Niche switching and leapfrog foraging: movement ecology of sympatric petrels during the early breeding season

• Published in: Movement Ecology
• Main Authors: Quillfeldt, Petra, Weimerskirch, Henri, Delord, Karine, Cherel, Yves
• Other Authors: Department of Animal Ecology and Systematics, Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen = Justus Liebig University (JLU), Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé - UMR 7372 (CEBC), La Rochelle Université (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2020
• Subjects: Breeding schedule; Central-place forager; Foraging ecology; Tracking; [SDE]Environmental Sciences; Antarctic; Indian; Kerguelen; Kerguelen Islands; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02871995; https://doi.org/10.1186/s40462-020-00212-y

International audience Background: The timing of events in the early part of the breeding season is crucially important for successfulreproduction. Long-lived animals that migrate large distances independently of each other meet at the breedingsites to re-establish their pair bonds and coordinate their breeding duties with their partners.Methods: Using miniature light-geolocation and immersion data together with blood stable isotopes, we studiedthe early breeding season in Thin-billed prions Pachyptila belcheri, Antarctic prions P. desolata and Blue petrelsHalobaena caerulea breeding at Kerguelen Islands in the Indian Ocean. These three species exhibit differences intheir winter habitat and timing of migration, moult and breeding. We hypothesised that these differences wouldinfluence their behaviour during the early breeding season.Results: In line with our hypothesis, we found clear differences not only in the timing of colony attendance, butalso in the time budgets while at sea and in habitat use. Both early breeding Blue petrels and late breeding Antarcticprions spent about 8 h per day in flight and 15 h foraging. In comparison, Thin-billed prions, which breed in midsummer,spent less time (5 h daily) in flight and more time (18 h daily) foraging, thus maximizing the time spentforaging during the longest daylight days of the year. While the ecological habitat parameters (sea temperature, wind,productivity) of Thin-billed prions and Blue petrels were relatively stable throughout the year, Antarctic prions showedclear niche switching, caused by leapfrogging between the northernmost winter distribution to the southernmostdistribution during the early breeding season. Blood stable isotopes confirmed the habitat switch between the interbreedingand early breeding periods and highlighted trophic segregation with Blue petrels feeding more on fish andAntarctic petrels more on crustaceans during the early breeding period.Conclusion: We found that the three sympatric petrel species segregated in time and space, both in ...