Using marine isoscapes to infer movements of oceanic migrants: The case of Bulwer's petrel, Bulweria bulwerii, in the Atlantic Ocean.

ABSTRACT: Studying the movements of oceanic migrants has been elusive until the advent of several tracking devices, such as the light-level geolocators. Stable isotope analysis (SIA) offers a complementary approach to infer areas used year-round, but its suitability in oceanic environments remains almost unexplored. To evaluate SIA as a tool for inferring movements of oceanic migrants, we sampled an oceanic seabird, the Bulwer's petrel, Bulweria bulwerii, in four breeding colonies spread along its Atlantic distribution. We first studied the species moulting pattern from 29 corpses collected in the colonies. Secondly, based on this moult knowledge, we selected three feathers from tracked birds to infer their breeding and non-breeding grounds using SIA: the 1st primary (P1), the 8th secondary (S8) and

SUBMITTER: Cruz-Flores M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5997309 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature