Abstract:
Predicting the impact of human activities and their derivable consequences, such as global warming or direct wildlife
mortality, is increasingly relevant in our changing world. Due to their particular life history traits, long-lived migrants are
amongst the most endangered and sensitive group of animals to these harming effects. Our ability to identify and quantify
such anthropogenic threats in both breeding and wintering grounds is, therefore, of key importance in the field of
conservation biology. Using long-term capture-recapture data (34 years, 4557 individuals) and year-round tracking data (4
years, 100 individuals) of a trans-equatorial migrant, the Cory’s shearwater (Calonectris diomedea), we investigated the
impact of longline fisheries and climatic variables in both breeding and wintering areas on the most important
demographic trait of this seabird, i.e. adult survival. Annual adult survival probability was estimated at 0.91460.022 on
average, declining throughout 1978–1999 but recovering during the last decade (2005–2011). Our results suggest that both
the incidental bycatch associated with longline fisheries and high sea surface temperatures (indirectly linked to food
availability; SST) increased mortality rates during the long breeding season (March-October). Shearwater survival was also
negatively affected during the short non-breeding season (December-February) by positive episodes of the Southern
Oscillation Index (SOI). Indirect negative effects of climate at both breeding (SST) and wintering grounds (SOI) had a greater
impact on survival than longliner activity, and indeed these climatic factors are those which are expected to present more
unfavourable trends in the future. Our work underlines the importance of considering both breeding and wintering habitats
as well as precise schedules/phenology when assessing the global role of the local impacts on the dynamics of migratory
species.
