Global marine flyways identified for long-distance migrating seabirds from tracking data

Aim: To identify the broad-scale oceanic migration routes (‘marine flyways’) used by multiple pelagic, long-distance migratory seabirds based on a global compilation of tracking data.
Location: Global
Time period: 1989 – 2023
Major taxa studied: Seabirds (Families: Phaethontidae, Hydrobatidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Laridae and Stercorariidae)
Methods: We collated a comprehensive global tracking dataset that included the migratory routes of 48 pelagic and long-distance migrating seabird species across the Atlantic, Indian, Pacific and Southern Oceans. We grouped individuals that followed similar routes, independent of species or timings of migration, using a dynamic time warping clustering approach. We visualized the routes of each cluster using a line density analysis and used knowledge of seabird spatial ecology to combine the clusters to identify the broad-scale flyways followed by most pelagic migratory seabirds tracked to-date at an ocean-basin scale.
Results: Six marine flyw..., We collated and standardised seabird tracking data for pelagic, long-distance migratory species according to previously developed protocols (Carneiro et al., 2020). We assigned the annual life cycle stage to each location, and only those recorded during migration were used in our analyses. We processed and filtered tracking data to exclude individuals that did not meet a set of criteria. Individuals were then grouped based on the shape of the migratory route, irrespective of species identity or the timing of migration. We estimated line densities for each cluster of individuals and the results were smoothed and combined where appropriate to delineate a network of marine flyways., , # Global marine flyways identified for long-distance migrating seabirds from tracking data

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.59zw3r2jc](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.59zw3r2jc)

## Description of the data and file structure

### Files shared

Since data used in the analysis are accessible upon request in the Seabird Tracking Database or directly to researchers, these can not be openly shared. To ensure the reproducibility of the workflow, a processed, filtered, and anonymized dataset for one ocean basin (Indian Ocean) is provided with the codes to carry out the Dynamic-Time Warp analysis that is then used in ArcGIS. Intermediate outputs, including polygons of the clusters that form the final flyway in each ocean basin and the scripts to reproduce all the figures in the manuscript, are also provided along with a schematic description of all the steps performed during the original analysis (SF2_Data processing schematic.pdf). 

### Files and variables

#### File: anonymised\_sample\_data\_...,