Abstract
The conservation status and taxonomy of the three gadfly petrels that breed in Macaronesia is still discussed partly due to the scarce information on their spatial ecology. Using geolocator and capture-mark-recapture data, we examined phenology, natal philopatry and breeding-site fidelity, year-round distribution, habitat usage and at-sea activity of the three closely-related gadfly petrels that breed in Macaronesia: Zino’s petrel Pterodroma madeira, Desertas petrel P. deserta and Cape Verde petrel P. feae. All P. feae remained around the breeding area during their non-breeding season, whereas P. madeira and P. deserta dispersed far from their colony, migrating either to the Cape Verde region, further south to equatorial waters in the central Atlantic, or to the Brazil Current. The three taxa displayed a clear allochrony in timing of breeding. Habitat modelling and at-sea activity patterns highlighted similar environmental preferences and foraging behaviours of the three taxa. Finally, no chick or adult was recaptured away from its natal site and survival estimates were relatively high at all study sites, indicating strong philopatry and breeding-site fidelity for the three taxa. The combination of high philopatry, marked breeding asynchrony and substantial spatio-temporal segregation of their year-round distribution suggest very limited gene flow among the three taxa.
Highlights
Estação de Biologia Marinha do Funchal and OOM-Museu de História Natural do Funchal, Rua da Mouraria 31, Funchal 9004-546, Madeira, Portugal. 5Parque Natural da Madeira, Quinta do Bom Sucesso, Caminho do Meio, Funchal 9050-251, Madeira, Portugal. 6British Antarctic Survey (BAS), Natural Environment Research Council, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0ET, United Kingdom. 7Freira Conservation Project (FCP), Avenida do www.nature.com/scientificreports/
Our study reports for the first time, a comparison of the timing of life-cycle events, year-round distribution, marine habitat and at-sea activity patterns of three closely-related taxa of gadfly petrels breeding in Macaronesia
The small populations of P. deserta and P. madeira prefer to forage at northern latitudes in more temperate waters, largely segregating from P. feae around Cape Verde
Summary
Estação de Biologia Marinha do Funchal and OOM-Museu de História Natural do Funchal, Rua da Mouraria 31, Funchal 9004-546, Madeira, Portugal. 5Parque Natural da Madeira, Quinta do Bom Sucesso, Caminho do Meio, Funchal 9050-251, Madeira, Portugal. 6British Antarctic Survey (BAS), Natural Environment Research Council, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0ET, United Kingdom. 7Freira Conservation Project (FCP), Avenida do www.nature.com/scientificreports/. Several phylogenetic studies concluded that the Madeiran archipelago has been colonised twice by ancestral petrels from Cape Verde: a first establishment in Madeira Island during the early Pleistocene and a second colonisation of the Desertas Islands during the late Pleistocene[18,19] This scenario (hypothesised previously by Bourne20) would explain the current breeding distribution as well as the slight morphological differences between the populations despite the close proximity of some of the breeding sites. Given the phylogenetic and taxonomic uncertainties, complementary information on non-breeding distribution and behaviour at-sea is key for assessing potential adaptations to specific habitats or conditions, and the role of ecological segregation in the differentiation of such taxa This information has major implications for conservation as taxonomic delimitation between differentiated populations would reduce their effective population sizes, and increase their threat status, requiring greater overall conservation efforts[13]. We present Capture-Mark-Recapture (CMR) data on the three species that allowed us to investigate the degree of natal philopatry and breeding-site fidelity
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