Trans-Equatorial Migration Routes, Staging Sites and Wintering Areas of a High-Arctic Avian Predator: The Long-tailed Skua (Stercorarius longicaudus)
The Long-tailed Skua, a small (,300 g) Arctic-breeding predator and seabird, is a functionally very important component of the Arctic vertebrate communities in summer, but little is known about its migration and winter distribution. We used lightlevel geolocators to track the annual movements of eig...
Published in: | PLoS ONE |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Public Library of Science
2015
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2393652 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0064614 |
id |
ftntnutrondheimi:oai:ntnuopen.ntnu.no:11250/2393652 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftntnutrondheimi:oai:ntnuopen.ntnu.no:11250/2393652 2024-09-09T19:22:13+00:00 Trans-Equatorial Migration Routes, Staging Sites and Wintering Areas of a High-Arctic Avian Predator: The Long-tailed Skua (Stercorarius longicaudus) Gilg, Olivier Moe, Børge Hanssen, Sveinn Are Schmidt, Niels Martin Sittler, Benoit Hansen, Jannik Reneerkens, Jeroen Sabard, Brigitte Chastel, Olivier Moreau, Jérôme Phillips, Richard A. Oudman, Thomas Biersma, Elisabeth M. Fenstad, Anette Lang, Johannes Bollache, Loïc 2015-11-20T11:07:12Z application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2393652 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0064614 eng eng Public Library of Science PLoS ONE 2013, 8(5) urn:issn:1932-6203 http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2393652 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0064614 cristin:1029873 Navngivelse 3.0 Norge http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/no/ 8 PLoS ONE 5 Journal article Peer reviewed 2015 ftntnutrondheimi https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0064614 2024-06-21T04:53:03Z The Long-tailed Skua, a small (,300 g) Arctic-breeding predator and seabird, is a functionally very important component of the Arctic vertebrate communities in summer, but little is known about its migration and winter distribution. We used lightlevel geolocators to track the annual movements of eight adult birds breeding in north-east Greenland (n = 3) and Svalbard (n = 5). All birds wintered in the Southern Hemisphere (mean arrival-departure dates on wintering grounds: 24 October-21 March): five along the south-west coast of Africa (0–40uS, 0–15uE), in the productive Benguela upwelling, and three further south (30–40uS, 0–50uE), in an area extending into the south-west Indian Ocean. Different migratory routes and rates of travel were documented during post-breeding (345 km d21 in late August-early September) and spring migrations (235 km d21 in late April) when most birds used a more westerly flyway. Among the different staging areas, a large region off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland appears to be the most important. It was used in autumn by all but one of the tracked birds (from a few days to three weeks) and in spring by five out of eight birds (from one to more than six weeks). Two other staging sites, off the Iberian coast and near the Azores, were used by two birds in spring for five to six weeks. Over one year, individuals travelled between 43,900 and 54,200 km (36,600–45,700 when excluding staging periods) and went as far as 10,500–13,700 km (mean 12,800 km) from their breeding sites. This study has revealed important marine areas in both the south and north Atlantic Ocean. Sustainable management of these ocean basins will benefit Long-tailed Skuas as well as other trans-equatorial migrants from the Arctic. © 2013 Gilg et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic East Greenland Greenland Long-tailed Skua Newfoundland North Atlantic Stercorarius longicaudus Svalbard NTNU Open Archive (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) Arctic Greenland Indian Svalbard PLoS ONE 8 5 e64614 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
NTNU Open Archive (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) |
op_collection_id |
ftntnutrondheimi |
language |
English |
description |
