Foraging niche partitioning in sympatric seabird populations

Abstract Sympatric species must sufficiently differentiate aspects of their ecological niche to alleviate complete interspecific competition and stably coexist within the same area. Seabirds provide a unique opportunity to understand patterns of niche segregation among coexisting species because the...

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Autores principales:	Christina Petalas, Thomas Lazarus, Raphael A. Lavoie, Kyle H. Elliott, Mélanie F. Guigueno
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/51d1c5d8b86442e69f4ace31845dc02d
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:51d1c5d8b86442e69f4ace31845dc02d2021-12-02T13:57:48ZForaging niche partitioning in sympatric seabird populations10.1038/s41598-021-81583-z2045-2322https://doaj.org/article/51d1c5d8b86442e69f4ace31845dc02d2021-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-81583-zhttps://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Sympatric species must sufficiently differentiate aspects of their ecological niche to alleviate complete interspecific competition and stably coexist within the same area. Seabirds provide a unique opportunity to understand patterns of niche segregation among coexisting species because they form large multi-species colonies of breeding aggregations with seemingly overlapping diets and foraging areas. Recent biologging tools have revealed that colonial seabirds can differentiate components of their foraging strategies. Specifically, small, diving birds with high wing-loading may have small foraging radii compared with larger or non-diving birds. In the Gulf of St-Lawrence in Canada, we investigated whether and how niche differentiation occurs in four incubating seabird species breeding sympatrically using GPS-tracking and direct field observations of prey items carried by adults to chicks: the Atlantic puffin (Fratercula arctica), razorbill (Alca torda), common murre (Uria aalge), and black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla). Although there was overlap at foraging hotspots, all species differentiated in either diet (prey species, size and number) or foraging range. Whereas puffins and razorbills consumed multiple smaller prey items that were readily available closer to the colony, murres selected larger more diverse prey that were accessible due to their deeper diving capability. Kittiwakes compensated for their surface foraging by having a large foraging range, including foraging largely at a specific distant hotspot. These foraging habitat specialisations may alleviate high interspecific competition allowing for their coexistence, providing insight on multispecies colonial living.Christina PetalasThomas LazarusRaphael A. LavoieKyle H. ElliottMélanie F. GuiguenoNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-12 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Christina Petalas Thomas Lazarus Raphael A. Lavoie Kyle H. Elliott Mélanie F. Guigueno Foraging niche partitioning in sympatric seabird populations
description	Abstract Sympatric species must sufficiently differentiate aspects of their ecological niche to alleviate complete interspecific competition and stably coexist within the same area. Seabirds provide a unique opportunity to understand patterns of niche segregation among coexisting species because they form large multi-species colonies of breeding aggregations with seemingly overlapping diets and foraging areas. Recent biologging tools have revealed that colonial seabirds can differentiate components of their foraging strategies. Specifically, small, diving birds with high wing-loading may have small foraging radii compared with larger or non-diving birds. In the Gulf of St-Lawrence in Canada, we investigated whether and how niche differentiation occurs in four incubating seabird species breeding sympatrically using GPS-tracking and direct field observations of prey items carried by adults to chicks: the Atlantic puffin (Fratercula arctica), razorbill (Alca torda), common murre (Uria aalge), and black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla). Although there was overlap at foraging hotspots, all species differentiated in either diet (prey species, size and number) or foraging range. Whereas puffins and razorbills consumed multiple smaller prey items that were readily available closer to the colony, murres selected larger more diverse prey that were accessible due to their deeper diving capability. Kittiwakes compensated for their surface foraging by having a large foraging range, including foraging largely at a specific distant hotspot. These foraging habitat specialisations may alleviate high interspecific competition allowing for their coexistence, providing insight on multispecies colonial living.
format	article
author	Christina Petalas Thomas Lazarus Raphael A. Lavoie Kyle H. Elliott Mélanie F. Guigueno
author_facet	Christina Petalas Thomas Lazarus Raphael A. Lavoie Kyle H. Elliott Mélanie F. Guigueno
author_sort	Christina Petalas
title	Foraging niche partitioning in sympatric seabird populations
title_short	Foraging niche partitioning in sympatric seabird populations
title_full	Foraging niche partitioning in sympatric seabird populations
title_fullStr	Foraging niche partitioning in sympatric seabird populations
title_full_unstemmed	Foraging niche partitioning in sympatric seabird populations
title_sort	foraging niche partitioning in sympatric seabird populations
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/51d1c5d8b86442e69f4ace31845dc02d
work_keys_str_mv	AT christinapetalas foragingnichepartitioninginsympatricseabirdpopulations AT thomaslazarus foragingnichepartitioninginsympatricseabirdpopulations AT raphaelalavoie foragingnichepartitioninginsympatricseabirdpopulations AT kylehelliott foragingnichepartitioninginsympatricseabirdpopulations AT melaniefguigueno foragingnichepartitioninginsympatricseabirdpopulations
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Foraging niche partitioning in sympatric seabird populations

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