Association of sea surface temperature and the abundance of the brown Booby (Sula leucogaster) according to the state of development in the Gorgona National Natural Park

Variation trophic three developmental structurein thephysicochemical of the stages pelagic (chicks environment.conditionsjuveniles of Fortheand sea this adults) can reason,influence of the we Brown aimed the distributionBooby to evaluate (Sula and the leucogaster abundance association etesiaca of betweenseabirds) and thebythe abundanceaffectingsea surface the of temperature (SST) and its thermal anomaly (ANOM) in Gorgona Island, Colombian Pacific. These trends were assessed by performing cross-correlations and generalized linear models. Each developmental stage showed a different abundance tendence linked to SST and ANOM variation. It is suggested that these trends are due to the fact that increased sea temperature may be associated with reduced abundance and availability of prey resources. Under these conditions, adults tend to decreased the effort invested in parental care and even reduce the food supply to dependent juveniles and chicks to increase their own survival. These trends may have been associated with a breeding regime that allows fledglings to achieve independence from parents during the period of greatest availability of prey.