Year-round distribution of Northeast Atlantic seabird populations: applications for population management and marine spatial planning

Per Fauchald; Arnaud Tarroux; Françoise Amélineau; Vegard Sandøy Bråthen; Sébastien Descamps; Morten Ekker; Halfdan Helgi Helgason; Malin Kjellstadli Johansen; Benjamin Merkel; Børge Moe; Jens Åström; Tycho Anker-Nilssen; Oskar Bjørnstad; Olivier Chastel; Signe Christensen-Dalsgaard; Jóhannis Danielsen; Francis Daunt; Nina Dehnhard; Kjell Einar Erikstad; Alexey Ezhov; Maria Gavrilo; Gunnar Thor Hallgrimsson; Erpur Snær Hansen; Mike Harris; Morten Helberg; Jón Einar Jónsson; Yann Kolbeinsson; Yuri Krasnov; Magdalene Langset; Svein-Håkon Lorentsen; Erlend Lorentzen; Mark Newell; Bergur Olsen; Tone Kristin Reiertsen; Geir Helge Systad; Paul Thompson; Thorkell Lindberg Thórarinsson; Sarah Wanless; Katarzyna Wojczulanis-Jakubas; Hallvard Strøm

doi:10.3354/meps13854

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MEPS 676:255-276 (2021) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps13854

Theme Section: Non-breeding distribution and movements of North Atlantic seabirds

Year-round distribution of Northeast Atlantic seabird populations: applications for population management and marine spatial planning

Per Fauchald^1,*, Arnaud Tarroux¹, Françoise Amélineau², Vegard Sandøy Bråthen³, Sébastien Descamps², Morten Ekker⁴, Halfdan Helgi Helgason^2,21, Malin Kjellstadli Johansen², Benjamin Merkel^2,5, Børge Moe³, Jens Åström³, Tycho Anker-Nilssen³, Oskar Bjørnstad⁶, Olivier Chastel⁷, Signe Christensen-Dalsgaard³, Jóhannis Danielsen⁸, Francis Daunt⁹, Nina Dehnhard³, Kjell Einar Erikstad¹, Alexey Ezhov¹⁰, Maria Gavrilo^11,12,22, Gunnar Thor Hallgrimsson¹³, Erpur Snær Hansen¹⁴, Mike Harris⁹, Morten Helberg¹⁵, Jón Einar Jónsson¹⁶, Yann Kolbeinsson¹⁷, Yuri Krasnov¹⁰, Magdalene Langset³, Svein-Håkon Lorentsen³, Erlend Lorentzen², Mark Newell⁹, Bergur Olsen⁸, Tone Kristin Reiertsen¹, Geir Helge Systad¹⁸, Paul Thompson¹⁹, Thorkell Lindberg Thórarinsson¹⁷, Sarah Wanless⁹, Katarzyna Wojczulanis-Jakubas²⁰, Hallvard Strøm

¹Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, Fram Centre, 9296 Tromsø, Norway
²Norwegian Polar Institute, Fram Centre, 9296 Tromsø, Norway
³Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, 7485 Trondheim, Norway
⁴The Norwegian Environment Agency, 7485 Trondheim, Norway
⁵Akvaplan-niva AS, Fram Centre, 9296 Tromsø, Norway
⁶Karmøy Ringmerkingsgruppe, 4280 Skudeneshavn, Norway
⁷Centre d’Etudes Biologiques de Chizé (CEBC), UMR 7372 CNRS-Univ. La Rochelle, France
⁸Faroe Marine Research Institute, 110 Tórshavn, Faroe Islands
⁹UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Bush Estate, Penicuik EH26 0QB, UK
¹⁰Murmansk Marine Biological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), Murmansk 183010, Russia
¹¹National Park Russian Arctic, 163000 Arkhangelsk, Russia
¹²Association Maritime Heritage, Icebreaker ‘Krassin’, Saint-Petersburg 199106, Russia
¹³Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Iceland, 102 Reykjavik, Iceland
¹⁴South Iceland Nature Research Centre, 900 Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland
¹⁵Østfold University College, 1757 Halden, Norway
¹⁶University of Iceland’s Research Center at Snæfellsnes, 340 Stykkishólmur, Iceland
¹⁷Northeast Iceland Nature Research Centre, 640 Húsavík, Iceland
¹⁸Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, 5006 Bergen, Norway
¹⁹Lighthouse Field Station, School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, IV11 8LU, UK
²⁰University of Gdansk, Dept. of Vertebrate Ecology and Zoology, 80-308 Gdansk, Poland
²¹Present address: East Iceland Nature Research Centre, 740 Neskaupstaður, Iceland
²²Present address: Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, Saint-Petersburg 199397, Russia

*Corresponding author: per.fauchald@nina.no

ABSTRACT: Tracking data of marine predators are increasingly used in marine spatial management. We developed a spatial data set with estimates of the monthly distribution of 6 pelagic seabird species breeding in the Northeast Atlantic. The data set was based on year-round global location sensor (GLS) tracking data of 2356 adult seabirds from 2006-2019 from a network of seabird colonies, data describing the physical environment and data on seabird population sizes. Tracking and environmental data were combined in monthly species distribution models (SDMs). Cross-validations were used to assess the transferability of models between years and breeding locations. The analyses showed that birds from colonies close to each other (<500 km apart) used the same nonbreeding habitats, while birds from distant colonies (>1000 km) used colony-specific and, in many cases, non-overlapping habitats. Based on these results, the SDM from the nearest model colony was used to predict the distribution of all seabird colonies lying within a species-specific cut-off distance (400-500 km). Uncertainties in the predictions were estimated by cluster bootstrap sampling. The resulting data set consisted of 4692 map layers, each layer predicting the densities of birds from a given species, colony and month across the North Atlantic. This data set represents the annual distribution of 23.5 million adult pelagic seabirds, or 87% of the Northeast Atlantic breeding population of the study species. We show how the data set can be used in population and spatial management applications, including the detection of population-specific nonbreeding habitats and identifying populations influenced by marine protected areas.

KEY WORDS: Fulmarus glacialis · Rissa tridactyla · Uria aalge · Uria lomvia · Alle alle · Fratercula arctica · Marine spatial planning · SEATRACK

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Cite this article as: Fauchald P, Tarroux A, Amélineau F, Bråthen VS and others (2021) Year-round distribution of Northeast Atlantic seabird populations: applications for population management and marine spatial planning. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 676:255-276. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps13854

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