Predicting the distribution of foraging seabirds during a period of heightened environmental variability

Ecosystem data was collected as part of an integrated study of the continental shelf over a 2 and a half year period between November 2015 and January 2018. Data were collected bi-monthly through the spring to autumn (November, January, March, May). Stations were situated perpendicular to shelf bathymetry, ranging in depth from ~50 m to 100 m near the edge of the shelf and were located between 5 km and 15 km from land; encompassing from south Storm Bay, past the southern tip of Bruny Island and into the Southern Ocean (south-east Tasmania, Australia). Data collected focused on each trophic level, characterizing the zooplankton community, fish schools and marine predators. The overarching aim of the study was to investigate the effects of long term warming, and a marine heatwave event on zooplankton dynamics in terms of community response variables and the flow-on effects of changing lower-trophic level dynamics for top predators.

本数据集采集自2015年11月至2018年1月、为期2.5年的大陆架（continental shelf）综合研究项目。数据采集每两月开展一次，时段覆盖春季至秋季（采样月份为11月、1月、3月、5月）。采样站位垂直于陆架海底地形（shelf bathymetry）布设，水深范围约50米至100米，位于陆架边缘附近；站位离岸距离介于5千米至15千米之间，采样区域涵盖风暴湾南部、布鲁尼岛南端周边海域，并延伸至澳大利亚塔斯马尼亚州东南部的南大洋海域。本次采集的数据覆盖各营养级（trophic level），重点表征了浮游动物（zooplankton）群落、鱼群（fish schools）与海洋捕食者（marine predators）的相关特征。本研究的核心目标为探究长期海洋增暖及一次海洋热浪（marine heatwave）事件对浮游动物动态的影响，具体围绕群落响应变量，以及低营养级群落动态变化对顶级捕食者（top predators）产生的级联效应展开分析。