Satellite tracking of red-listed nominate lesser black-backed gulls (<ce:italic>Larus f. fuscus</ce:italic>): Habitat specialisation in foraging movements raises novel conservation needs

In contrast to many other gull species, nominate lesser black-backed gulls (Larus fuscus fuscus, nLBBG) have shown generally decreasing population trends throughout their breeding area in northern and eastern Fennoscandia over the past decades and are now red-listed. Interspecific competition, predation, increased disturbance, organochlorine poisoning and food shortages were suggested as main reasons for the overall decrease. Here we contribute to a better understanding of population declines by comparing foraging movements of satellite tracked adult gulls in three geographical areas of Finland (West, South, and East) that differ in their population trends. Our analysis examines potential * Correspondence to: University of Turku, Department of Biology, FI-20014 Turun yliopisto, Finland. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (R. Juvaste), [email protected] (E. Arriero), [email protected] (A. Gagliardo), [email protected] (R. Holland), [email protected] (M. Huttunen), [email protected] (I. Mueller), [email protected] (K. Thorup), [email protected] (M. Wikelski), [email protected] (J. Hannila), [email protected] (M.-L. Penttinen), [email protected] (R. Wistbacka). 1 Retired. 2 Present address: Department of Zoology and Physical Anthropology, University Complutense of Madrid, E-28040 Madrid, Spain. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2017.03.009 2351-9894/© 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Konstanzer Online-Publikations-System (KOPS) URL: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:352-2-j95f1e3nhy4v4 Erschienen in: Global Ecology and Conservation ; 10 (2017). S. 220-230 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2017.03.009