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ICES Journal of Marine Science: Journal du Conseil Advance Access originally published online on August 17, 2007
ICES Journal of Marine Science: Journal du Conseil 2007 64(7):1348-1355; doi:10.1093/icesjms/fsm120
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© 2007 International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. Published by Oxford Journals. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

How does a generalist seabird species use its marine habitat? The case of the kelp gull in a coastal upwelling area of the Humboldt Current

Roberto Villablanca1, Guillermo Luna-Jorquera1,, Victor H. Marín2, Stefan Garthe3 and Alejandro Simeone4

1 Departamento de Biología Marina, Universidad Católica del Norte, Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Zonas Áridas (CEAZA), Larrondo 1281, Coquimbo, Chile
2 Laboratorio de Modelación Ecológica, Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Casilla 653 Santiago, Chile
3 Research and Technology Centre, University of Kiel, Hafentörn 1, D-25761 Büsum, Germany
4 Escuela de Medicina Veterinaria, Facultad de Ecología y Recursos Naturales, Universidad Nacional Andrés Bello, República 440, Santiago, Chile

Correspondence to G. Luna-Jorquera: tel: +56 51 209816; fax: +56 51 209812; e-mail: gluna{at}ucn.cl

Villablanca, R., Luna-Jorquera, G., Marín, V. H., Garthe, S., and Simeone, A. 2007. How does a generalist seabird species use its marine habitat? The case of the kelp gull in a coastal upwelling area of the Humboldt Current. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 64: 1348–1355.

The distribution of kelp gulls (Larus dominicanus) was studied by ship-based transect counts in the SE Pacific Ocean off Chile, South America. Some 96–98% of the kelp gulls were in a band less than 20 km from the coast, mainly near the breeding colony on Pájaros Island and the City of Coquimbo. Abundance did not change significantly among years, but was influenced significantly by distance to land. Principal component analysis yielded two components that jointly explain 53% of the standardized variance. The first (explaining 36% of the variance) includes distance to the nearest coast and water depth, the second (17%) associates with the presence of fishing vessels. The results suggest that the stability of the summer distribution of kelp gulls is generated by the large and semi-permanent offer of food at fish markets and city sewage works, as well as the location of the breeding colonies. Further analysis on other temporal scales (seasonal, decadal) associated with reproductive or non-reproductive changes within the population and/or ENSO cycles will be necessary to confirm the multiscale stability of the pattern described.

Keywords: Chile, generalist, habitat use, kelp gull, Larus dominicanus, opportunist, seabirds, upwelling zone

Received 27 February 2007; accepted 3 July 2007; advance access publication 17 August 2007.


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