Colony-Site Selection Drives Management Priorities for Yelkouan Shearwater Populations

We tested whether colony-site availability could allow for an increase in the unusually small breeding populations of yelkouan shearwater (Puffinus yelkouan) on the islands of the Port-Cros National Park (France) if feral cat eradication were undertaken. Comparisons between colony and noncolony site...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of wildlife management 2008-07, Vol.72 (5), p.1188-1193
Main Authors: Bourgeois, Karen, Vidal, Eric, Comor, Vincent, Legrand, Jerome, Dromzee, Sylvain
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal populations
Birds
Breeding
breeding habitat selection
Burrows
Cats
Conservation biology
Environmental conservation
Environmental management
feral animals
French Mediterranean islands
Geographic information systems
Habitat conservation
habitat preferences
Habitat selection
Habitats
islands
logistic regression
Management and Conservation
Marine
mixed forests
Modeling
National parks
nesting sites
Population ecology
predators
Puffinus
Puffinus yelkouan
Rats
seabirds
Site selection
Studies
suitable colony-site availability
wildlife habitats
wildlife management
yelkouan shearwater
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Summary:We tested whether colony-site availability could allow for an increase in the unusually small breeding populations of yelkouan shearwater (Puffinus yelkouan) on the islands of the Port-Cros National Park (France) if feral cat eradication were undertaken. Comparisons between colony and noncolony sites indicated yelkouan shearwaters preferred deep-soiled and low-outcrop–covered coastal sites. A substrate cover, light avoidance, and sea proximity model suggested that 17.5% of unoccupied sites are suitable for colony establishment. The low proportion of suitable sites currently used by yelkouan shearwaters suggests that these colonies could be refuges and that feral cat eradication will probably lead to a breeding population increase.
ISSN:0022-541X
1937-2817
DOI:10.2193/2007-052