Interannual variation in foraging decisions in chick-rearing black-legged kittiwakes.

ABSTRACT: Long-lived species must balance allocation between reproduction and self-maintenance, and such a trade-off is expected to affect their foraging behavior. A bimodal foraging strategy, where individuals alternate between long trips for self-maintenance and short trips for offspring provisioning, may reflect this compromise. Using tracking data collected over three breeding seasons, we investigated the occurrence of a bimodal foraging strategy and inter-annual variation in foraging decisions among black-legged kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla) breeding in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard. Kongsfjorden, a glacial fjord with six tidewater glacier fronts, provides close foraging opportunities to breeding sites. The continental shelf break outside the fjord offers another foraging area but involves high

SUBMITTER: Bertrand P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12322489 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul-Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature