Asunto(s)
Conservación de los Recursos Naturales/métodos , Manejo de Datos , Monitoreo del Ambiente/métodos , Calentamiento Global/estadística & datos numéricos , Actividades Humanas/estadística & datos numéricos , Difusión de la Información/métodos , Oceanografía/métodos , Animales , Recolección de Datos/normas , Manejo de Datos/economía , Bases de Datos Factuales/normas , Conjuntos de Datos como Asunto , Gobierno Federal , Peces , Abastecimiento de Alimentos , Sistemas de Información Geográfica , Calentamiento Global/prevención & control , Cooperación Internacional , Metadatos/normas , Océanos y Mares , Publicación de Acceso Abierto , Asociación entre el Sector Público-Privado/economía , Asociación entre el Sector Público-Privado/organización & administración , Navíos/estadística & datos numéricos , Contaminación del Agua/prevención & control , Contaminación del Agua/estadística & datos numéricosRESUMEN
Colonial breeding is an evolutionary puzzle, as the benefits of breeding in high densities are still not fully explained. Although the dynamics of existing colonies are increasingly understood, few studies have addressed the initial formation of colonies, and empirical tests are rare. Using a high-resolution larval drift model, we here document that the distribution of seabird colonies along the Norwegian coast can be explained by variations in the availability and predictability of fish larvae. The modelled variability in concentration of fish larvae is, in turn, predicted by the topography of the continental shelf and coastline. The advection of fish larvae along the coast translates small-scale topographic characteristics into a macroecological pattern, viz. the spatial distribution of top-predator breeding sites. Our findings provide empirical corroboration of the hypothesis that seabird colonies are founded in locations that minimize travel distances between breeding and foraging locations, thereby enabling optimal foraging by central-place foragers.
Asunto(s)
Migración Animal/fisiología , Charadriiformes/fisiología , Ecosistema , Peces/fisiología , Modelos Biológicos , Animales , Simulación por Computador , Geografía , Larva/fisiología , NoruegaRESUMEN
Climate variability influences seabird population dynamics in several ways including access to prey near colonies during the critical chick-rearing period. This study addresses breeding success in a Barents Sea colony of common guillemots Uria aalge where trophic conditions vary according to changes in the northward transport of warm Atlantic Water. A drift model was used to simulate interannual variations in transport of cod Gadus morhua larvae along the Norwegian coast towards their nursery grounds in the Barents Sea. The results showed that the arrival of cod larvae from southern spawning grounds had a major effect on the size of common guillemot chicks at fledging. Furthermore, the fraction of larvae from the south was positively correlated to the inflow of Atlantic Water into the Barents Sea thus clearly demonstrating the mechanisms by which climate-driven bottom-up processes influence interannual variations in reproductive success in a marine top predator.