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
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 archipel...
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Springer Verlag
2021
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10400.12/8100 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-021-02842-3 |
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ftispalisboa:oai:repositorio.ispa.pt:10400.12/8100 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 2021-04-23T10:26:12Z http://hdl.handle.net/10400.12/8100 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-021-02842-3 eng eng Springer Verlag UIDB/04,292/2020 UIDP/04,292/2020 Stokes, A. W., · Catry, P., ·Matthiopoulos, J., Boldenow, M., Clark, · T. J., · Guest, A. ,· Marengo, I., & · Wakefield, E. D. (2021). 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. Biology Biology, 44(4), 809-821 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-021-02842-3 07224060 http://hdl.handle.net/10400.12/8100 doi:10.1007/s00300-021-02842-3 openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ CC-BY Burrowing petrel Habitat model Seabird Colony Falkland Population article 2021 ftispalisboa https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-021-02842-3 2022-05-30T08:47:22Z 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. Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia - FCT info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion Article in Journal/Newspaper Bird Island Southern Ocean Instituto Universitário de Ciências Psicológicas, Sociais e da Vida: Repositório do ISPA Southern Ocean Kerguelen Bird Island ENVELOPE(-38.060,-38.060,-54.004,-54.004) Burrows ENVELOPE(163.650,163.650,-74.300,-74.300) Polar Biology 44 4 809 821 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Instituto Universitário de Ciências Psicológicas, Sociais e da Vida: Repositório do ISPA |
op_collection_id |
ftispalisboa |
language |
English |
topic |
Burrowing petrel Habitat model Seabird Colony Falkland Population |
spellingShingle |
Burrowing petrel Habitat model Seabird Colony Falkland Population Stokes, Allan W. Catry, Paulo Matthiopoulos, Jason Boldenow, Megan Clark, T. J. Guest, Amy Marengo, Ilaria Wakefield, Ewan 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 |
Burrowing petrel Habitat model Seabird Colony Falkland Population |
description |
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. Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia - FCT info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Stokes, Allan W. Catry, Paulo Matthiopoulos, Jason Boldenow, Megan Clark, T. J. Guest, Amy Marengo, Ilaria Wakefield, Ewan |
author_facet |
Stokes, Allan W. Catry, Paulo Matthiopoulos, Jason Boldenow, Megan Clark, T. J. Guest, Amy Marengo, Ilaria Wakefield, Ewan |
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 Verlag |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10400.12/8100 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-021-02842-3 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-38.060,-38.060,-54.004,-54.004) ENVELOPE(163.650,163.650,-74.300,-74.300) |
geographic |
Southern Ocean Kerguelen Bird Island Burrows |
geographic_facet |
Southern Ocean Kerguelen Bird Island Burrows |
genre |
Bird Island Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Bird Island Southern Ocean |
op_relation |
UIDB/04,292/2020 UIDP/04,292/2020 Stokes, A. W., · Catry, P., ·Matthiopoulos, J., Boldenow, M., Clark, · T. J., · Guest, A. ,· Marengo, I., & · Wakefield, E. D. (2021). 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. Biology Biology, 44(4), 809-821 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-021-02842-3 07224060 http://hdl.handle.net/10400.12/8100 doi:10.1007/s00300-021-02842-3 |
op_rights |
openAccess http://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 |
_version_ |
1766379058728271872 |