Data storage tags for free-ranging seabirds

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Seabirds are the most detectable and wide-ranging of marine predators, and they feed on many different prey.  Consequently, seabirds are often studied as indicators of changing prey and ocean conditions.  During the past decade or so advances in micro-chip technology have facilitated the development of lightweight data storage tags (DSTs) that can be attached to free-ranging animals.  These small DSTs are revolutionizing our understanding of the movements and habitat use by marine birds over global ocean ecosystems.  DSTs contain sensors that can record external and internal temperature, pressure, position, and ambient light.  When applied to birds, these devices can yield novel and exciting information about foraging and migratory behaviour and habitat use that was previously impossible to investigate scientifically.  The present proposal seeks support to obtain light-temperature DSTs (5.5 g) that can be attached on leg bands to seabirds inhabiting the low arctic marine ecosystem of eastern Canada.  The DSTs being applied for in this application are for attachment to great shearwaters that nest in the south Atlantic (Gough Island) but which are the major seabird consumers of fish on the Newfoundland banks during summer (austral winter).  Because individual birds return to the same nest-sites each breeding season, tagged birds will be recaptured the following their summers in Canadian waters when loggers will be retrieved and minute blood samples taken to determine the sex of the birds.  We will also conduct isotope analyses of feathers grown during the summer to assess the food consumption of the birds while in Canadian waters.  The aim of the research is to assess how seabirds migrate and move through the Atlantic throughout the year.  Knowledge about seabird movements, habitat associations and behavioural ecology outside of their breeding seasons is scant.  Better understanding of how seabirds move about and exploit ocean resources will help us better understand how marine ecosystems function and how they can be better protected and managed.