Long-term population dynamics reveal that survival and recruitment of tropical boobies improve after a hurricane

Variability in population numbers is a central issue in evolutionary ecology and also in biodiversity conservation. However, for most seabirds this information is lacking and tropical populations are virtually unstudied. Long-term studies are warranted because world’s seabird populations exhibit an overall declining trend since 1950. Using data spanning 23 years, we investigated how adult survival, local recruitment, and their relative contributions to population growth (λ) vary over time in the blue-footed booby (Sula nebouxii), a long-lived locally foraging seabird that breeds in tropical waters. In addition, we investigated whether booby demographic rates exhibit the same declining trend observed in other seabirds, whether these rates are impacted by hurricanes, and whether these potential impacts differ between sexes. Our analysis of 4608 capture-recapture histories revealed that survival and recruitment were nearly equal between males and females, exhibited a declining trend over t...