Density-dependent competition for food influences the foraging behaviour and demography of colonial animals, but how this influence varies across a species' latitudinal range is poorly understood. Here we used satellite tracking from 21 Northern Gannet colonies (39% of colonies worldwide, supporting 73% of the global population) during chick-rearing to test how foraging trip characteristics (distance and duration) covary with colony size (138-60 953 breeding pairs) and latitude across 89% of their latitudinal range (46.81-71.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSeabird colonies with long-term monitoring records, i.e., > 50 years, are rare.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArtificial light at night (ALAN) is negatively impacting numerous species of nocturnally active birds. Nocturnal positive phototaxis, the movement towards ALAN, is exhibited by many marine birds and can result in stranding on land. Seabird species facing major population declines may be most at risk.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMercury (Hg) is a metallic trace element toxic for humans and wildlife that can originate from natural and anthropic sources. Hg spatial gradients have been found in seabirds from the Arctic and other oceans, suggesting contrasting toxicity risks across regions. Selenium (Se) plays a protective role against Hg toxicity, but its spatial distribution has been much less investigated than that of Hg.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF