The Isle of May long-term study (IMLOTS) seabird annual breeding success 1982-2012
Newell, M., Harris, M., Wanless, S., Burthe, S., Bogdanova, M., Gunn, C., Daunt, F. (2013). The Isle of May long-term study (IMLOTS) seabird annual breeding success 1982-2012. NERC Environmental Information Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/d38b609b-7bc1-4204-86dd-022375208d4f
This dataset contains calculated breeding success rates for six seabird species from representative colonies on the Isle of May, off the East coast of Scotland. Annual breeding success has been measured as the number of chicks fledged per active nest for the Atlantic puffin (Fratercula arctica, since 1982), common guillemot (Uria aalge, since 1982), razorbill (Alca torda, since 1982), European shag (Phalacrocorax aristotelis, since 1987), black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla, since 1987) and northern fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis, since 1987). The number of active nests recorded are also provided. Data were collected as part of the Isle of May long-term study (IMLOTS), which aims to identify the impact of environmental change on seabirds and their associated ecosystems. This monitoring has been ongoing since 1974, by essentially the same team of scientists, using the same well-documented methods throughout this time.
Data were collected by staff of the Institute for Terrestrial Ecology staff, led by Mike Harris, until 2000, when this organisation merged with several others to form the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH). The same research group has continued the work since then. For each species data were collected on numbers of active nests and numbers of succesfully fledged chicks from those nests. The data provided are the success rates for each species for each year, which are calculated as number of successful chicks divided by the number of breeding pairs. The full methodology is available in the contextual metadata, which can be found attached to this record. These data are quality checked by scientific staff as part of their preparation for presentation in annual reports to the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), as part of the UK national Seabird Monitoring Programme network. These data should be used after consultation with the appropriate CEH staff.
NERC Environmental Information Data Centre
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Scottish Governmnet (2014). Scottish Marine and Freshwater Science Volume 5 Number 13: Population consequences of displacement from proposed offshore wind energy developments for seabirds breeding at Scottish SPAs.