Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 14 January 2005:
Vol. 307. no. 5707, pp. 249 - 250
DOI: 10.1126/science.1106042
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Global Circumnavigations: Tracking Year-Round Ranges of Nonbreeding Albatrosses

John P. Croxall,* Janet R. D. Silk, Richard A. Phillips, Vsevolod Afanasyev, Dirk R. Briggs

Although albatrosses are paradigms of oceanic specialization, their foraging areas and migration routes when not breeding remain essentially unknown. Our continuous remote tracking of 22 adult gray-headed albatrosses for over 30 bird-years reveals three distinct strategies: (i) Stay in breeding home range; (ii) make return migrations to a specific area of the southwest Indian Ocean; and (iii) make one or more global circumnavigations (the fastest in just 46 days). The consistencies in patterns, routes, and timings offer the first hope of identifying areas of critical habitat for nonbreeding albatrosses, wherein appropriate management of longline fisheries might alleviate the plight of the world's most threatened family of birds.

British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0ET, UK.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jpcr{at}bas.ac.uk

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Tracking Long-Distance Songbird Migration by Using Geolocators.
B. J. M. Stutchbury, S. A. Tarof, T. Done, E. Gow, P. M. Kramer, J. Tautin, J. W. Fox, and V. Afanasyev (2009)
Science 323, 896
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Aeroecology: probing and modeling the aerosphere.
T. H. Kunz, S. A. Gauthreaux Jr, N. I. Hristov, J. W. Horn, G. Jones, E. K. V. Kalko, R. P. Larkin, G. F. McCracken, S. M. Swartz, R. B. Srygley, et al. (2008)
Integr. Comp. Biol. 48, 1-11
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Adaptations to migration in birds: behavioural strategies, morphology and scaling effects.
A. Hedenstrom (2008)
Phil Trans R Soc B 363, 287-299
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Differences in metabolic costs of terrestrial mobility in two closely related species of albatross.
A. P. Kabat, R. A. Phillips, J. P. Croxall, and P. J. Butler (2007)
J. Exp. Biol. 210, 2851-2858
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Spatial and temporal operation of the Scotia Sea ecosystem: a review of large-scale links in a krill centred food web.
E.J Murphy, J.L Watkins, P.N Trathan, K Reid, M.P Meredith, S.E Thorpe, N.M Johnston, A Clarke, G.A Tarling, M.A Collins, et al. (2007)
Phil Trans R Soc B 362, 113-148
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Migratory shearwaters integrate oceanic resources across the Pacific Ocean in an endless summer.
S. A. Shaffer, Y. Tremblay, H. Weimerskirch, D. Scott, D. R. Thompson, P. M. Sagar, H. Moller, G. A. Taylor, D. G. Foley, B. A. Block, et al. (2006)
PNAS 103, 12799-12802
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Conflicting evidence about long-distance animal navigation..
T. Alerstam (2006)
Science 313, 791-794
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Stable isotope evidence of diverse species-specific and individual wintering strategies in seabirds.
Y Cherel, R. A Phillips, K. A Hobson, and R. McGill (2006)
Biol Lett 2, 301-303
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Encounter success of free-ranging marine predator movements across a dynamic prey landscape.
D. W Sims, M. J Witt, A. J Richardson, E. J Southall, and J. D Metcalfe (2006)
Proc R Soc B 273, 1195-1201
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Year-round recordings of behavioural and physiological parameters reveal the survival strategy of a poorly insulated diving endotherm during the Arctic winter.
D. Gremillet, G. Kuntz, A. J. Woakes, C. Gilbert, J.-P. Robin, Y. Le Maho, and P. J. Butler (2005)
J. Exp. Biol. 208, 4231-4241
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)