Supplementary material from "Living on the edge of a shrinking habitat%3A the ivory gull, Pagophila eburnea , an endangered sea-ice specialist"
The ongoing decline of sea ice threatens many Arctic taxa, including the ivory gull. Understanding how ice-edges and ice concentrations influence the distribution of the endangered ivory gulls is a prerequisite to the implementation of adequate conservation strategies. From 2007 to 2013, we used sat...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | unknown |
| Published: |
Figshare
2016
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3517344.v1 https://figshare.com/collections/Supplementary_material_from_Living_on_the_edge_of_a_shrinking_habitat_the_ivory_gull_i_Pagophila_eburnea_i_an_endangered_sea-ice_specialist_/3517344/1 |
| Summary: | The ongoing decline of sea ice threatens many Arctic taxa, including the ivory gull. Understanding how ice-edges and ice concentrations influence the distribution of the endangered ivory gulls is a prerequisite to the implementation of adequate conservation strategies. From 2007 to 2013, we used satellite transmitters to monitor the movements of 104 ivory gulls originating from Canada, Greenland, Svalbard-Norway and Russia. Although half of the positions were within 41km of the ice-edge (75%25 within 100km), approximately 80%25 were on relatively high concentrated sea ice. Ivory gulls used more concentrated sea ice in summer, when close to their high-Arctic breeding ground, than in winter. The best model to explain the distance of the birds to the ice-edge included the ice concentration within approximately 10km, the month and the distance to the colony. Given the strong links between ivory gull, ice-edge and ice concentration, its conservation status is unlikely to improve in the current context of sea-ice decline which, in turn, will allow anthropic activities to develop in regions that are particularly important for the species. |
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