Foraging behaviour and habitat-use drives niche segregation in sibling seabird species.

ABSTRACT: To mediate competition, similar sympatric species are assumed to use different resources, or the same but geographically separated resources. The two giant petrels (Macronectes spp.) are intriguing in that they are morphologically similar seabirds with overlapping diets and distributions. To better understand the mechanisms allowing their coexistence, we investigated intra- and interspecific niche segregation at Marion Island (Southern Indian Ocean), one of the few localities where they breed in sympatry. We used GPS tracks from 94 individuals and remote-sensed environmental data to quantify habitat use, combined with blood carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios from 90 individuals to characterize their foraging habitat and trophic ecology. Females of both species made distant at

SUBMITTER: Reisinger RR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7540780 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature