At-Sea Behavior Varies with Lunar Phase in a Nocturnal Pelagic Seabird, the Swallow-Tailed Gull

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Output type: Journal article

Author list: Cruz SM, Hooten M, Huyvaert KP, Proano CB, Anderson DJ, Afanasyev V, Wikelski M

Publisher: Public Library of Science

Publication year: 2013

Journal: PLoS ONE (1932-6203)

Journal acronym: PLOS ONE

Volume number: 8

Issue number: 2

ISSN: 1932-6203

eISSN: 1932-6203

Languages: English-Great Britain (EN-GB)

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Open access status: gold

Full text URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0056889&type=printable

Abstract

Strong and predictable environmental variability can reward flexible behaviors among animals. We used long-term records of activity data that cover several lunar cycles to investigate whether behavior at-sea of swallow-tailed gulls Creagrus furcatus, a nocturnal pelagic seabird, varied with lunar phase in the Galapagos Islands. A Bayesian hierarchical model showed that nighttime at-sea activity of 37 breeding swallow-tailed gulls was clearly associated with changes in moon phase. Proportion of nighttime spent on water was highest during darker periods of the lunar cycle, coinciding with the cycle of the diel vertical migration (DVM) that brings prey to the sea surface at night. Our data show that at-sea behavior of a tropical seabird can vary with environmental changes, including lunar phase.

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