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Northern Gannet foraging trip length increases with colony size and decreases with latitude

Clark, Bethany L.; Vigfúsdóttir, Freydís; Wanless, Sarah; Hamer, Keith C.; Bodey, Thomas W.; Bearhop, Stuart; Bennison, Ashley; Blackburn, Jez; Cox, Sam L.; d’Entremont, Kyle J. N.; Garthe, Stefan; Grémillet, David; Jessopp, Mark; Lane, Jude; Lescroël, Amélie; Montevecchi, William A.; Pascall, David J.; Provost, Pascal; Wakefield, Ewan D.; Warwick‐Evans, Victoria; Wischnewski, Saskia; Wright, Lucy J.; Votier, Stephen C.

Northern Gannet foraging trip length increases with colony size and decreases with latitude Thumbnail


Authors

Bethany L. Clark

Freydís Vigfúsdóttir

Sarah Wanless

Keith C. Hamer

Thomas W. Bodey

Stuart Bearhop

Ashley Bennison

Jez Blackburn

Sam L. Cox

Kyle J. N. d’Entremont

Stefan Garthe

David Grémillet

Mark Jessopp

Jude Lane

Amélie Lescroël

William A. Montevecchi

David J. Pascall

Pascal Provost

Victoria Warwick‐Evans

Saskia Wischnewski

Lucy J. Wright

Stephen C. Votier



Abstract

Density-dependent competition for food influences the foraging behaviour and demography of colonial animals, but how this influence varies across a species’ latitudinal range is poorly understood. Here we used satellite tracking from 21 Northern Gannet Morus bassanus colonies (39% of colonies worldwide, supporting 73% of the global population) during chick-rearing to test how foraging trip characteristics (distance and duration) covary with colony size (138–60 953 breeding pairs) and latitude across 89% of their latitudinal range (46.81–71.23° N). Tracking data for 1118 individuals showed that foraging trip duration and maximum distance both increased with square-root colony size. Foraging effort also varied between years for the same colony, consistent with a link to environmental variability. Trip duration and maximum distance also decreased with latitude, after controlling for colony size. Our results are consistent with density-dependent reduction in prey availability influencing colony size and reveal reduced competition at the poleward range margin. This provides a mechanism for rapid population growth at northern colonies and, therefore, a poleward shift in response to environmental change. Further work is required to understand when and how colonial animals deplete nearby prey, along with the positive and negative effects of social foraging behaviour.

Citation

Clark, B. L., Vigfúsdóttir, F., Wanless, S., Hamer, K. C., Bodey, T. W., Bearhop, S., Bennison, A., Blackburn, J., Cox, S. L., d’Entremont, K. J. N., Garthe, S., Grémillet, D., Jessopp, M., Lane, J., Lescroël, A., Montevecchi, W. A., Pascall, D. J., Provost, P., Wakefield, E. D., Warwick‐Evans, V., …Votier, S. C. (2024). Northern Gannet foraging trip length increases with colony size and decreases with latitude. Royal Society Open Science, 11(9), Article 240708. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.240708

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jul 26, 2024
Online Publication Date Sep 4, 2024
Publication Date 2024-09
Deposit Date Sep 13, 2024
Publicly Available Date Sep 13, 2024
Journal Royal Society Open Science
Electronic ISSN 2054-5703
Publisher The Royal Society
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 11
Issue 9
Article Number 240708
DOI https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.240708
Keywords species distributions, predator–prey, central place foraging, seabird, bio-logging, coloniality
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2820355

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