Archiving primary data: solutions for long-term studies

The recent trend for journals to require open access to primary data included in publications has been embraced by many biologists, but has caused apprehension amongst researchers engaged in long-term ecological and evolutionary studies. A worldwide survey of 73 principal investigators (Pls) with long-term studies revealed positive attitudes towards sharing data with the agreement or involvement of the PI, and 93% of PIs have historically shared data. Only 8% were in favor of uncontrolled, open access to primary data while 63% expressed serious concern. We present here their viewpoint on an issue that can have non-trivial scientific consequences. We discuss potential costs of public data archiving and provide possible solutions to meet the needs of journals and researchers

Modeling Population Dynamics of Roseate Terns (Sterna dougallii) in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean

The endangered population of roseate terns (Sterna dougallii) in the Northwestern Atlantic Ocean consistsof a network of large and small breeding colonies on islands. This type of fragmented population poses anexceptional opportunity to investigate dispersal, a mechanism that is fundamental in population dynam-ics and is crucial to understand the spatio-temporal and genetic structure of animal populations. Dispersalis difficult to study because it requires concurrent data compilation at multiple sites. Models of popula-tion dynamics in birds that focus on dispersal and include a large number of breeding sites are rare inliterature. In this work, we propose a stochastic simulation model that captures the dispersal dynamics ofthis population of roseate terns. The colonization and decolonization (abandonment) of breeding coloniesare modeled as discrete events that follow different dynamics than dispersal. We show that our modelreproduces the properties of this population that have been observed in field data. We also analyzed thesensitivity of our model to alterations in different variables, and study the impact of these alterations inthe model dynamics. Our results suggest that large colony population size exhibits a threshold sensitivityto adult survival, and that regional persistence is maintained by the larger populations

Non-breeding season movements of six North American Roseate Terns Sterna dougallii tracked with geolocators

Little is known of the endangered and declining western North Atlantic population of the Roseate Tern Sterna dougallii outside the breeding season, when most mortality probably occurs. We used geolocators to track Roseate Terns in 2007 and 2009 and retrieved six units with useful data. In the post-breeding period in July-August, all six birds staged around Cape Cod, close to the breeding site. They started southward migration from 28 August to 14 September and flew directly across the western North Atlantic Ocean to staging areas around Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. We identified five major areas and four minor areas in the West Indies and along the north and east coasts of South America where birds stopped over for 2-24 d during southward and northward migrations. Birds arrived at (Northern Hemisphere) wintering areas from Guyana/Suriname on the north coast of South America to eastern Brazil between 3 October and 2 November. They left wintering areas from 7-23 April and arrived back at the breeding area from 5-30 May. Although this study is based on data for only six birds, it identifies several stopover and wintering areas that should receive priority for future studies and potential conservation measures. Geolocators did not impair Roseate Terns' ability to raise young in the year the devices were attached, but lower than expected rates of return suggest that the geolocators reduced survival, and most of the birds that returned had lost body-mass and did not breed in the year of return

Migrations and winter quarters of five common terns tracked using geolocators

Ten geolocators (light-level data loggers) were attached to Common Terns (Sterna hirundo) at a breeding site in the northeastern USA in 2007 and 2008; six were retrieved (five with useful data) in 2008 and 2009. The birds wintered in four discrete areas on the north and east coasts of South America, from Guyana (6–7°N) to northeastern Argentina (36–42°S); three remained within restricted areas for most or all of the winter, whereas two ranged more widely. They left the breeding area at various dates between 1 August and 14 September; three migrated directly from the breeding area while two first moved southwest to stage near Cape Hatteras. All five birds flew directly to the vicinity of Puerto Rico, then moved along the north and east coasts of South America, staging at scattered locations for periods of 3–11 d, before reaching their winter quarters at various dates from 6 September to 26 October. Two birds left their winter quarters on 2 March and 4 April, staged in northern Brazil for 47 and 6 d, then traveled via the Bahamas to reach the breeding site on 1 May. During breeding and post-breeding periods, the birds spent a mean of 7 min each day and virtually no time at night resting on the water, but during the rest of the year they often rested on the water for up to 6 h by day and up to 11 h at night. Leg-mounted geolocators caused several adverse effects but did not reduce survival

Solutions for archiving data in long-term studies: a reply to Whitlock et al.

No abstract available