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Background <p>The projected growth in offshore wind installations in the northwest Atlantic Ocean is a major issue for conservation biologists interested in marine birds that breed in the region. Biologists often utilize foraging ranges of breeding individuals from their colony to estimate potential conflicts with offshore wind installations. Recent advances in GPS transmitter technology allow biologists to collect high resolution data for moderately-sized (&lt; 200&#xa0;g) marine birds throughout their breeding and post-breeding stages to quantify movement dynamics. We investigated whether tracking an abundant, generalist species, Common Tern (<i>Sterna hirundo</i>) would be representative of movements of a sympatric endangered specialist, Roseate Tern (<i>Sterna dougalli</i>). From June - September in 2024 and 2025, we used solar-powered GPS transmitters to track breeding and post-breeding movements of adult Common and Roseate Terns nesting on Great Gull Island, New York.</p> Results <p>We documented high similarity (40–70%) between Common and Roseate Tern core and full home ranges in both years during the breeding season, with no difference in intra- vs. interspecific breeding-season overlap. Mean maximum foraging ranges were twice as far in 2025 for both species, and increased throughout the chick-rearing period in 2025, with maximum distances of 50&#xa0;km. Consequently, movements in 2024 represented only a limited proportion of the full foraging range of both species. We also found that space use varied substantially between years, presumably due to variation in fish availability, suggesting movement data should be collected across multiple breeding seasons to effectively capture interannual variation in <i>Sterna</i> terns. During the post-breeding stage, overlap between individual Common and Roseate Terns in both core and full home ranges decreased to 14–33%. Common Terns generally remained at the breeding colony after chicks fledged before departing on their southbound migrations, while Roseate Terns traveled east to a major staging area on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.</p> Conclusions <p>Our results provide strong evidence that prior studies may have underestimated foraging ranges of both species, and that Common Terns can act as surrogates for the movements of Roseate Terns during the breeding season but not during the post-breeding stage for Great Gull Island.</p>

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Evaluating high resolution offshore movements of marine birds: will Common Terns (Sterna hirundo) act as a surrogate species for the sympatric endangered Roseate Tern (Sterna dougallii)?

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年8月1日

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  • Juliet S. Lamb,
  • Keenan Yakola,
  • Donald E. Lyons,
  • Peter W. C. Paton

摘要

Background

The projected growth in offshore wind installations in the northwest Atlantic Ocean is a major issue for conservation biologists interested in marine birds that breed in the region. Biologists often utilize foraging ranges of breeding individuals from their colony to estimate potential conflicts with offshore wind installations. Recent advances in GPS transmitter technology allow biologists to collect high resolution data for moderately-sized (< 200 g) marine birds throughout their breeding and post-breeding stages to quantify movement dynamics. We investigated whether tracking an abundant, generalist species, Common Tern (Sterna hirundo) would be representative of movements of a sympatric endangered specialist, Roseate Tern (Sterna dougalli). From June - September in 2024 and 2025, we used solar-powered GPS transmitters to track breeding and post-breeding movements of adult Common and Roseate Terns nesting on Great Gull Island, New York.

Results

We documented high similarity (40–70%) between Common and Roseate Tern core and full home ranges in both years during the breeding season, with no difference in intra- vs. interspecific breeding-season overlap. Mean maximum foraging ranges were twice as far in 2025 for both species, and increased throughout the chick-rearing period in 2025, with maximum distances of 50 km. Consequently, movements in 2024 represented only a limited proportion of the full foraging range of both species. We also found that space use varied substantially between years, presumably due to variation in fish availability, suggesting movement data should be collected across multiple breeding seasons to effectively capture interannual variation in Sterna terns. During the post-breeding stage, overlap between individual Common and Roseate Terns in both core and full home ranges decreased to 14–33%. Common Terns generally remained at the breeding colony after chicks fledged before departing on their southbound migrations, while Roseate Terns traveled east to a major staging area on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

Conclusions

Our results provide strong evidence that prior studies may have underestimated foraging ranges of both species, and that Common Terns can act as surrogates for the movements of Roseate Terns during the breeding season but not during the post-breeding stage for Great Gull Island.