Seabird monitoring on the move:

Tracking Gannets in the SW

Dr Stephen Votier

Northern gannet Morus bassanus

Global population ~400K pairs
Grassholm
>39,000 pairs
Third largest colony in UK

Exponential increase during last century

Applied & fundamental research
Changes coming:
Fish stock structure
Offshore windfarms
Fisheries reforms

Conventional monitoring limited utility

Monitoring gannets on the move

1.
2.
3.

Tracking:
GPS; GLS; TDR; PTT; cameras etc.
Development of analysis tools
Huge decrease in price

Cox

Scales

Vandanabeele

Bearhop

Thompson

Bicknell

Inger

Stauss & Waggitt

Witt

Patrick

Newton

Hamer

Grecian

Lisa & Greg

Bodey
Wakefield

1. Tracking distribution & behaviour

Since 2006, >300 birds tracked with GPS

Core foraging south and west of Grassholm
>100 with temperature depth recorders

1. Tracking distribution & behaviour

Highly variable behaviour among individuals

Patterns consistent within and among years
Same at other colonies

Patrick et al. (2014) Oikos 123: 33-40

2. Tracking as a monitoring tool

2010
2011
2012

3. Monitoring impacts of fisheries reform

Tracking gannets and fishing boats:

Votier et al. (2010) J. Appl. Ecol. 47: 487-497

3. Monitoring impacts of fisheries reform

Ecological footprint of fishing activity:

Bodey et al. (2014)unpublished

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3. Monitoring impacts of fisheries reform

GPS & bird-borne cameras

female

male

= fishing boat
= ARS

Votier et al. (2013) PLoS ONE 8: e57376

10

4. Multi-colony gannet tracking

12 colonies
184 individual gannets
Colony-specific foraging ranges:

Wakefield et al. (2013) Science 341: 6870

11

Where next?
1. Developing tracking as a monitoring tool

Linking foraging with demography

Foraging effort as a measure of food availability?

2. Tracking immature gannets

Ontogeny of foraging behaviour

Prospecting and dispersal

3. Over-winter
4. Social foraging behaviour
5. 3D Movement

Altitude & depth

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Gannets and oceanography

G145 (male)

15

30

60
Kilometers

G148 (sex unknown)

10

20

G151 (female) - Trip 1

10

20
Kilometers

G150 (female)

40
Kilometers

Probability of ARS

G147 (male)

Frontal
0
25 frequency
50

100
Kilometers

Kylie Scales unpublished

G151 (female) - Trip 2

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