St Andrews Research Repository

St Andrews University Home
View Item 
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • View Item
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • View Item
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • View Item
  • Login
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

Patterns of space use in sympatric marine colonial predators reveals scales of spatial partitioning

Thumbnail
View/Open
Jones_2015_MEPS_Patterns_AM.pdf (1.290Mb)
Patterns_of_space_use_in_sympatric_predators_2015_Jones_et_al.pdf (2.260Mb)
Date
27/08/2015
Author
Jones, Esther Lane
McConnell, Bernie J
Smout, Sophie Caroline
Hammond, Philip Steven
Duck, Callan David
Morris, Christopher
Thompson, David
Russell, Deborah Jill Fraser
Vincent, Cecile
Cronin, Michelle
Sharples, Ruth Jemma
Matthiopoulos, Jason
Keywords
Halichoerus grypus
Phoca vitulina
Density estimation
Propagating uncertainty
Species distribution
Telemetry
Area-based conservation
QL Zoology
QH301 Biology
Metadata
Show full item record
Altmetrics Handle Statistics
Altmetrics DOI Statistics
Abstract
Species distribution maps can provide important information to focus conservation efforts and enable spatial management of human activities. Two sympatric marine predators, grey seals Halichoerus grypus and harbour seals Phoca vitulina have overlapping ranges on land and at sea but contrasting population dynamics around Britain: whilst grey seals have generally increased, harbour seals have shown significant regional declines. We analysed two decades of at-sea movement data and terrestrial count data from these species to produce high resolution, broad-scale maps of distribution and associated uncertainty to inform conservation and management. Our results showed that grey seals use offshore areas connected to their haul-out sites by prominent corridors and harbour seals primarily stay within 50km of the coastline. Both species show fine-scale offshore spatial segregation off the east coast of Britain and broad-scale partitioning off western Scotland. These results illustrate that for broad-scale marine spatial planning, the conservation needs of harbour seals (primarily inshore, the exception being selected offshore usage areas) are different from those of grey seals (up to 100km offshore and corridors connecting these areas to haul-out sites). More generally, our results illustrate the importance of detailed knowledge of marine predator distributions to inform marine spatial planning; for instance, spatial prioritisation is not necessarily the most effective spatial planning strategy even when conserving species with similar taxonomy.
Citation
Jones , E L , McConnell , B J , Smout , S C , Hammond , P S , Duck , C D , Morris , C , Thompson , D , Russell , D J F , Vincent , C , Cronin , M , Sharples , R J & Matthiopoulos , J 2015 , ' Patterns of space use in sympatric marine colonial predators reveals scales of spatial partitioning ' , Marine Ecology Progress Series , vol. 534 , pp. 235-249 . https://doi.org/10.3354/meps11370
Publication
Marine Ecology Progress Series
Status
Peer reviewed
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3354/meps11370
ISSN
0171-8630
Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright 2015 Inter-Research Science Center. This work is made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the author created, accepted version manuscript following peer review and may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at https://dx.doi.org/10.3354/meps11370
 
Copyright © 2015 Inter-Research
Description
E.L.J. and D.J.F.R. were funded under Scottish Government grant MMSS001/01. D.J.F.R. was funded by the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) as part of their Offshore Energy Strategic Environmental Assessment programme. S.S. was part-funded by the EU MYFISH project.
Collections
  • University of St Andrews Research
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/9386

Items in the St Andrews Research Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

Advanced Search

Browse

All of RepositoryCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateNamesTitlesSubjectsClassificationTypeFunderThis CollectionBy Issue DateNamesTitlesSubjectsClassificationTypeFunder

My Account

Login

Open Access

To find out how you can benefit from open access to research, see our library web pages and Open Access blog. For open access help contact: openaccess@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Accessibility

Read our Accessibility statement.

How to submit research papers

The full text of research papers can be submitted to the repository via Pure, the University's research information system. For help see our guide: How to deposit in Pure.

Electronic thesis deposit

Help with deposit.

Repository help

For repository help contact: Digital-Repository@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Give Feedback

Cookie policy

This site may use cookies. Please see Terms and Conditions.

Usage statistics

COUNTER-compliant statistics on downloads from the repository are available from the IRUS-UK Service. Contact us for information.

© University of St Andrews Library

University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland, No SC013532.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter