Individual migration strategy fidelity but no habitat specialization in two congeneric seabirds

• Published in: Journal of Biogeography
• Main Authors: Merkel, Benjamin, Descamps, Sebastien, Yoccoz, Nigel, Grémillet, David, Daunt, Francis, Erikstad, Kjell E, Ezhov, Aleksey V., Harris, Mike P., Gavrilo, Maria, Lorentsen, Svein Håkon, Reiertsen, Tone Kristin, Steen, Harald, Systad, Geir Helge Rødli, Þórarinsson, Þorkell Lindberg, Wanless, Sarah, Strøm, Hallvard
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2020
• Subjects: VDP::Matematikk og naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480; VDP::Mathematics and natural scienses: 400::Zoology and botany: 480; North Atlantic; Northeast Atlantic; uria
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10037/19750; https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.13883

Aim: In migratory species, individuals often use fixed and individual-specific migration strategies, which we term individual migration strategy fidelity (IMSF). Our goal was to test if guillemots have flexible or fixed individual migration strategies (i.e. IMSF), if this behaviour is consistent across large parts of the genus’ range and if they were philopatric to geographical sites or a habitat feature. Location: North Atlantic. Taxon: Uria spp. Methods: We quantified consistent individual differences in inter-annual spatial distribution and habitat occupied throughout the non-breeding period using a large geolocator tracking dataset of 729 adult seabirds breeding at 13 colonies across the Northeast Atlantic and repeatedly tracked up to 7 years over a 9-year period. Additionally, we used a similarity index to calculate relative fidelity to either geographical sites or habitats and linear mixed-effects models to assess persistence of spatial site fidelity over multiple years.