Gaston Anthony J, Hashimoto Yuriko, Wilson Laurie
National Wildlife Research Centre, Science and Technology Branch, Environment Canada, Ottawa, Canada.
Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment Canada, Pacific Wildlife Research Centre, 5421 Robertson Rd, RR#1 Delta, British Columbia, Canada.
PLoS One. 2017 Feb 24;12(2):e0171726. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0171726. eCollection 2017.
Increased shipping in British Columbia (BC) waters poses risks for marine birds from marine oil spills. Ancient Murrelets (Synthliboramphus antiquus), small marine diving birds of which half of the world's population breeds in BC, are especially susceptible to oiling immediately after departing from their breeding colonies, as their offspring are flightless, constraining their parents to remain with them. In 2014 we deployed geolocator loggers on Ancient Murrelets at four breeding colonies, two on the east and two on the west coast of Haida Gwaii to investigate patterns of post-breeding dispersal and subsequent migratory movements. Birds from east coast colonies moved south and east after leaving their colonies, remaining in Queen Charlotte Sound and adjacent waters for 4-6 weeks, whereas those from west coast colonies moved steadily north and west, so that they left BC waters earlier than those from east coast colonies. These movements were consistent with being driven by surface currents. In June, all birds moved rapidly to the eastern Aleutians, SE Bering Sea, and waters off Kamchatka, where they probably moulted. In August, most moved north, some passing through Bering Straits into the Chukchi Sea. In October-November some birds returned to waters off western N America (33%) and the remainder carried on westwards to waters off Japan, Korea and NE China. For the former group the movement to the Bering Sea in June constituted a moult migration and, as such, is the first described for an auk. Those birds wintering in Asia began moving east in February and arrived off BC in March, when observations at colonies show that burrow visits begin in Haida Gwaii. Our data suggest that, immediately after colony departure, birds from the east coast colonies (about half the population of Haida Gwaii) are at higher risk from potential oil spills in northern British Columbia waters than those breeding on the west coast.
不列颠哥伦比亚省（BC）海域航运的增加给海鸟带来了海洋石油泄漏的风险。古海鸦（Synthliboramphus antiquus）是一种小型海洋潜水鸟类，全球一半的种群在BC省繁殖，它们在离开繁殖地后特别容易被油污沾染，因为它们的后代不会飞，这使得它们的父母不得不留在它们身边。2014年，我们在四个繁殖地的古海鸦身上部署了地理定位记录仪，其中两个在海达瓜依岛的东海岸，两个在西海岸，以调查繁殖后的扩散模式和随后的迁徙活动。来自东海岸繁殖地的鸟类在离开繁殖地后向南和向东移动，在夏洛特皇后海峡和邻近海域停留4至6周，而来自西海岸繁殖地的鸟类则稳定地向北和向西移动，因此它们比来自东海岸繁殖地的鸟类更早离开BC省海域。这些移动与由表层洋流驱动的情况一致。6月，所有鸟类迅速向阿留申群岛东部、白令海东南部和堪察加半岛附近海域移动，它们可能在那里换羽。8月，大多数鸟类向北移动，一些穿过白令海峡进入楚科奇海。10月至11月，一些鸟类返回北美西部海域（33%），其余的则继续向西前往日本、韩国和中国东北海域。对于前一组鸟类来说，6月向白令海的移动构成了一次换羽迁徙，这也是首次描述的海雀换羽迁徙。那些在亚洲越冬的鸟类在2月开始向东移动，并于3月抵达BC省海域，此时在繁殖地的观察表明，海达瓜依岛的洞穴探访已经开始。我们的数据表明，在离开繁殖地后，来自东海岸繁殖地（约占海达瓜依岛种群的一半）的鸟类比在西海岸繁殖的鸟类面临更大的潜在石油泄漏风险，这些石油泄漏可能发生在不列颠哥伦比亚省北部海域。
