Abstract
We investigated the foraging habitats of the winter breeding community of tropical seabirds from Europa Island (Mozambique Channel) in September 2003. We focused our study on the dominant species of this austral community, the sooty tern (Sterna fuscata), the red-footed booby (Sula sula), and the frigatebirds, including the great (Fregata minor) and the lesser frigatebirds (F. ariel). We considered the at-sea distribution and abundance of these species in relation to chlorophyll concentration, sea-surface temperatures, sea-surface height anomalies, depth of the thermocline, distance to the colony, and presence of surface marine predators, flying fishes and other seabirds. Although the marine environment where seabirds foraged was oligotrophic, it presents the best feeding opportunities for seabirds for the area in winter. Our study demonstrates that the winter-breeding seabird species of Europa Island tend to forage in productive waters in association with other marine predators when possible. Sooty terns and frigatebirds were widely distributed in the whole study area, whereas red-footed boobies were not found farther than 160 km from their colonies and were associated with relatively productive waters. Sooty terns and red-footed boobies were aggregated where flying fishes were abundant. The presence of other marine predators was associated with larger multispecies feeding flocks than when no association occurred. Sooty terns, which are numerically dominant at Europa and adopted network foraging, seem to be catalysts of feeding events, and represented a good target for the other foraging species, especially frigatebirds. However, when possible, frigatebirds favour association with flocks of red-footed boobies.
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Acknowledgements
We are indebted to the Préfet de la Réunion for authorisation to conduct research in the Exclusive Economic Zone of Europa Island. The research cruise was possible with the financial and logistical support of the IRD (UR THETIS). S.J. benefited from a PhD grant from the French government. We thank the captain and crew of the longliner “Cap Morgane” for their help at sea and their good humour during the whole cruise, and D. Hyrenbach for extracting the chlorophyll data.
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Communicated by S.A. Poulet, Roscoff
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Jaquemet, S., Le Corre, M., Marsac, F. et al. Foraging habitats of the seabird community of Europa Island (Mozambique Channel). Marine Biology 147, 573–582 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-005-1610-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-005-1610-0