Separating the effects of climate, bycatch, predation and harvesting on titi (Ardenna grisea) population dynamics in New Zealand: A model-based assessment.

ABSTRACT: A suite of factors may have contributed to declines in the tītī (sooty shearwater; Ardenna grisea) population in the New Zealand region since at least the 1960s. Recent estimation of the magnitude of most sources of non-natural mortality has presented the opportunity to quantitatively assess the relative importance of these factors. We fit a range of population dynamics models to a time-series of relative abundance data from 1976 until 2005, with the various sources of mortality being modelled at the appropriate part of the life-cycle. We present estimates of effects obtained from the best-fitting model and using model averaging. The best-fitting models explained much of the variation in the abundance index when survival and fecundity were linked to the Southern Oscillation Index, with str

SUBMITTER: McKechnie S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7735597 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature