Annual Movement Patterns of Endangered Ivory Gulls: The Importance of Sea Ice

The ivory gull (Pagophila eburnea) is an endangered seabird that spends its entire year in the Arctic environment. In the past three decades, threats from various sources have contributed to a >70% decline in Canada. To assess the annual habitat needs of this species, we attached satellite transm...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PLoS ONE
Main Authors: H. Grant Gilchrist, Nora C. Spencer, Mark L. Mallory
Other Authors: Peter, Hans-Ulrich
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2014
Subjects:
geo
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0115231
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0115231&type=printable
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4281149
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0115231
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4281149
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014PLoSO.9k5231S/abstract
https://paperity.org/p/60344294/annual-movement-patterns-of-endangered-ivory-gulls-the-importance-of-sea-ice
https://core.ac.uk/display/150415652
https://academic.microsoft.com/#/detail/2011592404
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4281149?pdf=render
Description
Summary:The ivory gull (Pagophila eburnea) is an endangered seabird that spends its entire year in the Arctic environment. In the past three decades, threats from various sources have contributed to a >70% decline in Canada. To assess the annual habitat needs of this species, we attached satellite transmitters to 12 ivory gulls on Seymour Island, Nunavut in 2010, which provided up to four breeding seasons of tracking data. Analysis of migratory behaviour revealed considerable individual variation of post-breeding migratory route selection. Ivory gulls traveled a median of 74 days during post-breeding migration, but only 18 days during pre-breeding migration. In contrast to predictions, ivory gulls did not use the Greenland coast during migratory periods. Ivory gulls overwintered near the ice edge in Davis Strait, but also used the Labrador Sea in late February and March. We suggest that the timing of formation and recession and extent of sea ice plays a large role in ivory gull distribution and migratory timing.