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Agriculture, fertilizers and life history of a coastal seabird
Article first published online: 10 APR 2007
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2656.2007.01235.x
Additional Information
How to Cite
MØLLER, A. P., FLENSTED-JENSEN, E. and MARDAL, W. (2007), Agriculture, fertilizers and life history of a coastal seabird. Journal of Animal Ecology, 76: 515–525. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2656.2007.01235.x
Publication History
- Issue published online: 10 APR 2007
- Article first published online: 10 APR 2007
- Received 4 December 2006; accepted 8 February 2007
- Abstract
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Keywords:
- Arctic tern;
- clutch size;
- longevity;
- North Atlantic Oscillation;
- recruitment;
- Southern Oscillation;
- Sterna paradisaea;
- timing of breeding
Summary
- 1Leakage of fertilizers from farmland has affected levels of nitrogen and phosphorus in many coastal areas, reducing limitation of primary productivity with consequences for timing and magnitude of the annual peak in phytoplankton and zooplankton. Such changes in nutrient availability may have affected temporal patterns of abundance of marine invertebrates and vertebrates that are the main prey of seabirds.
- 2We investigated the extent to which changes in the use of fertilizers by farmers affected timing of breeding, clutch size, recruitment and longevity of a coastal seabird, the Arctic tern Sterna paradisaea Pont., in Denmark.
- 3Timing of breeding advanced with the increase in use of fertilizers, with an effect as a consequence of a phenotypic response of individuals exposed to different levels of fertilizers.
- 4Annual mean clutch size increased with the amount of fertilizer. While individual Arctic terns increased their clutch size with fertilizer level, there was no evidence of individual Arctic terns in different years changing their clutch size in response to changes in fertilizer use.
- 5Annual recruitment rate, estimated as the proportion of young that were subsequently recovered as adults, was related to fertilizer use.
- 6Mean longevity, estimated as the maximum age of adult individuals, decreased in response to fertilizer use.
- 7These findings provide evidence of fertilizer use in agriculture having significant indirect effects on timing of reproduction, clutch size, recruitment and longevity of a seabird.