Variation and correlation in the timing of breeding of North Atlantic seabirds across multiple scales

• Published in: Journal of Animal Ecology
• Main Authors: Keogan, Katharine, Daunt, Francis, Wanless, Sarah, Phillips, Richard, Alvarez, David, Anker-Nilssen, Tycho, Barrett, Robert, Bech, Claus, Becker, Peter, Berglund, Per‐arvid, Bouwhuis, Sandra, Burr, Zofia, Chastel, Olivier, Christensen-Dalsgaard, Signe, Descamps, Sebastien, Diamond, Tony, Elliott, Kyle, Erikstad, Kjell‐einar, Harris, Mike, Hentati-Sundberg, Jonas, Heubeck, Martin, Kress, Stephen, Langset, Magdalene, Lorentsen, Svein‐håkon, Major, Heather, Mallory, Mark, Mellor, Mick, Miles, Will, Moe, Børge, Mostello, Carolyn, Newell, Mark, Nisbet, Ian, Reiertsen, Tone Kirstin, Rock, Jennifer, Shannon, Paula, Varpe, Øystein, Lewis, Sue, Phillimore, Albert
• Other Authors: Institute of Evolutionary Biology Edinburgh, School of Biological Sciences Edinburgh, University of Edinburgh-University of Edinburgh, Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, British Antarctic Survey (BAS), Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), University of Oviedo, Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA), Tromsø University Museum, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Institute of Avian Research Germany, Baltic Seabird Project Sweden, The University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS), 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), Norwegian Polar Institute, University of New Brunswick (UNB), Department of Natural Resource Sciences Canada, McGill University = Université McGill Montréal, Canada, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Institute of Marine Research Swedish, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Institute of Coastal Science and Management Aberdeen, UK, University of Aberdeen, National Audubon Society Seabird Institute ME, USA, Acadia University, SOETAG St Andrews, UK, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences University St Andrews, University of St Andrews Scotland -University of St Andrews Scotland, Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, I. C. T. Nisbet & Company, Environment and Climate Change Canada, National Audubon Society Seabird Institute Bremen, USA
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2022
• Subjects: [SDE]Environmental Sciences; Black-legged Kittiwake; North Atlantic; rissa tridactyla
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03696046; https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13758

International audience 1. Timing of breeding, an important driver of fitness in many populations, is widely studied in the context of global change, yet despite considerable efforts to identify environmental drivers of seabird nesting phenology, for most populations we lack evidence of strong drivers. Here we adopt an alternative approach, examining the degree to which different populations positively covary in their annual phenology to infer whether phenological responses to environmental drivers are likely to be (i) shared across species at a range of spatial scales, (ii) shared across populations of a species, or (iii) idiosyncratic to populations. 2. We combined 51 long‐term datasets on breeding phenology spanning 50 years from nine seabird species across 29 North Atlantic sites and examined the extent to which different populations share early versus late breeding seasons depending on a hierarchy of spatial scales comprising breeding site, small‐scale region, large‐scale region and the whole North Atlantic. 3. In about a third of cases we found laying dates of populations of different species sharing the same breeding site or small‐scale breeding region were positively correlated, which is consistent with the hypothesis that they share phenological responses to the same environmental conditions. In comparison we found no evidence for positive phenological covariation among populations across species aggregated at larger spatial scales. 4. In general we found little evidence for positive phenological covariation between populations of a single species, and in many instances the inter‐year variation specific to a population was substantial, consistent with each population responding idiosyncratically to local environmental conditions. Black‐legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) was the exception, with populations exhibiting positive covariation in laying dates that decayed with the distance between breeding sites, suggesting that populations may be responding to a similar driver. 5. Our approach sheds light ...