Weimerskirch H., de Grissac S., Ravache A., Prudor A., Corbeau A., Congdon B.C., McDuie F., Bourgeois K., Dromzée S., Butscher John, Menkès Christophe, Allain V., Vidal Eric, Jaeger Audrey, Borsa Philippe. (2020). At-sea movements of wedge-tailed shearwaters during and outside the breeding season from four colonies in New Caledonia. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 633, p. 225–238. ISSN 1616-1599.
Titre du document
At-sea movements of wedge-tailed shearwaters during and outside the breeding season from four colonies in New Caledonia
Année de publication
2020
Auteurs
Weimerskirch H., de Grissac S., Ravache A., Prudor A., Corbeau A., Congdon B.C., McDuie F., Bourgeois K., Dromzée S., Butscher John, Menkès Christophe, Allain V., Vidal Eric, Jaeger Audrey, Borsa Philippe
Source
Marine Ecology Progress Series, 2020,
633, p. 225–238 ISSN 1616-1599
The wedge-tailed shearwater (WTS) population of New Caledonia is one of thelargest in the world, yet its biology and foraging ecology are poorly known. We studied WTS from 4colonies in New Caledonia. We examined foraging behaviour and habitats using GPS receivers andlight sensors during and outside the breeding season, respectively, and compared our findings withthose from other WTS populations worldwide. During breeding, New Caledonian WTS alternatedshort foraging trips close to the colony over the lagoon, or off the reef edge, with longer trips overdistant, deep waters. Whereas neighboring colonies overlapped at sea, especially during short trips,there was a clear separation of foraging zones between the pairs of colonies located in the southernversus northwestern parts of New Caledonia. Although WTS actively foraged and commuted to for-aging zones during the day, they mainly returned to the colony or rested at night, indicating thatthey feed mainly during the day. Active foraging did not take place in more productive areas, sug-gesting that it may instead be related to the presence of sub-surface predators. Outside the breed-ing season, birds from 3 colonies had similar trans-equatorial migratory behaviour. All left NewCaledonia at the same time of the year with a fast, northeasterly movement and wintered over deepwaters in the same sector of the northwestern tropical Pacific Ocean. At overwintering sites, theyspent most of their non-foraging time presumably sitting on the water, especially at night, makinga slow westward movement before returning to New Caledonia. WTS from New Caledonia forageover warm, oligotrophic deep waters throughout their life cycle, and the species appears to have aflexible foraging strategy adapted to the various environmental conditions encountered across its wide tropical range.
Plan de classement
Milieu marin [036MILMAR]
;
Zoologie générale [080ZOOGEN]
Localisation
Fonds IRD [F B010078442]
Identifiant IRD
fdi:010078442
