Heavy decline of the largest European Arctic Skua Stercorarius parasiticus colony:Interacting effects of food shortage and predation
Capsule: The number of breeding pairs of Europe’s largest Arctic Skua Stercorarius parasiticus colony at Slettnes, Norway, showed a dramatic decline of at least 50% over two decades, with food shortage in four years and increasing predation by Red Fox Vulpes vulpes leading to total breeding failure...
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Language: | English |
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2021
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/11370/d862ef5c-9872-456d-90bf-9359c8fde15b https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/d862ef5c-9872-456d-90bf-9359c8fde15b https://doi.org/10.1080/00063657.2021.1969334 https://pure.rug.nl/ws/files/1047563071/Heavy_decline_of_the_largest_European_Arctic_Skua_Stercorarius_parasiticus_colony_interacting_effects_of_food_shortage_and_predation.pdf http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85115609896&partnerID=8YFLogxK |
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ftunigroningenpu:oai:pure.rug.nl:publications/d862ef5c-9872-456d-90bf-9359c8fde15b 2024-10-13T14:03:48+00:00 Heavy decline of the largest European Arctic Skua Stercorarius parasiticus colony:Interacting effects of food shortage and predation van Bemmelen, Rob S.A. Schekkerman, Hans Hin, Vincent Pot, Morrison T. Janssen, Kirstin Ganter, Barbara Rösner, Hans Ulrich Tulp, Ingrid 2021 application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/11370/d862ef5c-9872-456d-90bf-9359c8fde15b https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/d862ef5c-9872-456d-90bf-9359c8fde15b https://doi.org/10.1080/00063657.2021.1969334 https://pure.rug.nl/ws/files/1047563071/Heavy_decline_of_the_largest_European_Arctic_Skua_Stercorarius_parasiticus_colony_interacting_effects_of_food_shortage_and_predation.pdf http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85115609896&partnerID=8YFLogxK eng eng info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess van Bemmelen , R S A , Schekkerman , H , Hin , V , Pot , M T , Janssen , K , Ganter , B , Rösner , H U & Tulp , I 2021 , ' Heavy decline of the largest European Arctic Skua Stercorarius parasiticus colony : Interacting effects of food shortage and predation ' , Bird Study , vol. 68 , no. 1 , pp. 100-111 . https://doi.org/10.1080/00063657.2021.1969334 Arctic Skua bottom-up colony Red Fox Stercorarius parasiticus top-down article 2021 ftunigroningenpu https://doi.org/10.1080/00063657.2021.1969334 2024-10-02T00:51:05Z Capsule: The number of breeding pairs of Europe’s largest Arctic Skua Stercorarius parasiticus colony at Slettnes, Norway, showed a dramatic decline of at least 50% over two decades, with food shortage in four years and increasing predation by Red Fox Vulpes vulpes leading to total breeding failure in five out of six recent study years. Aims: To document the decline of Europe’s largest Arctic Skua colony and quantify bottom-up and top-down effects on reproduction. Methods: We compared nest counts between 1997–1998 and 2014–2019 and collected data on egg size, clutch size and nest success for all years, and adult body mass, nest attendance, at-sea activity, aggressive nest defence, Red Fox Vulpes vulpes encounters, daily nest survival and adult survival for 2014–2019. We deployed nest cameras to identify predators in 2018–2019. In addition, we developed a demographic model to estimate the fecundity required for a stable population. Results: A higher proportion of time spent at sea, small eggs, low adult female body mass and indirect assessment of foraging fish availability suggested food shortages in four of six recent study years. At the same time, nest predation by Red Foxes, the likely predator involved, increased during the six-year study. The combined effects of food shortage and nest predation led to total breeding failures in 2017–2019. Conclusion: We provide evidence of both bottom-up (food shortage) and top-down (predation) effects on reproductive investment and hatching success in this colony. The reproductive output in recent years is far too low to sustain a stable population. The severe decline of the Arctic Skua colony at Slettnes fits reported trends for this species across most of its European breeding range, as well as for its important host species, the Arctic Tern Sterna paradisaea and the Black-legged Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Arctic skua Arctic tern Black-legged Kittiwake rissa tridactyla Stercorarius parasiticus Sterna paradisaea University of Groningen research database Arctic Norway Bird Study 68 1 88 99 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Groningen research database |
op_collection_id |
ftunigroningenpu |
language |
English |
topic |
Arctic Skua bottom-up colony Red Fox Stercorarius parasiticus top-down |
spellingShingle |
Arctic Skua bottom-up colony Red Fox Stercorarius parasiticus top-down van Bemmelen, Rob S.A. Schekkerman, Hans Hin, Vincent Pot, Morrison T. Janssen, Kirstin Ganter, Barbara Rösner, Hans Ulrich Tulp, Ingrid Heavy decline of the largest European Arctic Skua Stercorarius parasiticus colony:Interacting effects of food shortage and predation |
topic_facet |
Arctic Skua bottom-up colony Red Fox Stercorarius parasiticus top-down |
description |
Capsule: The number of breeding pairs of Europe’s largest Arctic Skua Stercorarius parasiticus colony at Slettnes, Norway, showed a dramatic decline of at least 50% over two decades, with food shortage in four years and increasing predation by Red Fox Vulpes vulpes leading to total breeding failure in five out of six recent study years. Aims: To document the decline of Europe’s largest Arctic Skua colony and quantify bottom-up and top-down effects on reproduction. Methods: We compared nest counts between 1997–1998 and 2014–2019 and collected data on egg size, clutch size and nest success for all years, and adult body mass, nest attendance, at-sea activity, aggressive nest defence, Red Fox Vulpes vulpes encounters, daily nest survival and adult survival for 2014–2019. We deployed nest cameras to identify predators in 2018–2019. In addition, we developed a demographic model to estimate the fecundity required for a stable population. Results: A higher proportion of time spent at sea, small eggs, low adult female body mass and indirect assessment of foraging fish availability suggested food shortages in four of six recent study years. At the same time, nest predation by Red Foxes, the likely predator involved, increased during the six-year study. The combined effects of food shortage and nest predation led to total breeding failures in 2017–2019. Conclusion: We provide evidence of both bottom-up (food shortage) and top-down (predation) effects on reproductive investment and hatching success in this colony. The reproductive output in recent years is far too low to sustain a stable population. The severe decline of the Arctic Skua colony at Slettnes fits reported trends for this species across most of its European breeding range, as well as for its important host species, the Arctic Tern Sterna paradisaea and the Black-legged Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
van Bemmelen, Rob S.A. Schekkerman, Hans Hin, Vincent Pot, Morrison T. Janssen, Kirstin Ganter, Barbara Rösner, Hans Ulrich Tulp, Ingrid |
author_facet |
van Bemmelen, Rob S.A. Schekkerman, Hans Hin, Vincent Pot, Morrison T. Janssen, Kirstin Ganter, Barbara Rösner, Hans Ulrich Tulp, Ingrid |
author_sort |
van Bemmelen, Rob S.A. |
title |
Heavy decline of the largest European Arctic Skua Stercorarius parasiticus colony:Interacting effects of food shortage and predation |
title_short |
Heavy decline of the largest European Arctic Skua Stercorarius parasiticus colony:Interacting effects of food shortage and predation |
title_full |
Heavy decline of the largest European Arctic Skua Stercorarius parasiticus colony:Interacting effects of food shortage and predation |
title_fullStr |
Heavy decline of the largest European Arctic Skua Stercorarius parasiticus colony:Interacting effects of food shortage and predation |
title_full_unstemmed |
Heavy decline of the largest European Arctic Skua Stercorarius parasiticus colony:Interacting effects of food shortage and predation |
title_sort |
heavy decline of the largest european arctic skua stercorarius parasiticus colony:interacting effects of food shortage and predation |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/11370/d862ef5c-9872-456d-90bf-9359c8fde15b https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/d862ef5c-9872-456d-90bf-9359c8fde15b https://doi.org/10.1080/00063657.2021.1969334 https://pure.rug.nl/ws/files/1047563071/Heavy_decline_of_the_largest_European_Arctic_Skua_Stercorarius_parasiticus_colony_interacting_effects_of_food_shortage_and_predation.pdf http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85115609896&partnerID=8YFLogxK |
geographic |
Arctic Norway |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Norway |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Arctic skua Arctic tern Black-legged Kittiwake rissa tridactyla Stercorarius parasiticus Sterna paradisaea |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Arctic skua Arctic tern Black-legged Kittiwake rissa tridactyla Stercorarius parasiticus Sterna paradisaea |
op_source |
van Bemmelen , R S A , Schekkerman , H , Hin , V , Pot , M T , Janssen , K , Ganter , B , Rösner , H U & Tulp , I 2021 , ' Heavy decline of the largest European Arctic Skua Stercorarius parasiticus colony : Interacting effects of food shortage and predation ' , Bird Study , vol. 68 , no. 1 , pp. 100-111 . https://doi.org/10.1080/00063657.2021.1969334 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1080/00063657.2021.1969334 |
container_title |
Bird Study |
container_volume |
68 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
88 |
op_container_end_page |
99 |
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1812808924246573056 |