Wedge-tailed shearwater isotope data 2016-2018
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)
- 2026-02-11T00:00:00
Principal investigator
- Credit
- The NSW Office of Environment and Heritage and Birdlife Australia
- Status
- Completed
Principal investigator
- Topic category
-
- Oceans
Extent
Temporal extent
- Time period
- 2016-01-01 2018-05-15
- 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
- The citation in a list of references is: "Citation author name/s (year metadata published), metadata title. Citation author organisation/s. File identifier and Data accessed at (add http link)."
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
Distribution Information
- Distribution format
-
- CSV
- OnLine resource
- DATA ACCESS - WTSW isotopic data [.xlsx]
Resource lineage
- Statement
- Body feathers were collected from both populations, sampled from randomly chosen chicks during the chick-provisioning phase of each breeding year (2016, n = 77; 2017, n = 60; and 2018, n = 57). Between four and six feathers were plucked from the chest or dorsal area behind the wings (Cherel et al., 2000; Thompson et al., 2015). Large contaminants were removed by rinsing feathers with deionised water and placing them on an orbital shaker for 2448 hours. Feathers were then oven dried at 50°C for 2448 hours. Surface lipids were removed using a 2:1 solution of chloroform and methanol, after which feathers were air dried, placed in glass vials, and ground into a fine powder (Bontempo et al., 2014) for analysis at the Environmental Analysis Laboratory (Southern Cross University, Lismore, Australia). Stable isotope ratios of carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) were measured using a Thermo Fisher Delta V plus isotope ratio mass spectrometer (IRMS) coupled to an elemental analyser (Thermo Fisher Flash EA) via an interface (Thermo Fisher Conflo IV). Results are expressed in parts per thousand (‰) in the typical δ notation relative to Vienna PeeDee belemnite and atmospheric N2 for δ13C and δ15N, respectively. Internal laboratory standards were reproduced against absolute International Atomic Energy Agency standards with a precision of 0.15‰ and 0.30‰ for δ13C and δ15N, respectively.
- Hierarchy level
- Dataset
- Hierarchy level
- Dataset
Metadata
- Metadata identifier
- urn:uuid/88702d74-8da0-4f99-97ec-d31661082dc4
- 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/88702d74-8da0-4f99-97ec-d31661082dc4
Point of truth URL of this metadata record
- Date info (Creation)
- 2026-02-11T00:00:00
- Date info (Revision)
- 2026-02-11T00:00:00
Metadata standard
- Title
- ISO 19115-3:2018
Overviews
Spatial extent
Provided by
IMAS Metadata Catalogue