Energetic consequences of contrasting winter migratory strategies in a sympatric Arctic seabird duet

Jérôme Fort (1, 2) , Harald Steen (3) , Hallvard Strom (3) , Yann Tremblay (4) , Eirik Grønningsæter (3) , Emeline Pettex (2) , Warren P Porter (5) , David Grémillet (6, 2)

1 Aarhus University [Aarhus]
2 CEFE - Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive
3 Norwegian Polar Institute
4 UMR EME - Ecosystèmes Marins Exploités
5 Department of Zoology
6 DST-NRF Centre of Excellence at the Percy FitzPatrick Institute

At the onset of winter, warm-blooded animals inhabiting seasonal environments may remain resident and face poorer climatic conditions, or migrate towards more favourable habitats. While the origins and evolution of migratory choices have been extensively studied, their consequences on avian energy balance and winter survival are poorly understood, especially in species diffi cult to observe such as seabirds. Using miniaturized geolocators, time-depth recorders and a mechanistic model, we investigated the migratory strategies, the activity levels and the energy expenditure of the closelyrelated, sympatrically breeding Brünnich ’ s guillemots Uria lomvia and common guillemots Uria aalge from Bjørnøya, Svalbard. The two guillemot species from this region present contrasting migratory strategies and wintering quarters: Brünnich ’ s guillemots migrate across the North Atlantic to overwinter off southeast Greenland and Faroe Islands, while common guillemots remain resident in the Barents, the Norwegian and the White Seas. Results show that both species display a marked behavioural plasticity to respond to environmental constraint, notably modulating their foraging effor tand diving behaviour. Nevertheless, we provide evidence that the migratory strategy adopted by guillemots can have important consequences for their energy balance. Overall energy expenditure estimated for the non-breeding season is relatively similar between both species, suggesting that both southward migration and high-arctic winter residency are energetically equivalent and suitable strategies. However, we also demonstrate that the migratory strategy adopted by Brünnich’ s guillemots allows them to have reduced daily energy expenditures during the challenging winter period. We therefore speculate that ‘ resident ’ common guillemots are more vulnerable than ‘ migrating ’ Brünnich’ s guillemots to harsh winter environmental conditions.

Domaines: Ecologie, Environnement

Jérôme Fort, Harald Steen, Hallvard Strom, Yann Tremblay, Eirik Grønningsæter, et al.. Energetic consequences of contrasting winter migratory strategies in a sympatric Arctic seabird duet. Journal of Avian Biology, 2013, 44, pp.255-262. ⟨10.1111/j.1600-048X.2012.00128.x⟩. ⟨hal-01100392⟩