Placing Local Aggregations in a Larger-Scale Context: Hierarchical Modeling of Black-Footed Albatross Dispersion

Autor: Pamela E. Michael, K. D. Hyrenbach, Jaime Jahncke
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2016
Předmět:
0106 biological sciences
Atmospheric Science
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences
Marine and Aquatic Sciences
lcsh:Medicine
Forcing (mathematics)
Albatross
Wind
Oceanography
01 natural sciences
California
Geographical locations
Atmospheric Dynamics
lcsh:Science
Multidisciplinary
Latitude
Geography
Ecology
Physics
Seabirds
Geophysics
Physical Sciences
Vertebrates
Environmental Monitoring
Research Article
Statistical Distributions
Cartography
Context (language use)
Environment
Birds
Meteorology
Animals
Statistical dispersion
Transect
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Atmosphere
010604 marine biology & hydrobiology
lcsh:R
Organisms
Biology and Life Sciences
Probability Theory
Statistical Dispersion
Atmospheric Physics
United States
North America
Amniotes
Spatial ecology
Earth Sciences
Upwelling
Environmental science
lcsh:Q
People and places
Mathematics
Zdroj: PLoS ONE, Vol 11, Iss 4, p e0153783 (2016)
PLoS ONE
ISSN: 1932-6203
Popis: At-sea surveys facilitate the study of the distribution and abundance of marine birds along standardized transects, in relation to changes in the local environmental conditions and large-scale oceanographic forcing. We analyzed the form and the intensity of black-footed albatross (Phoebastria nigripes: BFAL) spatial dispersion off central California, using five years (2004-2008) of vessel-based surveys of seven replicated survey lines. We related BFAL patchiness to local, regional and basin-wide oceanographic variability using two complementary approaches: a hypothesis-based model and an exploratory analysis. The former tested the strength and sign of hypothesized BFAL responses to environmental variability, within a hierarchical atmosphere-ocean context. The latter explored BFAL cross-correlations with atmospheric / oceanographic variables. While albatross dispersion was not significantly explained by the hierarchical model, the exploratory analysis revealed that aggregations were influenced by static (latitude, depth) and dynamic (wind speed, upwelling) environmental variables. Moreover, the largest BFAL patches occurred along the survey lines with the highest densities, and in association with shallow banks. In turn, the highest BFAL densities occurred during periods of negative Pacific Decadal Oscillation index values and low atmospheric pressure. The exploratory analyses suggest that BFAL dispersion is influenced by basin-wide, regional-scale and local environmental variability. Furthermore, the hypothesis-based model highlights that BFAL do not respond to oceanographic variability in a hierarchical fashion. Instead, their distributions shift more strongly in response to large-scale ocean-atmosphere forcing. Thus, interpreting local changes in BFAL abundance and dispersion requires considering diverse environmental forcing operating at multiple scales.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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