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Microplastics are increasingly pervasive pollutants, particularly abundant in the neuston where they drift with currents. We assessed dietary microplastic ingestion in the Mediterranean storm petrel (Hydrobates pelagicus melitensis), a small pelagic seabird that forages on plankton and inhabit the Mediterranean sea, one of the most polluted seas worldwide. We collected spontaneous regurgitates from 30 chick-rearing individuals and used GPS tracking data from 7 additional individuals to locate foraging areas. Birds foraged in pelagic areas characterized by water stirring and mixing, and regurgitates from 14 individuals (i.e. 45 %) contained microplastics. Fibers were the dominant shape (56 %), with polyester, polyethylene and nylon being the most frequent polymers. Our findings highlight the potential sensitivity of this species of conservation interest to plastic pollution and suggest that storm petrel regurgitates can be a valuable matrix to investigate microplastic ingestion in planktonic foragers, providing a characterization of spatio-temporal patterns of microplastic exposure in pelagic environments.

Ocean mesoscale and submesoscale features, such as eddies and filaments, play a key role in the foraging ecology of marine predators, by concentrating nutrients and acting as aggregative structures for pelagic organisms. Highly pelagic seabirds may exploit these features to find profitable food patches in a dynamic and complex 3-dimensional spatial environment. Using miniaturized GPS loggers, we investigated whether foraging habitat selection of the Mediterranean storm petrel Hydrobates pelagicus melitensis, one of the smallest (ca. 28 g) seabirds worldwide, was affected by different static and dynamic oceanographic features during the breeding period. Individuals performed long foraging trips (up to 1113 km) in a relatively short time (1 to 2 d), covering large home ranges (up to 34370 km2), particularly during incubation. Different oceanographic features affected the at-sea distribution of storm petrels at different spatio-temporal scales. During incubation, individuals selected areas characterized by shallow waters and strong currents, conditions that may enhance vertical water mixing and increase food availability. During chick-rearing, they foraged closer to the colony, selecting shallow and productive areas, where increasing Lagrangian coherent structures and eddy kinetic energy enhanced foraging probability. These features could play an important role in storm petrels’ foraging habitat selection, especially during chick-rearing, given their need to find predictable food patches in a short timespan. Overall, our results suggest that marine circulation processes are key drivers of the at-sea distribution of this small pelagic surface predator.

Although ingestion of plastic by tubenosed seabirds has been documented regularly, identification of the polymer composition of these plastics has rarely been described. Polymer assessment may assist in identifying sources and may indicate risks from additives occurring in specific types of polymers. Using known test materials, two identification methods Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and near infrared spectroscopy (FTIR and NIR) were compared. Although both methods were found to be similarly suitable for identification of plastic polymers, a significant difference was observed in identification of natural materials. FTIR frequently misclassified natural materials as being a synthetic polymer. Within our results, an 80% match score threshold functioned best to distinguish between natural items and synthetics. Using NIR, the historical variability of plastics ingested by northern fulmars (Fulmarus glacialis) from the Dutch sector of the North Sea was analysed for three time periods since the 1980s. For the more recent decade, variability between fulmars from different regions in the northeast Atlantic was investigated. Regional variation was further explored by analysing plastics obtained from the stomachs of southern hemisphere relatives of the fulmar (southern fulmar, cape petrel, snow petrel) and Wilson’s storm petrel. Results show that proportional abundance of polymer types in these seabirds is closely related to the plastic categories that they ingest (e.g. pellets, foam, fragments). The uptake of different plastic categories and related polymer types most likely reflects spatial and temporal variations in availability rather than ingestion preferences of the birds. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s11356-020-10540-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The storm-petrels (Oceanitidae and Hydrobatidae) are a diverse and threatened group of marine birds. Three species of storm-petrels are breeding in the Atacama Desert: Elliot’s Storm Petrel (Oceani...

This first zooarchaeological analysis for the Islands of Four Mountains (IFM), Aleutian Islands, Alaska, provides data about local hunter-gatherer resource exploitation over three thousand yr. The majority of zooarchaeological material represents faunal resources that were harvested within several kilometers of villages. Our analysis shows that IFM subsistence system was shaped by the small size of these islands, which is mostly true for all of the Aleutian Islands. The archaeological middens indicate that Aleuts readily exploited new resources when they became available, expanding their dietary niche. Despite human harvesting, most faunal populations remained stable; however, Aleuts overexploited the storm-petrel colony on Carlisle Island.

Shipboard observations were conducted during the Sea of Okhotsk walleye pollock expedition in January–April 2015. The surveys showed that the modern winter avifauna of the open waters of the Sea of Okhotsk includes at least 19 species of seabirds. According to transect survey data, the average distribution density of all birds was 10.0 ind./km2. Alcids (47.9%), procellariids (33.1%), and larids (18.8%) dominated among the winter populations, while albatrosses and storm petrels each accounted for 0.1%. The short-tailed shearwater, fork-tailed storm petrel, black-legged kittiwake, red-legged kittiwake, pigeon guillemot, and tufted puffin were recorded in the inner part of the sea in the winter for the first time. The changes in seabird populations might be due to a significant reduction in the ice cover of the Sea of Okhotsk.

In the Beskydy Mountains (Lachia area, 49°25′/20°15′), Northern Fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis) was caught of spring, probably before the school year 1902-03, probably in Nižní Lhoty in Silesia. The record of this specimen without any information in a school in Opava and an incomplete report of J. Vrbka about “Common Fulmar” in the Olomouc region (probably European Storm Petrel, Hydrobates pelagicus) do not exclude occasional flights of Tubenoses into the inland Silesia and central Moravia in the past.

Examining body mass and physiological parameters in breeding adults may provide valuable insight into parental efforts provided by males and females at a given stage of breeding. Here, we examined body mass and physiological variables (hemoglobin and cholesterol concentrations, leukocyte profile) in males and females in a small pelagic seabird, the European Storm Petrel (Hydrobates p. pelagicus) during the incubation period. We expected females to be in poorer physiological condition compared to males because of their assumed higher investment (production of costly egg, with all other parental activities performed being similar). Contrary to our expectation, we did not find sex differences in the hematological values, indicating similar non-resource–based costs of reproduction. Also, we found females in good nutritional state, being heavier and having higher cholesterol concentration than males. Although we are not able to explicitly identify mechanisms responsible for the pattern observed, we su...

Repeated exposure to elevated levels of glucocorticoids during development can have long‐term detrimental effects on survival and fitness, potentially associated with increased telomere attrition. Nestling birds are regularly handled for ecological research, yet few authors have considered the potential for handling‐induced stress to influence hormonally mediated phenotypic development or bias interpretations of subsequent focal measurements. We experimentally manipulated the handling experience of the semi‐precocial nestlings of European Storm Petrel Hydrobates pelagicus to simulate handling in a typical field study and examined cumulative effects on physiology and condition in late postnatal development. Neither baseline corticosterone (the primary glucocorticoid in birds), telomere length nor body condition varied with the number of handling episodes. The absence of a response could be explained if Storm Petrels did not perceive handling to be stressful or if there is dissociation of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis from stressful stimuli in early life. Eliciting a response to a stressor may be maladaptive for cavity‐dwelling young that are unable to escape or defend themselves. Furthermore, avoiding elevated overall glucocorticoid exposure may be particularly important in a long‐lived species, in which accelerated early‐life telomere erosion could impact negatively upon longevity. We propose that the level of colony‐wide disturbance induced by investigator handling of young could be important in underlining species‐specific responses. Storm Petrel nestlings appear unresponsive to investigator handling within the limits of handling in a typical field study and handling at this level should not bias physiological and morphological measurements.

Halogenated natural products (HNPs) are widespread compounds found at high concentrations in top predators such as seabirds. This paper reviews available data on methoxylated polybrominated diphenyl ethers (MeO-BDEs), heptachloro-1'-methyl-1,2'-bipyrrole (Q1) and 1,1'-dimethyl-2,2'-bipyrroles (HDBPs) in these animals. In all, 25 papers reported such HNPs in seabirds. White tailed sea eagle from Sweden was the seabird species with higher MeO-BDEs levels in eggs and blood, while in liver the European shag from Norway was the one. Regarding HDBPs, glaucous gull livers from North Water Polynya and Leach's storm petrel eggs from South Canada (NE Atlantic) showed the highest levels, while brown skua eggs presented the highest concentration of Q1. DBP-Br4Cl2 and DBP-Br6 were the most abundant HDBPs in seabirds, although only one study investigated DBP-Br6. Furthermore, 2'-MeO-BDE-68/6'-MeO-BDE-47 ratios were lower than one in mostly of the studies (91%). The main sources of methoxylated congeners found in seabirds might to be from sponges and/or associated organisms (bacteria). The scarcity of data in seabirds showed the gap in knowledge. Few studies were done especially in tropical areas and Southern Hemisphere and the most were conducted in the northwest part of the globe. This review arouses the need of knowledge about the distribution of these compounds in seabirds worldwide as well as it encourages toxicological studies to better understand the possible effects of HNPs on seabirds.