The Long-tailed Skua, a small (,300 g) Arctic-breeding predator and seabird, is a functionally very important component of the Arctic vertebrate communities in summer, but little is known about its migration and winter distribution. We used lightlevel geolocators to track the annual movements of eight adult birds breeding in north-east Greenland (n = 3) and Svalbard (n = 5). All birds wintered in the Southern Hemisphere (mean arrival-departure dates on wintering grounds: 24 October-21 March): five along the south-west coast of Africa (0–40uS, 0–15uE), in the productive Benguela upwelling, and three further south (30–40uS, 0–50uE), in an area extending into the south-west Indian Ocean. Different migratory routes and rates of travel were documented during post-breeding (345 km d21 in late August-early September) and spring migrations (235 km d21 in late April) when most birds used a more westerly flyway. Among the different staging areas, a large region off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland appears to be the most important. It was used in autumn by all but one of the tracked birds (from a few days to three weeks) and in spring by five out of eight birds (from one to more than six weeks). Two other staging sites, off the Iberian coast and near the Azores, were used by two birds in spring for five to six weeks. Over one year, individuals travelled between 43,900 and 54,200 km (36,600–45,700 when excluding staging periods) and went as far as 10,500–13,700 km (mean 12,800 km) from their breeding sites. This study has revealed important marine areas in both the south and north Atlantic Ocean. Sustainable management of these ocean basins will benefit Long-tailed Skuas as well as other trans-equatorial migrants from the Arctic. © 2013 Gilg et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Gilg, Olivier Moe, Børge Hanssen, Sveinn Are Schmidt, Niels Martin Sittler, Benoit Hansen, Jannik Reneerkens, Jeroen Sabard, Brigitte Chastel, Olivier Moreau, Jérôme Phillips, Richard A. Oudman, Thomas Biersma, Elisabeth M. Fenstad, Anette Lang, Johannes Bollache, Loïc |
spellingShingle |
Gilg, Olivier Moe, Børge Hanssen, Sveinn Are Schmidt, Niels Martin Sittler, Benoit Hansen, Jannik Reneerkens, Jeroen Sabard, Brigitte Chastel, Olivier Moreau, Jérôme Phillips, Richard A. Oudman, Thomas Biersma, Elisabeth M. Fenstad, Anette Lang, Johannes Bollache, Loïc Trans-Equatorial Migration Routes, Staging Sites and Wintering Areas of a High-Arctic Avian Predator: The Long-tailed Skua (Stercorarius longicaudus) |
author_facet |
Gilg, Olivier Moe, Børge Hanssen, Sveinn Are Schmidt, Niels Martin Sittler, Benoit Hansen, Jannik Reneerkens, Jeroen Sabard, Brigitte Chastel, Olivier Moreau, Jérôme Phillips, Richard A. Oudman, Thomas Biersma, Elisabeth M. Fenstad, Anette Lang, Johannes Bollache, Loïc |
author_sort |
Gilg, Olivier |
title |
Trans-Equatorial Migration Routes, Staging Sites and Wintering Areas of a High-Arctic Avian Predator: The Long-tailed Skua (Stercorarius longicaudus) |
title_short |
Trans-Equatorial Migration Routes, Staging Sites and Wintering Areas of a High-Arctic Avian Predator: The Long-tailed Skua (Stercorarius longicaudus) |
title_full |
Trans-Equatorial Migration Routes, Staging Sites and Wintering Areas of a High-Arctic Avian Predator: The Long-tailed Skua (Stercorarius longicaudus) |
title_fullStr |
Trans-Equatorial Migration Routes, Staging Sites and Wintering Areas of a High-Arctic Avian Predator: The Long-tailed Skua (Stercorarius longicaudus) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Trans-Equatorial Migration Routes, Staging Sites and Wintering Areas of a High-Arctic Avian Predator: The Long-tailed Skua (Stercorarius longicaudus) |
title_sort |
trans-equatorial migration routes, staging sites and wintering areas of a high-arctic avian predator: the long-tailed skua (stercorarius longicaudus) |
publisher |
Public Library of Science |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2393652 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0064614 |
geographic |
Arctic Greenland Indian Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Greenland Indian Svalbard |
genre |
Arctic East Greenland Greenland Long-tailed Skua Newfoundland North Atlantic Stercorarius longicaudus Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Arctic East Greenland Greenland Long-tailed Skua Newfoundland North Atlantic Stercorarius longicaudus Svalbard |
op_source |
8 PLoS ONE 5 |
op_relation |
PLoS ONE 2013, 8(5) urn:issn:1932-6203 http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2393652 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0064614 cristin:1029873 |
op_rights |
Navngivelse 3.0 Norge http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/no/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0064614 |
container_title |
PLoS ONE |
container_volume |
8 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
e64614 |
_version_ |
1809762487475634176 |