Residency, recruitment, and stopover duration of hatch-year Roseate Terns (Sterna dougallii) during the premigratory staging period

Kayla L Davis,Sarah M Karpanty,Daniel Gibson,Jeffrey A Spendelow,Jonathan B Cohen,Daniel H Catlin,Cristin F Luttazi,Katharine C Parsons,Melissa A Althouse

doi:10.5751/ace-01416-140211

Abstract

Davis, K. L., S. M. Karpanty, J. A. Spendelow, J. B. Cohen, M. A. Althouse, K. C. Parsons, C. F. Luttazi, D. H. Catlin, and D. Gibson. 2019. Residency, recruitment, and stopover duration of hatch-year Roseate Terns (Sterna dougallii) during the premigratory staging period. Avian Conservation and Ecology 14(2):11. https://doi.org/10.5751/ACE-01416-140211

Highlights

Seabirds are sentinel species in the marine environment (Cairns 1988, Piatt et al 2007, Brisson-Curadeau et al 2017), yet their ecology and distribution during the nonbreeding period is poorly understood (Huettmann and Diamond 2000)
We present data from two postbreeding, premigratory staging seasons (2014 and 2015) at Cape Cod National Seashore to estimate residency, i.e., the probability that an individual hatch-year Roseate Tern present in one survey period at Cape Cod National Seashore is present in the survey period
We estimated recruitment rate, i.e., the per capita change in numbers of hatch-year terns from one survey period to the and staging duration, i.e., the time hatch-year Roseate Terns spent staging at Cape Cod National Seashore

Summary

Introduction

Seabirds are sentinel species in the marine environment (Cairns 1988, Piatt et al 2007, Brisson-Curadeau et al 2017), yet their ecology and distribution during the nonbreeding period is poorly understood (Huettmann and Diamond 2000). This dearth of information is concerning considering that staging, migration, and wintering periods comprise the majority of the avian annual cycle, and conditions during these periods may have carryover effects that influence survival and reproduction in subsequent breeding seasons (Sorensen et al 2009, Harrison et al 2011, Avian Conservation and Ecology 14(2): 11 http://www.ace-eco.org/vol14/iss2/art11/. Studies of Common Terns (Sterna hirundo) have shown that postfledging mass can be a determinant of both survival later in life and age of recruitment into the breeding population (Braasch et al 2009); hatchyear staging condition and its effects on demography may have population-level implications

Methods

Results

Conclusion