Acute impacts of biologging devices on the diving behaviour of Manx shearwaters

Abstract Biologging studies rely on the assumption that equipped animal behaviours are representative of the ones displayed by unequipped individuals. Identifying any tagging effects is therefore necessary to correctly interpret recorded data from equipped animals. The majority of seabird studies re...

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Main Authors: Manon Clairbaux, Jamie H. Darby, Emma Caulfield, Mark J. Jessopp
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2025-01-01
Series:Animal Biotelemetry
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s40317-025-00399-0
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author Manon Clairbaux
Jamie H. Darby
Emma Caulfield
Mark J. Jessopp
author_facet Manon Clairbaux
Jamie H. Darby
Emma Caulfield
Mark J. Jessopp
author_sort Manon Clairbaux
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Biologging studies rely on the assumption that equipped animal behaviours are representative of the ones displayed by unequipped individuals. Identifying any tagging effects is therefore necessary to correctly interpret recorded data from equipped animals. The majority of seabird studies report an absence of tag effects using broad metrics such as breeding success or foraging trip duration. However, animals may compensate for tag attachment through increased effort or behavioural responses. We compared foraging trip and dive characteristics of 42 breeding Manx shearwaters (Puffinus puffinus) equipped with a range of biologging tags representing 0.9–3.7% body mass. There was no evidence that increasing tag weight affected foraging trip duration, but individuals equipped with heavier tags travelled shorter distances and at slower speed as well as spending more time in Area Restricted Search behaviour. The number of dives performed per hour of foraging trip was not affected by increasing tag weight, but individuals with the heaviest tags conducted shorter and shallower dives with slower ascent rates than those equipped with lighter tags. Additionally, birds equipped with the heaviest tags increased resting time between dives, suggesting a need to recover from a greater physiological cost of diving when equipped. Our study is one of the few that describe acute tagging impacts on seabird diving behaviour and foraging effort, suggesting that deployments should be kept as short as possible to limit cumulative impacts.
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language English
publishDate 2025-01-01
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series Animal Biotelemetry
spelling doaj-art-bda526e6cd7540a19e4e229d6a2c545b2025-02-02T12:13:36ZengBMCAnimal Biotelemetry2050-33852025-01-0113111110.1186/s40317-025-00399-0Acute impacts of biologging devices on the diving behaviour of Manx shearwatersManon Clairbaux0Jamie H. Darby1Emma Caulfield2Mark J. Jessopp3School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University College CorkSchool of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University College CorkSchool of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University College CorkSchool of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University College CorkAbstract Biologging studies rely on the assumption that equipped animal behaviours are representative of the ones displayed by unequipped individuals. Identifying any tagging effects is therefore necessary to correctly interpret recorded data from equipped animals. The majority of seabird studies report an absence of tag effects using broad metrics such as breeding success or foraging trip duration. However, animals may compensate for tag attachment through increased effort or behavioural responses. We compared foraging trip and dive characteristics of 42 breeding Manx shearwaters (Puffinus puffinus) equipped with a range of biologging tags representing 0.9–3.7% body mass. There was no evidence that increasing tag weight affected foraging trip duration, but individuals equipped with heavier tags travelled shorter distances and at slower speed as well as spending more time in Area Restricted Search behaviour. The number of dives performed per hour of foraging trip was not affected by increasing tag weight, but individuals with the heaviest tags conducted shorter and shallower dives with slower ascent rates than those equipped with lighter tags. Additionally, birds equipped with the heaviest tags increased resting time between dives, suggesting a need to recover from a greater physiological cost of diving when equipped. Our study is one of the few that describe acute tagging impacts on seabird diving behaviour and foraging effort, suggesting that deployments should be kept as short as possible to limit cumulative impacts.https://doi.org/10.1186/s40317-025-00399-0BiotelemetryBehavioural compensationForaging behaviourSeabird trackingTag effectsTag weight
spellingShingle Manon Clairbaux
Jamie H. Darby
Emma Caulfield
Mark J. Jessopp
Acute impacts of biologging devices on the diving behaviour of Manx shearwaters
Animal Biotelemetry
Biotelemetry
Behavioural compensation
Foraging behaviour
Seabird tracking
Tag effects
Tag weight
title Acute impacts of biologging devices on the diving behaviour of Manx shearwaters
title_full Acute impacts of biologging devices on the diving behaviour of Manx shearwaters
title_fullStr Acute impacts of biologging devices on the diving behaviour of Manx shearwaters
title_full_unstemmed Acute impacts of biologging devices on the diving behaviour of Manx shearwaters
title_short Acute impacts of biologging devices on the diving behaviour of Manx shearwaters
title_sort acute impacts of biologging devices on the diving behaviour of manx shearwaters
topic Biotelemetry
Behavioural compensation
Foraging behaviour
Seabird tracking
Tag effects
Tag weight
url https://doi.org/10.1186/s40317-025-00399-0
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AT emmacaulfield acuteimpactsofbiologgingdevicesonthedivingbehaviourofmanxshearwaters
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