Spatial and within-season variation in the diet of a declining seabird described through digital photography and citizen science
Understanding an animal’s diet is a crucial component of conservation, but diet data are often labor intensive to collect and are frequently scarce. Atlantic Puffins ( Fratercula arctica hereafter Puffins) are vulnerable to global extinction and have declined in some parts of their UK and Irish rang...
Published in: | Avian Conservation and Ecology |
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Language: | English |
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Resilience Alliance
2024
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5751/ACE-02619-190117 https://doaj.org/article/5cef6ad93c85419a8fe5b75a761f681e |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:5cef6ad93c85419a8fe5b75a761f681e 2024-09-15T18:07:08+00:00 Spatial and within-season variation in the diet of a declining seabird described through digital photography and citizen science Ellie Owen Sian N. Haddon Robert D. Hughes Alison Barratt Jack H. Barton William Bevan Tessa Broholm Christopher Cachia-Zammit Ian R. Cleasby Frith Dunkley Alice J. Edney Alexandra Fink Katie J. Ford Jodie M. Henderson Katie E Horton Eliška Kosová Georgia K. Longmoor Greg Morgan Oliver Prince Sabiya Sheikh Hannah Snead Fritha West Constance J. Tremlett 2024-06-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5751/ACE-02619-190117 https://doaj.org/article/5cef6ad93c85419a8fe5b75a761f681e EN eng Resilience Alliance https://www.ace-eco.org/vol19/iss1/art17 https://doaj.org/toc/1712-6568 1712-6568 doi:10.5751/ACE-02619-190117 https://doaj.org/article/5cef6ad93c85419a8fe5b75a761f681e Avian Conservation and Ecology, Vol 19, Iss 1, p 17 (2024) citizen science diet forage fish monitoring predator-based diet sampling puffin sandeel sand lance Ecology QH540-549.5 article 2024 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5751/ACE-02619-190117 2024-08-05T17:49:04Z Understanding an animal’s diet is a crucial component of conservation, but diet data are often labor intensive to collect and are frequently scarce. Atlantic Puffins ( Fratercula arctica hereafter Puffins) are vulnerable to global extinction and have declined in some parts of their UK and Irish range. Differences in population trajectories may relate to diet, but Puffin diet data are currently only collected at a handful of colonies. We explored whether citizen science could address this data gap by inviting visitors to Puffin colonies in 2017 to submit their photographs of Puffins carrying prey. In total, 602 people submitted 1402 images from 35 colonies. We identified the species group, size, and number of prey items in each bill load. Photograph quality was excellent, with 89% of birds in images providing useable diet information. In total 11,150 prey items were counted and measured from 1198 Puffins across 27 colonies. We demonstrated a lack of bias in the sample of photos provided by citizen scientists and described how Puffin chick diet varies in prey composition, prey length, number of prey per bill load, and load biomass over large spatial scales and throughout the breeding season. The diet of Puffin chicks from regions where severe declines have occurred, most notably Shetland, were characterized by a lower prey biomass, higher numbers of fish per load, and a high proportion of small, transparent sandeels consistently through the season. By contrast, in regions where Puffin populations are thought to be increasing, load biomass was high, the number of prey per load low, and larger non-transparent sandeels were the dominant prey, which persisted right through the breeding season. Results from our study show colonies and regions where birds may be expending more effort (collecting more prey items) for lesser returns (lower load biomass) and emphasize the value of collecting diet data across large spatial scales. Article in Journal/Newspaper fratercula Fratercula arctica Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Avian Conservation and Ecology 19 1 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
citizen science diet forage fish monitoring predator-based diet sampling puffin sandeel sand lance Ecology QH540-549.5 |
spellingShingle |
citizen science diet forage fish monitoring predator-based diet sampling puffin sandeel sand lance Ecology QH540-549.5 Ellie Owen Sian N. Haddon Robert D. Hughes Alison Barratt Jack H. Barton William Bevan Tessa Broholm Christopher Cachia-Zammit Ian R. Cleasby Frith Dunkley Alice J. Edney Alexandra Fink Katie J. Ford Jodie M. Henderson Katie E Horton Eliška Kosová Georgia K. Longmoor Greg Morgan Oliver Prince Sabiya Sheikh Hannah Snead Fritha West Constance J. Tremlett Spatial and within-season variation in the diet of a declining seabird described through digital photography and citizen science |
