Seabird distribution patterns observed with fishing vessel's radar reveal previously undescribed sub-meso-scale clusters.

ABSTRACT: Seabirds are known to concentrate on prey patches or at predators aggregations standing for potential feeding opportunities. They may search for prey using olfaction or by detecting visually feeding con-specifics and sub-surface predators, or even boats. Thus, they might form a foraging network. We hypothesized that conditionally to the existence of a foraging network, the visual detection ability of seabirds should have a bearing on their medium-scale distribution at sea. Using a fishing-boat radar to catch the instantaneous distribution of seabirds groups within 30 km around the vessel, we conducted a spatial clustering of the seabird-echoes. We found 7,657 clusters (i.e. aggregations of echoes), lasting less than 15 minutes and measuring 9.2 km in maximum length (median). Distances betw

SUBMITTER: Assali C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5544669 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature