Volume 61, Issue 2 p. 227-239
ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Tracking reveals behavioural coordination driven by environmental constraints in the Black-vented Shearwater Puffinus opisthomelas

Cecilia Soldatini

Cecilia Soldatini

Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada – Unidad La Paz, La Paz, Mexico

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Yuri V. Albores-Barajas

Corresponding Author

Yuri V. Albores-Barajas

Department of Marine Biology, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur, La Paz, Mexico

CONACYT. Dept. Catedras. Av. Insurgentes, Mexico

Correspondence

Yuri V. Albores-Barajas, Department of Marine Biology, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, La Paz, Baja California Sur, C.P. 23040, Mexico.

Email: [email protected]

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Alejandro Ramos-Rodriguez

Alejandro Ramos-Rodriguez

Department of Marine Biology, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur, La Paz, Mexico

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Adrian Munguia-Vega

Adrian Munguia-Vega

Conservation Genetics Laboratory, School of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona

PANGAS Science Coordination Department. Comunidad y Biodiversidad A.C, Guaymas, Mexico

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Eduardo González-Rodríguez

Eduardo González-Rodríguez

Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada – Unidad La Paz, La Paz, Mexico

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Carlo Catoni

Carlo Catoni

Animal Tracking Department, Ornis italica, Rome, Italy

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Giacomo Dell'Omo

Giacomo Dell'Omo

Animal Tracking Department, Ornis italica, Rome, Italy

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First published: 10 February 2019
Citations: 12

Funding information Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada, Baja California, Grant/Award Number: 691111; Ornis italica

Abstract

During the breeding season, seabird foraging trips are constrained by nest attendance schedule and are necessarily colony centred. Oceanographic cues play a major role in the choice of foraging areas to minimize the time spent away from the nest. Here, we analysed the foraging tracks of Black-vented Shearwaters Puffinus opisthomelas during the incubation and chick-rearing periods of 2016 and 2017 at Isla Natividad (Mexico). We applied expectation-maximization binary clustering to track data to clusterize different behaviour patterns during foraging flights. We then applied binary generalized linear mixed models to characterize of foraging areas based on of environmental variables. We finally used kernel estimation techniques to describe main foraging areas. In 2016, breeding shearwaters used two core areas for foraging and resting on the water; the core area delineated by males was located northward from the colony in the Vizcaino Bay and the core area for females was located southward from the colony at the entrance of San Ignacio Lagoon. In 2017, males and females used the same areas with no evident segregation. Our study provided the first information on Black-vented Shearwater foraging areas during the breeding season and indicated that sexual segregation within coastal waters off the central Baja California Peninsula might be a foraging strategy during years of warmer ocean, likely less productive regimes. Factors including ocean-climate-mediated sexual segregation at sea, leading to interannual variation in foraging areas, should be considered when evaluating management actions intended to protect critical foraging habitats for Black-vented Shearwaters.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Author contributions

C.S, Y.V.A.B. and G.D. formulated the questions; Y.V.A.B. and C.S. collected data, C.S, Y.V.A.B. and G.D. supervised research; C.S, J.A.R.R., E.G.R. and C.C. analysed the data; A.M.V. carried out genetics analysis; C.S., Y.V.A.B., wrote the paper, J.A.R.R., E.G.R., A.M.V., C.C. and G.D contributed to specific sections of the paper.