Wedge-tailed shearwater adult isotope data 2016-2019
Wedge-tailed shearwaters (Ardenna pacifica) are widely distributed across tropical and subtropical oceans, with their breeding range recently extending south. For populations at their southernmost extent, habitat use, segregation, and trophic niche remain poorly understood. In this study we investigated the habitat use, segregation, and trophic niche in two disjunct populations of wedge-tailed shearwaters in eastern Australia, located at temperate and subtropical latitudes, between 2015 and 2019. Both populations exhibited consistent spatial segregation across all years of the study. Individuals from the temperate population consistently used waters off southeastern Australia, with a pre-staging detour towards the subtropical frontal zone before their winter migration to the western Pacific Ocean, in the Philippine Sea. At the same time, subtropical conspecifics exploited waters further east and north, with a proportion undertaking a pre-staging detour only in the first year. Stable isotope analysis (δ15N and δ13C) of chick feathers further revealed trophic and habitat segregation between colonies, with the subtropical population consistently occupying a smaller trophic niche area and exhibiting lower interannual variation across all years. Both populations exhibited a high degree of interannual variability in foraging strategies and trophic niches, indicating a capacity for behavioural adaptivity in response to prey availability and oceanic conditions. This adaptability may facilitate future range shifts into temperate habitats, which is important given projected climate-driven changes to ocean dynamics in southeastern Australia.
Simple
Identification info
- Date (Publication)
- 2026-05-21T00:00:00
Identifier
- Title
- Information and documentation - Digital object identifier system
- Citation identifier
- ISO 26324:2012
- Code
- 10.25959/3QHB-ET35
- Codespace
- doi.org
- Description
- Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
Principal investigator
- Credit
- The NSW Office of Environment and Heritage and Birdlife Australia
- Status
- Completed
Principal investigator
- Topic category
-
- Biota
Extent
Temporal extent
- Time period
- 2016-01-01 2019-12-31
- Maintenance and update frequency
- Not planned
- Keywords (Theme)
-
- bulk isotopic analysis
- Keywords (Taxon)
-
- Ardenna pacifica
- Global Change Master Directory Earth Science Keywords, Version 8.5
Resource constraints
- Use limitation
- Data, products and services from IMAS are provided "as is" without any warranty as to fitness for a particular purpose.
Resource constraints
- Other constraints
- This dataset is the intellectual property of the University of Tasmania (UTAS) through the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS).
Resource constraints
- Linkage
-
https://licensebuttons.net/l/by-nc/4.0/88x31.png
License Graphic
- Title
- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
- Alternate title
- CC-BY-NC
- Edition
- 4.0
- Website
-
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
License Text
- Other constraints
- Cite data as: Beaver, P. E. (2026). Wedge-tailed shearwater adult isotope data 2016-2019 [Data set]. Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies. https://doi.org/10.25959/3QHB-ET35
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
Distribution Information
- Distribution format
-
- CSV
Resource lineage
- Statement
- Samples were obtained during the summer of 2016 (January–March) from Muttonbird Island Nature Reserve (-30.305ºS, 153.149ºE) and Montague Island Nature Reserve (-36.253ºS, 150.227ºE), from adults returning to the colony to feed their chicks. Sampling occurred during the early to mid-chick rearing period with a total of n = 57 samples collected (n = 16 Muttonbird, n = 41 Montague).
- Hierarchy level
- Dataset
Metadata
- Metadata identifier
- urn:uuid/67b12dab-5fdd-4078-93e2-c1d2962723cb
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
Type of resource
- Resource scope
- Dataset
- Name
- IMAS Dataset level record
- Metadata linkage
-
https://metadata.imas.utas.edu.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/67b12dab-5fdd-4078-93e2-c1d2962723cb
Point of truth URL of this metadata record
- Date info (Creation)
- 2026-02-11T00:00:00
- Date info (Revision)
- 2026-05-21T13:47:39
Metadata standard
- Title
- ISO 19115-3:2018
Overviews
Spatial extent
Provided by
IMAS Metadata Catalogue