Top-down control of a marine mesopredator: Increase in native white-tailed eagles accelerates the extinction of an endangered seabird population
1. Bottom-up control is an important regulator of marine mesopredators such as seabirds. The prevalence of top-down control on these species is however less well understood. In particular, how native predators affect seabird populations has rarely been quantified. 2. Here, we investigate how an incr...
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3046141 https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.14343 |
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ftninstnf:oai:brage.nina.no:11250/3046141 2023-05-15T15:44:58+02:00 Top-down control of a marine mesopredator: Increase in native white-tailed eagles accelerates the extinction of an endangered seabird population Anker-Nilssen, Tycho Fayet, Annette Aarvak, Tomas northern Norway, nord-Norge 2023 application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3046141 https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.14343 eng eng https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2664.14343 Norges forskningsråd: 192141 urn:issn:0021-8901 https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3046141 https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.14343 cristin:2113161 Navngivelse 4.0 Internasjonal http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.no © 2023 The Authors CC-BY Journal of Applied Ecology black-legged kittiwake extinction rate native predators population dynamics seabirds top down control trophic interactions white-tailed eagle VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480::Økologi: 488 Peer reviewed Journal article 2023 ftninstnf https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.14343 2023-02-01T23:45:43Z 1. Bottom-up control is an important regulator of marine mesopredators such as seabirds. The prevalence of top-down control on these species is however less well understood. In particular, how native predators affect seabird populations has rarely been quantified. 2. Here, we investigate how an increase in white-tailed eagles in northern Norway, a stronghold for the species, affected a local population of 25,000 pairs of black-legged kittiwakes, a red-listed seabird, during a 42-year period ending with colony extinction. We use a natural experiment of two neighbouring colonies with/without eagle predation to disentangle the effects of eagles from local kittiwake foraging conditions (using size of young herring as a proxy). 3. At the colony where eagle predation occurred, and in contrast to the eagle-free colony, kittiwake breeding success and population size declined with increased eagle abundance , the latter more strongly under poor foraging conditions. Breeding success increased with foraging conditions at both colonies. 4. Simple population modelling shows that although conditions were insufficient to sustain the eagle-exposed colony, the increased abundance of eagles sped up its extirpation by many years. 5. Policy implications. Our study shows that top-down effects from avian predators can be significant regulators of seabird populations, challenging their conservation where native, often protected, predators are rising. Such effects, and their possible interaction with other factors, must also be accounted for when using seabird demographic traits as environmental indicators and when developing more flexible and effective management and action plans. Top-down control of a marine mesopredator: Increase in native white-tailed eagles accelerates the extinction of an endangered seabird population publishedVersion Article in Journal/Newspaper Black-legged Kittiwake Nord-Norge Northern Norway White-tailed eagle Norwegian Institute for Nature Research: Brage NINA Norway Journal of Applied Ecology 60 3 445 452 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Norwegian Institute for Nature Research: Brage NINA |
op_collection_id |
ftninstnf |
language |
English |
topic |
black-legged kittiwake extinction rate native predators population dynamics seabirds top down control trophic interactions white-tailed eagle VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480::Økologi: 488 |
spellingShingle |
black-legged kittiwake extinction rate native predators population dynamics seabirds top down control trophic interactions white-tailed eagle VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480::Økologi: 488 Anker-Nilssen, Tycho Fayet, Annette Aarvak, Tomas Top-down control of a marine mesopredator: Increase in native white-tailed eagles accelerates the extinction of an endangered seabird population |
topic_facet |
black-legged kittiwake extinction rate native predators population dynamics seabirds top down control trophic interactions white-tailed eagle VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480::Økologi: 488 |
description |
1. Bottom-up control is an important regulator of marine mesopredators such as seabirds. The prevalence of top-down control on these species is however less well understood. In particular, how native predators affect seabird populations has rarely been quantified. 2. Here, we investigate how an increase in white-tailed eagles in northern Norway, a stronghold for the species, affected a local population of 25,000 pairs of black-legged kittiwakes, a red-listed seabird, during a 42-year period ending with colony extinction. We use a natural experiment of two neighbouring colonies with/without eagle predation to disentangle the effects of eagles from local kittiwake foraging conditions (using size of young herring as a proxy). 3. At the colony where eagle predation occurred, and in contrast to the eagle-free colony, kittiwake breeding success and population size declined with increased eagle abundance , the latter more strongly under poor foraging conditions. Breeding success increased with foraging conditions at both colonies. 4. Simple population modelling shows that although conditions were insufficient to sustain the eagle-exposed colony, the increased abundance of eagles sped up its extirpation by many years. 5. Policy implications. Our study shows that top-down effects from avian predators can be significant regulators of seabird populations, challenging their conservation where native, often protected, predators are rising. Such effects, and their possible interaction with other factors, must also be accounted for when using seabird demographic traits as environmental indicators and when developing more flexible and effective management and action plans. Top-down control of a marine mesopredator: Increase in native white-tailed eagles accelerates the extinction of an endangered seabird population publishedVersion |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Anker-Nilssen, Tycho Fayet, Annette Aarvak, Tomas |
author_facet |
Anker-Nilssen, Tycho Fayet, Annette Aarvak, Tomas |
author_sort |
Anker-Nilssen, Tycho |
title |
Top-down control of a marine mesopredator: Increase in native white-tailed eagles accelerates the extinction of an endangered seabird population |
title_short |
Top-down control of a marine mesopredator: Increase in native white-tailed eagles accelerates the extinction of an endangered seabird population |
title_full |
Top-down control of a marine mesopredator: Increase in native white-tailed eagles accelerates the extinction of an endangered seabird population |
title_fullStr |
Top-down control of a marine mesopredator: Increase in native white-tailed eagles accelerates the extinction of an endangered seabird population |
title_full_unstemmed |
Top-down control of a marine mesopredator: Increase in native white-tailed eagles accelerates the extinction of an endangered seabird population |
title_sort |
top-down control of a marine mesopredator: increase in native white-tailed eagles accelerates the extinction of an endangered seabird population |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3046141 https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.14343 |
op_coverage |
northern Norway, nord-Norge |
geographic |
Norway |
geographic_facet |
Norway |
genre |
Black-legged Kittiwake Nord-Norge Northern Norway White-tailed eagle |
genre_facet |
Black-legged Kittiwake Nord-Norge Northern Norway White-tailed eagle |
op_source |
Journal of Applied Ecology |
op_relation |
https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2664.14343 Norges forskningsråd: 192141 urn:issn:0021-8901 https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3046141 https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.14343 cristin:2113161 |
op_rights |
Navngivelse 4.0 Internasjonal http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.no © 2023 The Authors |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.14343 |
container_title |
Journal of Applied Ecology |
container_volume |
60 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
445 |
op_container_end_page |
452 |
_version_ |
1766379334527877120 |