W. Catry, Paulo Matthiopoulos, Jason Boldenow, Megan Clark, T. J. Guest, Amy Marengo, Ilaria Wakefield, Ewan D. |
author_facet |
Stokes, Allan W. Catry, Paulo Matthiopoulos, Jason Boldenow, Megan Clark, T. J. Guest, Amy Marengo, Ilaria Wakefield, Ewan D. |
author_sort |
Stokes, Allan W. |
title |
Combining survey and remotely sensed environmental data to estimate the habitat associations, abundance and distribution of breeding thin-billed prions Pachyptila belcheri and Wilson’s storm-petrels Oceanites oceanicus on a South Atlantic tussac island |
title_short |
Combining survey and remotely sensed environmental data to estimate the habitat associations, abundance and distribution of breeding thin-billed prions Pachyptila belcheri and Wilson’s storm-petrels Oceanites oceanicus on a South Atlantic tussac island |
title_full |
Combining survey and remotely sensed environmental data to estimate the habitat associations, abundance and distribution of breeding thin-billed prions Pachyptila belcheri and Wilson’s storm-petrels Oceanites oceanicus on a South Atlantic tussac island |
title_fullStr |
Combining survey and remotely sensed environmental data to estimate the habitat associations, abundance and distribution of breeding thin-billed prions Pachyptila belcheri and Wilson’s storm-petrels Oceanites oceanicus on a South Atlantic tussac island |
title_full_unstemmed |
Combining survey and remotely sensed environmental data to estimate the habitat associations, abundance and distribution of breeding thin-billed prions Pachyptila belcheri and Wilson’s storm-petrels Oceanites oceanicus on a South Atlantic tussac island |
title_sort |
combining survey and remotely sensed environmental data to estimate the habitat associations, abundance and distribution of breeding thin-billed prions pachyptila belcheri and wilson’s storm-petrels oceanites oceanicus on a south atlantic tussac island |
publisher |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00300-021-02842-3 http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00300-021-02842-3.pdf http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00300-021-02842-3/fulltext.html |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-38.060,-38.060,-54.004,-54.004) ENVELOPE(163.650,163.650,-74.300,-74.300) |
geographic |
Bird Island Burrows Kerguelen Southern Ocean |
geographic_facet |
Bird Island Burrows Kerguelen Southern Ocean |
genre |
Bird Island Polar Biology Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Bird Island Polar Biology Southern Ocean |
op_source |
Polar Biology volume 44, issue 4, page 809-821 ISSN 0722-4060 1432-2056 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-021-02842-3 |
container_title |
Polar Biology |
container_volume |
44 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
809 |
op_container_end_page |
821 |
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1766379060380827648 |