Interactions between white-tailed eagle Haliaeetus albicilla, seabirds and tourism; how the breeding success of the endangered black-legged kittiwake Rissa tridactyla is affected
In many seabird colonies along the coast of Norway, the increased population of white-tailed eagle Haliaeetus albicilla and the growing industry of birdwatching tourism are causing a dilemma for management decisions. Thus, this study aimed to examine the indirect effect of white-tailed eagles and to...
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UiT Norges arktiske universitet
2021
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ftunivtroemsoe:oai:munin.uit.no:10037/23665 2023-05-15T15:44:55+02:00 Interactions between white-tailed eagle Haliaeetus albicilla, seabirds and tourism; how the breeding success of the endangered black-legged kittiwake Rissa tridactyla is affected Myran, Ida Ward 2021-12-17 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/23665 eng eng UiT Norges arktiske universitet UiT The Arctic University of Norway https://hdl.handle.net/10037/23665 Copyright 2021 The Author(s) VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Zoology and botany: 480::Ecology: 488 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480::Økologi: 488 escape response indirect predatory effects egg predation breeding success black-legged kittiwake white-tailed eagle Rissa tridactyla Haliaeetus albicilla BIO-3950 Master thesis Mastergradsoppgave 2021 ftunivtroemsoe 2022-01-12T23:56:33Z In many seabird colonies along the coast of Norway, the increased population of white-tailed eagle Haliaeetus albicilla and the growing industry of birdwatching tourism are causing a dilemma for management decisions. Thus, this study aimed to examine the indirect effect of white-tailed eagles and tourists on the breeding success of the endangered seabird species, black legged kittiwake Rissa tridactyla in the bird cliffs at Hornøya Island. By investigating kittiwakes’ escape response (the number of empty/abandoned nests) provoked by eagle disturbance, as an indirect top-down effect on egg survival by facilitating nest predation by crows, ravens and/or larger gulls, we examined this indirect effect by asking three questions: (1) Is the escape response among kittiwakes stronger when white-tailed eagle is present? (2) Is the escape response independent of nest location or are the nests in the periphery of the study plot more frequently abandoned (testing the diluting hypothesis – safety in numbers)? (3) Is there a negative relationship between disturbance and egg survival? The data used to answer these questions, were collected by Reconyx Hyper Fire time-laps cameras deployed in two test plots (plot A and B), where plot A was located in a non-disturbed sheltered area of the cliff and plot B was installed next to a tourist trail. In each plot a sample set of n=30 active kittiwake nests was made. Number of eggs were counted, in addition to number of white tailed eagles in the area. The number of tourists were provided by the local business of birdwatching tourism with a total number of 220 tourists visiting the study area in May and June. By fitting generalised linear mixed-effect models the results showed that the escape response was stronger when white-tailed eagle was present, with a much stronger response in plot B. Moreover, it was likely a diluting effect in plot B, as the nests in the periphery were more frequently abandoned, and the distance between abandoned nests were much smaller than in plot A. Nevertheless, a trend found in the data indicates that high frequency of escape response may have a risk effect of limiting egg survival, thus affecting the breeding success of black-legged kittiwake. Lastly, we discuss potential factors causing the differences found in escape response between and within the study plots and the application of time-laps cameras as a non-intrusive tool in long-term monitoring of interactions between kittiwakes, white-tailed eagles, nest predators and tourists in a seabird colony. Master Thesis Black-legged Kittiwake Haliaeetus albicilla rissa tridactyla White-tailed eagle University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive Hornøya ENVELOPE(31.154,31.154,70.388,70.388) Norway |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtroemsoe |
language |
English |
topic |
VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Zoology and botany: 480::Ecology: 488 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480::Økologi: 488 escape response indirect predatory effects egg predation breeding success black-legged kittiwake white-tailed eagle Rissa tridactyla Haliaeetus albicilla BIO-3950 |
spellingShingle |
VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Zoology and botany: 480::Ecology: 488 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480::Økologi: 488 escape response indirect predatory effects egg predation breeding success black-legged kittiwake white-tailed eagle Rissa tridactyla Haliaeetus albicilla BIO-3950 Myran, Ida Ward Interactions between white-tailed eagle Haliaeetus albicilla, seabirds and tourism; how the breeding success of the endangered black-legged kittiwake Rissa tridactyla is affected |
