Sharing wintering grounds does not synchronize annual survival in a high Arctic seabird, the little auk

• Published in: Marine Ecology Progress Series
• Main Authors: Descamps, S, Merkel, B, Strøm, H, Choquet, Rémi, Steen, H, Fort, Jérôme, Gavrilo, M, Grémillet, David, Jakubas, D, Jerstad, K, Karnovsky, Nj, Krasnov, Yv, Moe, B, Welcker, J, Wojczulanis-Jakubas, K
• Other Authors: Norwegian Polar Institute, Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE), Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3 (UPVM)-École pratique des hautes études (EPHE), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD France-Sud )-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Institut Agro - Montpellier SupAgro, Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro)-Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro), LIttoral ENvironnement et Sociétés (LIENSs), La Rochelle Université (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Association Maritime Heritage, Faculty of Biology Gdansk, Poland, University of Gdańsk (UG), Jerstad Viltforvaltning, Pomona College, Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA), BIOCONSULT BREMEN DEU, Partenaires IRSTEA, Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture (IRSTEA)-Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture (IRSTEA)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2021
• Subjects: migration; synchrony; Alle alle; non-breeding distribution; geolocator; capture-markrecapture; [SDE]Environmental Sciences; [SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio]; Arctic; Franz Josef Land; Svalbard; Iceland; little auk
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-03017418; https://hal.science/hal-03017418/document; https://hal.science/hal-03017418/file/preprint.pdf; https://doi.org/10.3354/meps13400

International audience Sharing the same wintering grounds by avian populations breeding in various areas may synchronize fluctuations in vital rates, which could increase the risk of extinction. Here, by combining multi-colony tracking with long-term capture-recapture data, we studied the winter distribution and annual survival of the most numerous Arctic seabird, the little auk Alle alle. We assessed whether or not little auks from different breeding populations in Svalbard and Franz Josef Land use the same wintering grounds and if this leads to synchronized survival. Our results indicate that birds from the Svalbard colonies shared similar wintering grounds, though differences existed in the proportion of birds from each colony using the different areas. Little auks from Franz Josef Land generally spent the winter in a separate area but some individuals wintered in the Iceland Sea with Svalbard populations. Survival data from three Svalbard colonies collected in 2005-2018 indicated that sharing wintering grounds did not synchronize little auk annual survival rates. However, it is clear that the Iceland Sea is an important wintering area for little auks and environmental changes in this area could have widespread impacts on many populations.