Ashy storm-petrels (order Procellariiformes) are seabirds that are found along the coast of California to Baja Mexico. A novel gyrovirus was identified from a cloacal swab of an ashy storm-petrel, which is the second gyrovirus to be identified in sea birds, the first being found in the related northern fulmar.

Conditions experienced during early life can have profound consequences for both short- and long-term fitness. Variation in the natal environment has been shown to influence survival and reproductive performance of entire cohorts in wild vertebrate populations. Telomere dynamics potentially provide a link between the early environment and long-term fitness outcomes, yet we know little about how the environment can influence telomere dynamics in early life. We found that environmental conditions during growth have an important influence on early-life telomere length (TL) and attrition in nestlings of a long-lived bird, the European storm petrel Hydrobates pelagicus. Nestlings reared under unfavourable environmental conditions experienced significantly greater telomere loss during postnatal development compared with nestlings reared under more favourable natal conditions, which displayed a negligible change in TL. There was, however, no significant difference in pre-fledging TL between cohorts. The results suggest that early-life telomere dynamics could contribute to the marked differences in life-history traits that can arise among cohorts reared under different environmental conditions. Early-life TL was also found to be a significant predictor of survival during the nestling phase, providing further evidence for a link between variation in TL and individual fitness. To what extent the relationship between early-life TL and mortality during the nestling phase is a consequence of genetic, parental and environmental factors is currently unknown, but it is an interesting area for future research. Accelerated telomere attrition under unfavourable conditions, as observed in this study, might play a role in mediating the effects of the early-life environment on later-life performance., Summary: The environment strongly influences early-life telomere attrition, suggesting that telomere dynamics may underlie cohort effects often observed in natural populations and may mechanistically link early-life stress and later-life performance.

International audience; Reliable population estimates are needed for the conservation management of seabird populations. Failing to account for detection probability in surveys often leads to underestimate population size and, if detection probability varies among surveys, to bias the estimated trends. This is particularly relevant for storm petrels, which are widespread small burrow- or cavity-nesting seabirds, which have low detection probabilities on land and at sea and whose population status and trends are the least known among seabirds. Here, we used the distance sampling method to estimate detection probability and breeding population size of the cavity-nesting Wilson’s Storm Petrel (Oceanites oceanicus) in the Pointe Géologie archipelago, East Antarctica. Detection probability was 0.353 ± 0.053 and the average density of active nests was 45.53 ± 15.63 nests/ha. The proportion of nests occupied by breeders was estimated using an endoscope on a sample of nests and was 0.455 ± 0.053. The breeding population was estimated to be 793 (95% CI 344–1359) breeding pairs in January 2016. We advocate the distance sampling method as a robust approach to estimate abundance of breeding Wilson’s Storm Petrels in Antarctica. Comparison with an earlier survey suggests that the population has decreased over the past 30 years, possibly partly due to a reduction in nesting habitat following the extension of the surface area occupied by penguin colonies.

Many studies in disease and ecological immunology rely on the use of assays that quantify the amount of specific antibodies (immunoglobulin) in samples. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) are increasingly used in ecology due to their availability for a broad array of antigens and the limited amount of sampling material they require. Two recurrent methodological issues are nevertheless faced by researchers: (1) the limited availability of immunological assays and reagents developed for non-model species, and (2) the statistical determination of the cut-off threshold used to distinguish individual samples that are likely to have or not to have antibodies against a specific antigen. Here, we outline two solutions to deal with these issues. First, we show that implementing two assays with differing detection methods can help validate the use of reagents, such as antibodies, in species different from their intended target. We illustrate this by comparing the quantification of specific vaccinal antibodies against Newcastle disease virus (NDV) using two ELISA approaches in four seabird species (Cory's shearwater, European shag, European storm petrel and Southern rockhopper penguin). Second, we provide a simple way to determine from the distribution of ELISA values whether the assayed samples are likely to be made of a single group of individuals (likely negative) or of two groups of individuals (negative and positive). We illustrate the use of this approach with two independent datasets: NDV antibody levels following vaccination and anti-Borrelia antibody levels following natural exposure. The practical implementation of these methodological approaches could provide a way to efficiently apply ELISAs and other immune-based assays to address questions in the growing fields of ecological immunology and disease ecology. A plain language summary is available for this article.

