Seabirds linking Arctic and ocean

• Main Author: van Bemmelen, Rob S.A.
• Other Authors: Ydenberg, R., Tulp, I.
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Wageningen University 2019
• Subjects: Life Science; Arctic; Greenland; Indian; Arctic skua; East Greenland; Fennoscandian; Grey Phalarope; Long-tailed Skua; North East Atlantic; Phalaropus lobatus; Red-necked Phalarope; Stercorarius longicaudus; Tundra; Siberia
• Online Access: https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/seabirds-linking-arctic-and-ocean; https://doi.org/10.18174/499288

Throughout their annual cycle, migratory animals depend on widely separated areas for reproduction, fuelling migration, moulting and wintering. By migrating, animals link these areas. As conditions in one area can affect the behaviour or state of an individual in a next phase of the annual cycle, knowing the area use of migrants is important for understanding potential drivers of individual performance and population dynamics. For many species, however, basic information on their migration route, stopovers and wintering areas is lacking. Seabirds are well-represented among animals with the longest and most spectacular migrations. Only a few decades ago much of what was known about seabird migrations was based on land-based sightings or anecdotal at-sea observations, providing only a fragmentary and incomplete picture. Since the development and miniaturization of tracking devices, in particular light-based geolocators, details of seabird migrations are revealed at a fast pace. In this thesis, the migrations of a group of long-distance migratory seabirds breeding in Arctic tundra areas around the North-east Atlantic was studied: Red-necked Phalarope Phalaropus lobatus, Grey Phalarope P fulicarius, Long-tailed Skua Stercorarius longicaudus and Arctic Skua S parasiticus. The main aims are to describe the non-breeding movements of each study species, reveal variation within individuals in migration routes, wintering areas, annual cycles and movement strategies relative to variation between individuals and populations, and link non-breeding movements with other activities in the annual cycle. In international collaborations, individuals were tracked – in some cases over up to five years – using light level geolocators from breeding sites between North-east Greenland and West Siberia. In chapter 2-3, Red-necked Phalaropes from Fennoscandian and Russian breeding areas were confirmed to migrate to the Arabian Sea in the Indian Ocean – a more or less two-step migration of ca 6000 km, involving a prolonged stopover at ...