Identification

Title

2010-2014 Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) United Kingdom Shag, Guillemot, Kittiwake and Razorbill distributions

Abstract

Population-level estimates of species' distributions can reveal fundamental ecological processes and facilitate conservation. However, these may be difficult to obtain for mobile species, especially colonial central-place foragers (CCPFs; e.g., bats, corvids, social insects), because it is often impractical to determine the provenance of individuals observed beyond breeding sites. Moreover, some CCPFs, especially in the marine realm (e.g., pinnipeds, turtles, and seabirds) are difficult to observe because they range tens to ten thousands of kilometers from their colonies. It is hypothesized that the distribution of CCPFs depends largely on habitat availability and intraspecific competition. Modeling these effects may therefore allow distributions to be estimated from samples of individual spatial usage. Such data can be obtained for an increasing number of species using tracking technology. However, techniques for estimating population-level distributions using the telemetry data are poorly developed. This is of concern because many marine CCPFs, such as seabirds, are threatened by anthropogenic activities. Here, we aim to estimate the distribution at sea of four seabird species, foraging from approximately 5,500 breeding sites in Britain and Ireland. To do so, we GPS-tracked a sample of 230 European Shags Phalacrocorax aristotelis, 464 Black-legged Kittiwakes Rissa tridactyla, 178 Common Murres Uria aalge, and 281 Razorbills Alca torda from 13, 20, 12, and 14 colonies, respectively. Using Poisson point process habitat use models, we show that distribution at sea is dependent on (1) density-dependent competition among sympatric conspecifics (all species) and parapatric conspecifics (Kittiwakes and Murres); (2) habitat accessibility and coastal geometry, such that birds travel further from colonies with limited access to the sea; and (3) regional habitat availability. Using these models, we predict space use by birds from unobserved colonies and thereby map the distribution at sea of each species at both the colony and regional level. Space use by all four species' British breeding populations is concentrated in the coastal waters of Scotland, highlighting the need for robust conservation measures in this area. The techniques we present are applicable to any CCPF. The maps were updated in May 2018 to correct a small error. The updated maps should be used in place of those available before May 2018.

Resource type

dataset

Resource locator

http://dassh.ac.uk/downloads/DASSHDT00000346-AS01/

name: Download data here

description: A link to the web service or dataset

http://www.dassh.ac.uk

name: DASSH website

description: A link to the general host site

Unique resource identifier

code

DASSHDT00000346

codeSpace

http://www.dassh.ac.uk

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::3575

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

biota

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Keyword set

keyword value

Keyword set

keyword value

originating controlled vocabulary

title

reference date

date type

revision

effective date

2008-01-06

Keyword set

keyword value

originating controlled vocabulary

title

reference date

date type

revision

effective date

2009-11-16

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

-17.6398

East bounding longitude

5.5633

North bounding latitude

63.9608

South bounding latitude

48.7262

Extent

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

1954-01-01

code identifying the extent

Bristol Channel

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

1954-01-01

code identifying the extent

English Channel

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

1954-01-01

code identifying the extent

Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

1954-01-01

code identifying the extent

Irish Sea and St. George's Channel

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

1954-01-01

code identifying the extent

North Atlantic Ocean

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

1954-01-01

code identifying the extent

North Sea

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

1954-01-01

code identifying the extent

Norwegian Sea

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

1954-01-01

code identifying the extent

Celtic Sea

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2014-05-16

code identifying the extent

VIIh

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2014-05-16

code identifying the extent

VIIf

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2014-05-16

code identifying the extent

VIIg

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2014-05-16

code identifying the extent

VIIk1

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2014-05-16

code identifying the extent

VIIk2

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2014-05-16

code identifying the extent

VIIj2

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2014-05-16

code identifying the extent

IVc

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2014-05-16

code identifying the extent

VIIc1

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2014-05-16

code identifying the extent

VIIc2

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2014-05-16

code identifying the extent

VIIb

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2014-05-16

code identifying the extent

VIIa

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2014-05-16

code identifying the extent

IVb

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2014-05-16

code identifying the extent

VIb1

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2014-05-16

code identifying the extent

VIb2

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2014-05-16

code identifying the extent

VIa

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2014-05-16

code identifying the extent

Vb1a

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2014-05-16

code identifying the extent

XIIa4

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2014-05-16

code identifying the extent

IVa

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2014-05-16

code identifying the extent

Vb1b

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2014-05-16

code identifying the extent

Va2

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2014-05-16

code identifying the extent

IIa2

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2014-05-16

code identifying the extent

Vb2

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2014-05-16

code identifying the extent

XIIa2

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2014-05-16

code identifying the extent

VIIe

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2014-05-16

code identifying the extent

VIId

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

revision

effective date

2010-01-01

code identifying the extent

atmosphere

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

revision

effective date

2010-01-01

code identifying the extent

atmospheric boundary layer

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

2010-05-01

End position

2014-07-31

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2017-10-06

Frequency of update

notPlanned

Quality and validity

Lineage

"LAEA" projections centred on lat=-7.947 long=-14.30. Diving by tagged seabirds can result in short hiatuses in tracking data. To estimate missing locations, and to standardize sampling effort to exactly 100-s intervals, we resampled GPS tracks data by linear interpolation prior to further analysis. Due to the need to deploy and retrieve loggers at the nest, it is normal practice in tracking studies of breeding seabirds to record and analyze bursts of data from one or more complete foraging trip per individual. However, this usually results in individuals being observed for unequal amounts of time because trip duration typically varies widely among individual seabirds. To reduce this bias we subsampled tracking data by randomly selecting a 24-h burst of locations from each bird (Table 1). We omitted the small number of individuals that were tracked for less than 24 h from our analysis. We then selected locations recorded when birds were at sea, categorized according to distance and time from the nest (see Appendix S1 for details). Prior to analysis, we projected all spatial data in Lambert Azimuthal equal area (LAEA) coordinates. For modelling approach see the paper sighted in the "Additional Information" field under 'Modelling approach' in the 'Materials and Methods' section.

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

DASSH terms and conditions apply

Constraint set

Limitations on public access

DASSH terms and conditions apply

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

organisation name

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (HQ)

email address

mark.bolton@rspb.org.uk

responsible party role

originator

Responsible party

contact position

Data Manager

organisation name

Data Archive for Seabed Species and Habitats (DASSH)

full postal address

Marine Biological Association of the UK, The Laboratory, Citadel Hill

Plymouth

PL1 2PB

telephone number

01752 633102

facsimile number

01752 633291

email address

dassh.enquiries@mba.ac.uk

responsible party role

custodian

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact

contact position

Data Manager

organisation name

Data Archive for Seabed Species and Habitats (DASSH)

full postal address

Marine Biological Association of the UK, The Laboratory, Citadel Hill

Plymouth

PL1 2PB

telephone number

01752 633102

facsimile number

01752 633291

email address

dassh.enquiries@mba.ac.uk

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata date

2018-05-10

Metadata language