Consequences of cross-season demographic correlations for population viability ...

• Main Authors: Layton-Matthews, Kate, Reiertsen, Tone, Erikstad, Kjell-Einar, Anker-Nilssen, Tycho, Daunt, Francis, Wanless, Sarah, Barrett, Robert, Newell, Mark, Harris, Mike
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2023
• Subjects: FOS: Biological sciences; integrated population model; Transient LTRE; Atlantic puffin; Fratercula arctica; Burrows; Hornøya; Røst; fratercula
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.1zcrjdfz1; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.1zcrjdfz1

Demographic correlations are pervasive in wildlife populations and can represent important secondary drivers of population growth. Empirical evidence suggests that correlations are in general positive for long-lived species, but little is known about the degree of variation among spatially segregated populations of the same species in relation to environmental conditions. We assessed the relative importance of two cross-season correlations in survival and productivity, for three Atlantic puffin (Fratercula arctica) populations with contrasting population trajectories and non-overlapping year-round distributions. The two correlations reflected either a relationship between adult survival prior to breeding on productivity or a relationship between productivity and adult survival in the subsequent year. Demographic rates and their correlations were estimated with an integrated population model, and their respective contributions to variation in population growth were calculated using a transient life table ... : Mark-recapture histories of adult puffins were available for 699 individuals at Isle of May (1984–2019), 572 individuals at Røst (1990–2019), and 952 individuals at Hornøya (1990–2019). Breeding puffins were caught and marked with individually coded colour-rings or a unique colour ring combination. Birds were captured either in the nest burrow (Isle of May, Hornøya), with noose traps (Hornøya) or in mist nets erected on the colony surface (Røst). Visual resightings of ringed birds were conducted in subsequent years, predominantly in the areas where puffins had been ringed. Productivity data consisted of annual numbers of fledged chicks (Ft) from a sample of monitored pairs (Et) that made a breeding attempt (defined as egg laid on Isle of May and Hornøya and egg hatched on Røst). Island-wide population counts (Ct) of adult breeding pairs were conducted at each colony. For Røst and Hornøya, the number of breeding pairs (based on the number of apparently occupied burrows) was up-scaled from counts in study ...