A spatially explicit optimal foraging model of Black-legged Kittiwake behavior based on prey density, travel distances, and colony size

• Main Authors: Ford, R. Glenn, Ainley, David G., Brown, Evelyn D., Suryan, Robert M., Irons, David B.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Subjects: Black-legged Kittiwake; rissa tridactyla; Alaska
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304380007000257

We developed a spatially explicit population model (FORAGER) that simulates the foraging movements of Black-legged Kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla) in Prince William Sound (PWS), Alaska, an oceanographically, spatially, and temporally complex marine environment where the foraging behavior of this species has been extensively studied. Kittiwake foraging behavior had been previously modeled in the North Sea, an area spatially less complex than PWS, and we make comparisons to those studies. We calibrated and evaluated FORAGER by comparing predicted with observed bird movements, as well as with the predictions of a multiple regression model. Black-legged Kittiwake; Cellular automata; Colonial breeding; Foraging behavior; Interference competition; Optimal foraging; Population spatial structure; Prey distribution; Rissa tridactyla;