In this study, we report the complete mitochondrial genome sequence of the Endangered Band-rumped Storm Petrel (Oceanodroma castro), a globally distributed seabird. The mitogenome is 17,023 bp in l...

Estimations on the influence of evolutionary and ecological forces as drivers of population gene diversity and genetic structure have been performed on a growing number of colonial seabirds, but many remain poorly studied. In particular, the population genetic structure of storm-petrels (Hydrobatidae) has been evaluated in only a few of the 24 recognized species. We assessed the genetic diversity and population structure of the Black Storm-Petrel ( Hydrobates melania) and the Least Storm-Petrel ( Hydrobates microsoma) in the Gulf of California. The two species were selected because they are pelagic seabirds with comparable ecological traits and breeding grounds. Recent threats such as introduced species of predators and human disturbance have resulted in a decline of many insular vertebrate populations in this region and affected many different aspects of their life histories (ranging from reproductive success to mate selection), with a concomitant loss of genetic diversity. To elucidate to what extent the population genetic structure occurs in H. melania and H. microsoma, we used 719 base pairs from the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase c subunit I gene. The evaluation of their molecular diversity, genetic structure, and gene flow were performed through diversity indices, analyses of molecular and spatial variance, and isolation by distance (IBD) across sampling sites, respectively. The population genetic structure (via AMOVA and SAMOVA) and isolation by distance (pairwise p-distances and FST/1– FST(using ΦST) were inferred for H. microsoma. However, for H. melania evidence was inconclusive. We discuss explanations leading to divergent population genetic structure signatures in these species, and the consequences for their conservation.

Although abnormal or injured legs are not uncommon in Hydrobatidae, they are rarely investigated. We aimed in this study to estimate the frequency of leg abnormalities and determine health status (expressed by leucocyte profile) in molecularly sexed European Storm-Petrels (Hydrobates p. pelagicus) captured on the Faroe Islands. We found that 2.4% of individuals captured during the breding season had some leg abnormalities. Half of the birds with abnormalities had puffinosis-like changes, while the rest were missing some part of the leg. Both types of abnormalities were recorded in the two sexes with similar frequency. The proportion of the birds with leg abnormalities seems to be relatively low compared to other Procellariiformes, and stable over time. Despite the apparent disability of the birds with leg abnormalities, we found no significant effect of abnormality status on the leucocyte profile.

We present what is known about the Gulf of Guinea band-rumped storm petrels Hydrobates cf. castro to identify priority areas for research and conservation. Addressed are: occurrence in the Gulf of Guinea, including museum specimens, at-sea records, observations on the islands, and potential breeding sites; seasonality, the timing of breeding inferred from condition of trapped birds and birds at sea in primary moult; morphology, including biometrics, structure, plumage aspect; aerial vocalisations at the suspected breeding grounds; and taxonomy. The first photographs and sonograms pertaining to this population to be published are also presented. The evidence indicates that this storm petrel is present in the Gulf of Guinea year-round. It almost certainly breeds on Sao Tome during both the wet and long dry seasons, and breeding is probably protracted, possibly seasonal. Morphology indicates a degree of distinctiveness and aerial vocalisations suggest possible taxonomic affinities with Cape Verde Storm Petrel H. jabejabe. Our observations are provisional and further research is required. The three most pressing matters for future research are clarifying taxonomy, locating breeding colonies and identifying key threats.

None of the indices of population change for seabirds in the northeast Atlantic have included European Storm Petrel Hydrobates pelagicus, because their cryptic breeding behaviour makes monitoring difficult. The aim of this paper is to present the results of a long-term project to monitor this species on Priest Island, one of the largest breeding colonies in Scotland. Mark–recapture and playback-response methods both showed a steep decline in the population size between 2001 and 2012. The population estimate at the main study site used for mark–recapture was 8,472 birds ± 1,466 (standard error) in 2001 and has declined by about 460 birds per year to 3,854 ± 437 in 2012. The adult annual survival rate was high in 2001/02 and 2002/03 but has since fluctuated between 0.73 and 0.83; these survival estimates are lower than those for the whole of Britain & Ireland estimated from ring recoveries (0.86 from 1967 to 1996, and above 0.9 since 2007/08). Recaptures of birds at three sites at varying distances from the...