Combined measurements of prey availability explain habitat selection in foraging seabirds.

ABSTRACT: Understanding links between habitat characteristics and foraging efficiency helps predict how environmental changes influence populations of top predators. This study examines whether measurements of prey (clupeids) availability varied over stratification gradients, and determined if any of those measurements coincided with aggregations of foraging seabirds (common guillemot Uria aalge and Manx shearwater Puffinus puffinus) in the Celtic Sea, UK. The probability of encountering foraging seabirds was highest around fronts between mixed and stratified water. Prey were denser and shallower in mixed water, whilst encounters with prey were most frequent in stratified water. Therefore, no single measurement of increased prey availability coincided with the location of fronts. Howev

SUBMITTER: Waggitt JJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6127128 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature