Living on the edge of a shrinking habitat: the ivory gull, Pagophila eburnea, an endangered sea-ice specialist.

• Published in: Biology Letters
• Main Authors: Gilg, Olivier, Istomina, Larysa, Heygster, Georg, Strøm, Hallvard, Gavrilo, Maria V., Mallory, Mark L., Gilchrist, Grant, Aebischer, Adrian, Sabard, Brigitte, Huntemann, Marcus, Mosbech, Anders, Yannic, Glenn
• Other Authors: Biogéosciences UMR 6282 (BGS), Université de Bourgogne (UB)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Groupe de Recherche en Ecologie Arctique, Institute of Environmental Physics Bremen (IUP), University of Bremen, Norwegian Polar Institute, National Park Russian Arctic, Department of Biology, Acadia University, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung = Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research = Institut Alfred-Wegener pour la recherche polaire et marine (AWI), Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft = Helmholtz Association, Department of Bioscience and Arctic Research Center, Aarhus University Aarhus, Laboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine (LECA ), Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB Université de Savoie Université de Chambéry )-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Grenoble Alpes 2016-2019 (UGA 2016-2019 )
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2016
• Subjects: Arctic; ice concentration; ice-edge; satellite microwave radiometers; satellite tracking; seabird; [SDV.BID]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biodiversity; [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology; Greenland; ivory gull; Pagophila eburnea; Sea ice; Svalbard
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-01397358; https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2016.0277

International audience The ongoing decline of sea ice threatens many Arctic taxa, including the ivory gull. Understanding how ice-edges and ice concentrations influence the distribution of the endangered ivory gulls is a prerequisite to the implementation of adequate conservation strategies. From 2007 to 2013, we used satellite transmitters to monitor the movements of 104 ivory gulls originating from Canada, Greenland, Svalbard-Norway and Russia. Although half of the positions were within 41 km of the ice-edge (75% within 100 km), approximately 80% were on relatively highly concentrated sea ice. Ivory gulls used more concentrated sea ice in summer, when close to their high-Arctic breeding ground, than in winter. The best model to explain the distance of the birds from the ice-edge included the ice concentration within approximately 10 km, the month and the distance to the colony. Given the strong links between ivory gull, ice-edge and ice concentration, its conservation status is unlikely to improve in the current context of sea-ice decline which, in turn, will allow anthropogenic activities to develop in regions that are particularly important for the species.