topic_facet |
VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Zoology and botany: 480::Ecology: 488 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480::Økologi: 488 escape response indirect predatory effects egg predation breeding success black-legged kittiwake white-tailed eagle Rissa tridactyla Haliaeetus albicilla BIO-3950 |
description |
In many seabird colonies along the coast of Norway, the increased population of white-tailed eagle Haliaeetus albicilla and the growing industry of birdwatching tourism are causing a dilemma for management decisions. Thus, this study aimed to examine the indirect effect of white-tailed eagles and tourists on the breeding success of the endangered seabird species, black legged kittiwake Rissa tridactyla in the bird cliffs at Hornøya Island. By investigating kittiwakes’ escape response (the number of empty/abandoned nests) provoked by eagle disturbance, as an indirect top-down effect on egg survival by facilitating nest predation by crows, ravens and/or larger gulls, we examined this indirect effect by asking three questions: (1) Is the escape response among kittiwakes stronger when white-tailed eagle is present? (2) Is the escape response independent of nest location or are the nests in the periphery of the study plot more frequently abandoned (testing the diluting hypothesis – safety in numbers)? (3) Is there a negative relationship between disturbance and egg survival? The data used to answer these questions, were collected by Reconyx Hyper Fire time-laps cameras deployed in two test plots (plot A and B), where plot A was located in a non-disturbed sheltered area of the cliff and plot B was installed next to a tourist trail. In each plot a sample set of n=30 active kittiwake nests was made. Number of eggs were counted, in addition to number of white tailed eagles in the area. The number of tourists were provided by the local business of birdwatching tourism with a total number of 220 tourists visiting the study area in May and June. By fitting generalised linear mixed-effect models the results showed that the escape response was stronger when white-tailed eagle was present, with a much stronger response in plot B. Moreover, it was likely a diluting effect in plot B, as the nests in the periphery were more frequently abandoned, and the distance between abandoned nests were much smaller than in plot A. Nevertheless, a trend found in the data indicates that high frequency of escape response may have a risk effect of limiting egg survival, thus affecting the breeding success of black-legged kittiwake. Lastly, we discuss potential factors causing the differences found in escape response between and within the study plots and the application of time-laps cameras as a non-intrusive tool in long-term monitoring of interactions between kittiwakes, white-tailed eagles, nest predators and tourists in a seabird colony. |
format |
Master Thesis |
author |
Myran, Ida Ward |
author_facet |
Myran, Ida Ward |
author_sort |
Myran, Ida Ward |
title |
Interactions between white-tailed eagle Haliaeetus albicilla, seabirds and tourism; how the breeding success of the endangered black-legged kittiwake Rissa tridactyla is affected |
title_short |
Interactions between white-tailed eagle Haliaeetus albicilla, seabirds and tourism; how the breeding success of the endangered black-legged kittiwake Rissa tridactyla is affected |
title_full |
Interactions between white-tailed eagle Haliaeetus albicilla, seabirds and tourism; how the breeding success of the endangered black-legged kittiwake Rissa tridactyla is affected |
title_fullStr |
Interactions between white-tailed eagle Haliaeetus albicilla, seabirds and tourism; how the breeding success of the endangered black-legged kittiwake Rissa tridactyla is affected |
title_full_unstemmed |
Interactions between white-tailed eagle Haliaeetus albicilla, seabirds and tourism; how the breeding success of the endangered black-legged kittiwake Rissa tridactyla is affected |
title_sort |
interactions between white-tailed eagle haliaeetus albicilla, seabirds and tourism; how the breeding success of the endangered black-legged kittiwake rissa tridactyla is affected |
publisher |
UiT Norges arktiske universitet |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10037/23665 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(31.154,31.154,70.388,70.388) |
geographic |
Hornøya Norway |
geographic_facet |
Hornøya Norway |
genre |
Black-legged Kittiwake Haliaeetus albicilla rissa tridactyla White-tailed eagle |
genre_facet |
Black-legged Kittiwake Haliaeetus albicilla rissa tridactyla White-tailed eagle |
op_relation |
https://hdl.handle.net/10037/23665 |
op_rights |
Copyright 2021 The Author(s) |
_version_ |
1766379283337445376 |