Seabird diving behaviour reveals the functional significance of shelf-sea fronts as foraging hotspots

• Published in: Royal Society Open Science
• Main Authors: Cox, SL, Miller, PI, Embling, CB, Scales, KL, Bicknell, AWJ, Hosegood, PJ, Morgan, G, Ingram, SN, Votier, SC
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Royal Society 2016
• Subjects: Seabird; Marine predator; Oceanography; Front; Diving behaviour; Foraging ecology; Northern gannet; Morus bassanus; North East Atlantic
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10871/23233; https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160317

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the publisher via the DOI in this record. Oceanic fronts are key habitats for a diverse range of marine predators, yet how they influence fine-scale foraging behaviour is poorly understood. Here, we investigated the dive behaviour of northern gannets Morus bassanus in relation to shelf-sea fronts. We GPS tracked 53 breeding birds and examined the relationship between 1901 foraging dives (from time-depth recorders) and thermal fronts (identified via Earth Observation composite front mapping) in the Celtic Sea, North-East Atlantic. We (1) used a habitat use-availability analysis to determine whether gannets preferentially dived at fronts, and (2) compared dive characteristics in relation to fronts to investigate the functional significance of these oceanographic features. We found that relationships between gannet dive probabilities and fronts varied by frontal metric and sex. Whilst both sexes were more likely to dive in the presence of seasonally persistent fronts, links to more ephemeral features were less clear. Here, males were positively correlated with distance to front and cross-front gradient strength, with the reverse for females. Both sexes performed two dive strategies: shallow V-shaped plunge dives with little or no active swim phase (92% of dives), and deeper U-shaped dives with an active pursuit phase of at least three seconds (8% of dives). When foraging around fronts, gannets were half as likely to engage in U-shaped dives compared with V-shaped dives, independent of sex. Moreover, V-shaped dive durations were significantly shortened around fronts. These behavioural responses support the assertion that fronts are important foraging habitats for marine predators, and suggest a possible mechanistic link between the two in terms of dive behaviour. This research also emphasises the importance of cross-disciplinary research when attempting to understand marine ecosystems. This work was funded by a PhD studentship to SLC by ...