Sébastien Jaquemet

Sex-specific foraging strategies throughout the breeding season in a tropical, sexually monomorphic small petrel

Two hypotheses have been proposed to explain sex-related differences in foraging in sexually monomorphic seabirds. The ‘intersexual competition’ hypothesis suggests that parents are in competition and that the dominated sex must adapt its behaviour to avoid competing with the dominant one. The ‘energetic constraint’ hypothesis suggests that differential energetic requirements lead to different foraging behaviour. We examined sexual differences in foraging behaviour of a sexually monomorphic tropical seabird, the Barau’s petrel, Pterodroma baraui, throughout the breeding period. We found sexual differences in foraging habitats and activities, but these were not consistent throughout the breeding period. During the prelaying exodus, males foraged further from the colony, in waters with greater surface chlorophyll concentration, and were more active than females. Males systematically took the first incubation shift, which was always longer than the others. However, no sex-related differences in foraging behaviour were observed during the chick-rearing period, both sexes sharing parental duties equally. We suggest that the sexual differences observed early in the breeding period are due to the specific needs of males and females. Females need to restore their body condition as quickly as possible after laying, which forces males to take the first long incubation shift at the nest. This may explain why males forage more actively during the prelaying exodus, to prepare for this long fasting period. Our results support for the first time the ‘energy constraint’ hypothesis to explain sexual differences in behaviour of a small, monomorphic procellariiform seabird.

An inventory of Sooty Terns (Sterna fuscata) in the western Indian Ocean with special reference to threats and trends

The western Indian Ocean supports over 6 200 000 pairs of Sooty Terns, some in very large colonies. During the past two centuries colonies have exhibited increase, stability, decline and extinction. The main drivers of these trends have been habitat change and unregulated human exploitation, especially of adults; introduced predators appear to have little effect at the population level but may have prevented re-colonisation following habitat restoration. Regulated harvesting of eggs, based on increasing knowledge of Sooty Tern demography, appears to be sustainable. Some colonies now receive protection but it will be logistically difficult to extend this to all colonies. The main future threats are likely to be climate change and over-exploitation of tuna, on which Sooty Terns depend to feed. Sooty Terns should be monitored to provide insights into these and other perturbations of the marine ecosystem.

Combining Methods to Describe Important Marine Habitats for Top Predators: Application to Identify Biological Hotspots in Tropical Waters

In tropical waters resources are usually scarce and patchy, and predatory species generally show specific adaptations for foraging. Tropical seabirds often forage in association with sub-surface predators that create feeding opportunities by bringing prey close to the surface, and the birds often aggregate in large multispecific flocks. Here we hypothesize that frigatebirds, a tropical seabird adapted to foraging with low energetic costs, could be a good predictor of the distribution of their associated predatory species, including other seabirds (e.g. boobies, terns) and subsurface predators (e.g., dolphins, tunas). To test this hypothesis, we compared distribution patterns of marine predators in the Mozambique Channel based on a long-term dataset of both vessel- and aerial surveys, as well as tracking data of frigatebirds. By developing species distribution models (SDMs), we identified key marine areas for tropical predators in relation to contemporaneous oceanographic features to investigate multi-species spatial overlap areas and identify predator hotspots in the Mozambique Channel. SDMs reasonably matched observed patterns and both static (e.g. bathymetry) and dynamic (e.g. Chlorophyll a concentration and sea surface temperature) factors were important explaining predator distribution patterns. We found that the distribution of frigatebirds included the distributions of the associated species. The central part of the channel appeared to be the best habitat for the four groups of species considered in this study (frigatebirds, brown terns, boobies and sub-surface predators).

Seasonal variability of bull and tiger shark presence on the west coast of Reunion Island, western Indian Ocean

A fisheries‑independent survey using longlines and drumlines, and an acoustic telemetry study, revealed that bull sharks Carcharhinus leucas and tiger sharks Galeocerdo cuvier occur throughout the year off the west coast of Reunion Island. The research, which commenced in 2011, was conducted in response to an increase in the rate of shark attacks. Juvenile, subadult and young adult tiger sharks of 111–390 cm total length (TL) were caught in all months except July; the sex ratio was 1:1 (M:F; n = 61). All bull sharks taken, except one (183 cm TL), were mature (205–329 cm TL), with a sex ratio of 0.7:1 (M:F; n = 54), and catches occurred throughout the year except in May and August, with the highest CPUE in September. Presence/absence of a total of 46 tagged tiger sharks and 36 tagged bull sharks was monitored by means of 42 acoustic receivers distributed along the west coast of the island. Tagged tiger sharks were detected in all months, with seasonal variation between sexes. Detections of males remained low throughout the year but with a peak in winter, whereas detections of females were low in May and August only and peaked in summer. Tagged bull sharks of both sexes were more abundant in winter than in summer, with females present year round. The reasons for the apparent differences in seasonality found in longline and drumline catches compared to acoustic monitoring are discussed.

Isolation and characterization of 20 microsatellite markers from Carcharhinus leucas (bull shark) and cross-amplification in Galeocerdo cuvier (tiger shark), Carcharhinus obscurus (dusky shark) and Carcharhinus plumbeus (sandbar shark)

With the development of genetics methods, it becomes possible to study the population structure and some aspects of the reproductive behaviour of endangered sharks. Here we describe the isolation of 20 polymorphic microsatellite markers in the bull shark Carcharhinus leucas (Carcharhinidae) and their characteristics. Two to 10 alleles per locus were detected. Observed and expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.00 to 0.78 and from 0.05 to 0.80, respectively. Four markers showed deviations from Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium; among them, three showed presence of null alleles. No linkage disequilibrium was detected among any of the loci. Moreover, four, 11 and 19 of these 20 markers successfully cross-amplified in the tiger shark Galeocerdo cuvier, the sandbar shark Carcharhinus plumbeus and the dusky shark Carcharhinus obscurus, respectively.

Isolation and characterization of eight microsatellite loci from Galeocerdo cuvier (tiger shark) and cross-amplification in Carcharhinus leucas, Carcharhinus brevipinna, Carcharhinus plumbeus and Sphyrna lewini

The tiger shark Galeocerdo cuvier (Carcharhinidae) is a large elasmobranch suspected to have, as other apex predators, a keystone function in marine ecosystems and is currently considered Near Threatened (Red list IUCN). Knowledge on its ecology, which is crucial to design proper conservation and management plans, is very scarce. Here we describe the isolation of eight polymorphic microsatellite loci using 454 GS-FLX Titanium pyrosequencing of enriched DNA libraries. Their characteristics were tested on a population of tiger shark (n = 101) from Reunion Island (South-Western Indian Ocean). All loci were polymorphic with a number of alleles ranging from two to eight. No null alleles were detected and no linkage disequilibrium was detected after Bonferroni correction. Observed and expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.03 to 0.76 and from 0.03 to 0.77, respectively. No locus deviated from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and the global FIS of the population was of 0.04NS. Some of the eight loci developed here successfully cross-amplified in the bull shark Carcharhinus leucas (one locus), the spinner shark Carcharhinus brevipinna (four loci), the sandbar shark Carcharhinus plumbeus (five loci) and the scalloped hammerhead shark Sphyrna lewini (two loci). We also designed primers to amplify and sequence a mitochondrial marker, the control region. We sequenced 862 bp and found a low genetic diversity, with four polymorphic sites, a haplotype diversity of 0.15 and a nucleotide diversity of 2 × 10−4.

Feeding habits and food partitioning between three commercial fish associated with artificial reefs in a tropical coastal environment

At Réunion Island (south-western Indian Ocean), artificial reefs were submerged in 2003 in a bay and were soon colonised by fish, among which were the highly abundant commercial species Lutjanus kasmira, Priacanthus hamrur and Selar crumenophthalmus. The high concentration and diversity of fish around the artificial reefs is surprising, considering the low abundance of potential benthic prey. We investigated the diet and food partitioning between the aforementioned species using stomach content and stable isotope analyses (δ13C, δ15N). Priacanthus hamrur and S. crumenophthalmus fed on a larger prey diversity and showed significant overlap in their diets, with crustacean larvae the dominant prey. Fish larvae dominated L. kasmiras diet, and δ15N values confirmed the species’ higher trophic level. Differences in δ13C between P. hamrur and S. crumenophthalmus indicated niche segregation, probably as a way to reduce competition, with P. hamrur being characterised by a smaller δ13C range and exhibiting a smaller isotopic niche than S. crumenophthalmus. There was a significant correlation between δ15N and fish standard length for the three species, suggesting that ontogeny partially explained the niche breadth. There was also a significant correlation between δ13C and length for L. kasmira, whereas individual specialisation was prevalent in S. crumenophthalmus.

Postfledging parental care and unexpected foraging behaviour of juvenile Sooty Terns Onychoprion fuscata in the southern Mozambique Channel

Article about Postfledging parental care and unexpected foraging behaviour of juvenile Sooty Terns Onychoprion fuscata in the southern Mozambique Channel

Accumulate or eliminate? Seasonal mercury dynamics in albatrosses, the most contaminated family of birds

Albatrosses (Diomedeidae) are iconic pelagic seabirds whose life-history traits (longevity, high trophic position) put them at risk of high levels of exposure to methylmercury (MeHg), a powerful neurotoxin that threatens humans and wildlife. Here, we report total Hg (THg) concentrations in body feathers from 516 individual albatrosses from 35 populations, including all 20 taxa breeding in the Southern Ocean. Our key finding is that albatrosses constitute the family of birds with the highest levels of contamination by Hg, with mean feather THg concentrations in different populations ranging from moderate (3.8 μg/g) to exceptionally high (34.6 μg/g). Phylogeny had a significant effect on feather THg concentrations, with the mean decreasing in the order Diomedea > Phoebetria > Thalassarche. Unexpectedly, moulting habitats (reflected in feather δ13C values) was the main driver of feather THg concentrations, indicating increasing MeHg exposure with decreasing latitude, from Antarctic to subtropical waters. The role of moulting habitat suggests that the majority of MeHg eliminated into feathers by albatrosses is from recent food intake (income strategy). They thus differ from species that depurate MeHg into feathers that has been accumulated in internal tissues between two successive moults (capital strategy). Since albatrosses are amongst the most threatened families of birds, it is noteworthy that two albatrosses listed as Critical by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) that moult and breed in temperate waters are the most Hg-contaminated species (the Amsterdam and Tristan albatrosses). These data emphasize the urgent need for robust assessment of the impact of Hg contamination on the biology of albatrosses and they document the high MeHg level exposure of wildlife living in the most remote marine areas on Earth.