Use of geolocators for investigating breeding ecology of a rock crevice-nesting seabird: Method validation and impact assessment.

Investigating ecology of marine animals imposes a continuous challenge due to their temporal and/or spatial unavailability. Light-based geolocators (GLS) are animal-borne devices that provide relatively cheap and efficient method to track seabird movement and are commonly used to study migration. Here, we explore the potential of GLS data to establish individual behavior during the breeding period in a rock crevice-nesting seabird, the Little Auk, .

Post-foraging in-colony behaviour of a central-place foraging seabird.

Studies on time allocation of various activities are crucial to understand which behavioural strategy is the most profitable in a given context, and so why animals behave in a particular way. Such investigations usually focus on a time window when the studied activity is performed, often neglecting how the time devoted to focal activity affects time allocation to following-up behaviours, while that may have its own fitness consequences. In this study, we examined time allocation into three post-foraging activities (entering the nest with food, nest attendance, and colony attendance) in a small seabird species, the little auk (Alle alle).