Abstract
The black-capped petrelPterodroma hasitatais an Endangered seabird endemic to the western North Atlantic. Although estimated at ~1000 breeding pairs, only ~100 nests have been located at 2 sites in Haiti and 3 sites in the Dominican Republic. At sea, the species primarily occupies waters of the western Gulf Stream in the Atlantic and the Caribbean Sea. Due to limited data, there is currently no consensus on the geographic marine range of the species although no current proposed ranges include the Gulf of Mexico. Here, we report on observations of black-capped petrels during 2 vessel-based survey efforts throughout the northern Gulf of Mexico from 2010-2011 and 2017-2019. During 558 d and ~54700 km of surveys, we tallied 40 black-capped petrels. Most observations occurred in the eastern Gulf, although birds were observed over much of the east-west and north-south footprint of the survey area. Predictive models indicated that habitat suitability for black-capped petrels was highest in areas associated with dynamic waters of the Loop Current. We used the extent of occurrence and area of occupancy concepts to delimit the geographic range of the species within the northern Gulf. We suggest that the marine range for black-capped petrels be modified to include the northern Gulf of Mexico, recognizing that distribution may be more clumped in the eastern Gulf and that occurrence in the southern Gulf remains unknown due to a lack of surveys there. To date, however, it remains unclear which nesting areas are linked to the Gulf of Mexico.
Highlights
One of the most fundamental needs for wildlife conservation planning is a map of the geographic range of the species of interest (Noss et al 1997, MotaVargas & Rojas-Soto 2012)
Neither systematic surveys nor compilations of records noted any definitive observations of black-capped petrels at sea in the Gulf from ~1900−2010, several opportunistic observations from pelagic birding trips were recorded (Table 1, Fig. 3A; ~9−11 records from the mid-1990s and 2010s)
The Gulf has yet to Results from our surveys suggest that a revision to the marine range of the black-capped petrel appears warranted
Summary
One of the most fundamental needs for wildlife conservation planning is a map of the geographic range of the species of interest (Noss et al 1997, MotaVargas & Rojas-Soto 2012). Without such information, Publisher: Inter-Research · www.int-res.com. The EOO represents the outermost geographic limits of the distribution or occurrence of a species; this boundary is an irregular contiguous line, typically determined from the interpolation of marginal occurrences (e.g. a minimum convex hull; Gaston & Fuller 2009, Mota-Vargas & Rojas-Soto 2012). The AOO can be considered as the within-range occupancy pattern or the area within the EOO with environmental conditions that are likely to meet some set of ecological requirements of the species (Boitani et al 2008, Gaston & Fuller 2009)
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