topic_facet |
citizen science diet forage fish monitoring predator-based diet sampling puffin sandeel sand lance Ecology QH540-549.5 |
description |
Understanding an animal’s diet is a crucial component of conservation, but diet data are often labor intensive to collect and are frequently scarce. Atlantic Puffins ( Fratercula arctica hereafter Puffins) are vulnerable to global extinction and have declined in some parts of their UK and Irish range. Differences in population trajectories may relate to diet, but Puffin diet data are currently only collected at a handful of colonies. We explored whether citizen science could address this data gap by inviting visitors to Puffin colonies in 2017 to submit their photographs of Puffins carrying prey. In total, 602 people submitted 1402 images from 35 colonies. We identified the species group, size, and number of prey items in each bill load. Photograph quality was excellent, with 89% of birds in images providing useable diet information. In total 11,150 prey items were counted and measured from 1198 Puffins across 27 colonies. We demonstrated a lack of bias in the sample of photos provided by citizen scientists and described how Puffin chick diet varies in prey composition, prey length, number of prey per bill load, and load biomass over large spatial scales and throughout the breeding season. The diet of Puffin chicks from regions where severe declines have occurred, most notably Shetland, were characterized by a lower prey biomass, higher numbers of fish per load, and a high proportion of small, transparent sandeels consistently through the season. By contrast, in regions where Puffin populations are thought to be increasing, load biomass was high, the number of prey per load low, and larger non-transparent sandeels were the dominant prey, which persisted right through the breeding season. Results from our study show colonies and regions where birds may be expending more effort (collecting more prey items) for lesser returns (lower load biomass) and emphasize the value of collecting diet data across large spatial scales. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Ellie Owen Sian N. Haddon Robert D. Hughes Alison Barratt Jack H. Barton William Bevan Tessa Broholm Christopher Cachia-Zammit Ian R. Cleasby Frith Dunkley Alice J. Edney Alexandra Fink Katie J. Ford Jodie M. Henderson Katie E Horton Eliška Kosová Georgia K. Longmoor Greg Morgan Oliver Prince Sabiya Sheikh Hannah Snead Fritha West Constance J. Tremlett |
author_facet |
Ellie Owen Sian N. Haddon Robert D. Hughes Alison Barratt Jack H. Barton William Bevan Tessa Broholm Christopher Cachia-Zammit Ian R. Cleasby Frith Dunkley Alice J. Edney Alexandra Fink Katie J. Ford Jodie M. Henderson Katie E Horton Eliška Kosová Georgia K. Longmoor Greg Morgan Oliver Prince Sabiya Sheikh Hannah Snead Fritha West Constance J. Tremlett |
author_sort |
Ellie Owen |
title |
Spatial and within-season variation in the diet of a declining seabird described through digital photography and citizen science |
title_short |
Spatial and within-season variation in the diet of a declining seabird described through digital photography and citizen science |
title_full |
Spatial and within-season variation in the diet of a declining seabird described through digital photography and citizen science |
title_fullStr |
Spatial and within-season variation in the diet of a declining seabird described through digital photography and citizen science |
title_full_unstemmed |
Spatial and within-season variation in the diet of a declining seabird described through digital photography and citizen science |
title_sort |
spatial and within-season variation in the diet of a declining seabird described through digital photography and citizen science |
publisher |
Resilience Alliance |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5751/ACE-02619-190117 https://doaj.org/article/5cef6ad93c85419a8fe5b75a761f681e |
genre |
fratercula Fratercula arctica |
genre_facet |
fratercula Fratercula arctica |
op_source |
Avian Conservation and Ecology, Vol 19, Iss 1, p 17 (2024) |
op_relation |
https://www.ace-eco.org/vol19/iss1/art17 https://doaj.org/toc/1712-6568 1712-6568 doi:10.5751/ACE-02619-190117 https://doaj.org/article/5cef6ad93c85419a8fe5b75a761f681e |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5751/ACE-02619-190117 |
container_title |
Avian Conservation and Ecology |
container_volume |
19 |
container_issue |
1 |
_version_ |
1810444514655993856 |