Do long lived seabirds reduce the negative effects of acute pollution on adult survival by skipping breeding? A study with European storm petrels (Hydrobates pelagicus) during the "Prestige" oil-spill

Jabi Zabala*, Iñigo Zuberogoitia, Jose Antonio Martínez-Climent, Jon Etxezarreta

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

16 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We estimated the survival probability of breeding European storm petrels before, during and after a severe oil-spill. We hypothesized that petrels might have deserted the breeding colony to maximize their own survival probability and we expected no major change on adult survival probabilities as a consequence of the spill. We used an information-theoretical approach and multi-model inference to assess the strength of the evidence in favour of different hypotheses. Evidence contained in the data clearly supported the non-effect of the spill on adult survival hypothesis while punctual impact of the spill on survival and expanded (3. years) impact alternatives received less support. The effect size of the spill on averaged survival estimates was negligible in every case. We suggest that petrels minimized the impact of acute pollution by not investing in reproduction. We suggest that short-medium term management actions after oil-spills and similar catastrophes should focus on ecosystem restoration.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)109-115
Number of pages7
JournalMarine Pollution Bulletin
Volume62
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2011

Keywords

  • Abundance
  • Breeding failure
  • Competitive hypotheses
  • Oil-spill
  • Procellariformes
  • Survival

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