Wandering Albatross observed and simulated GPS tracks from Crozet and Marion islands (2016-2019) ...

• Main Authors: Orgeret, Florian, Weimerskirch, Henri, Pistorius, Pierre
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2021
• Subjects: Movement Ecology; Possession Island; Diomedea exulans; Marion Island; Wandering Albatross
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.08kprr52r; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.08kprr52r

Sexual competition is increasingly recognized as an important selective pressure driving species distributions. However, few studies have investigated the relative importance of inter- vs. intrapopulation competition in relation to habitat availability and selection. To explain spatial segregation between sexes that often occurs in non-territorial and central place foragers, such as seabirds, two hypotheses are commonly used. The ‘competitive exclusion’ hypothesis states that dominant individuals should exclude subordinate individuals through direct competition whereas the ’niche divergence’ hypothesis states that segregation occurs due to past competition and habitat specialization. We tested these hypotheses in two populations of an extreme wide-ranging and sexually dimorphic seabird, investigating the relative role of intrapopulation and interpopulation competition in influencing sex-specific distribution and habitat preferences. Using GPS loggers, we tracked 192 wandering albatrosses Diomedea exulans ... : Wandering albatrosses from Possession Island, Crozet Archipelago (46°24’S, 51°46’E, henceforth abbreviated as ‘Crozet’) and Marion Island, Prince Edward Archipelago (46°54’S, 37°48’E, henceforth abbreviated as ‘Marion’), were individually sexed from field observations or from genetic analyses. GPS loggers (CatLog-S, Catnip Technologies, Hong Kong, and Igot-U GPS, Mobile Action Technology, at Marion, and Igot-U and X-GPS at Crozet, Weimerskirch et al. 2018) were deployed on incubating birds and attached to the back feathers using Tesa© tape and left on birds for one (180 individuals) or two (12 individuals) at-sea trips. Tracking was conducted synchronously at Marion and Crozet. A total of 192 birds (Crozet: 66 males and 55 females totaling 121 birds; Marion: 44 males and 27 females totaling 71 birds, Table 1) were tracked during four subsequent years (2016-2019). ...