| Summary | The black-legged kittiwake is a migratory species that disperses after breeding from coastal areas to the open ocean. It is a pelagic gull that is monitored on Svalbard because it obtains its food on the surface (in contrast to other sea birds) and hence functions as an indicator for this part of the marine ecosystem. The kittiwake comprises a large proportion of the seabirds, in terms of both biomass and food consumption, and is dispersed over the whole of Svalbard and the rest of the Arctic. |
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| Project | SESMAD |
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| Subtype | Natural Resource Unit |
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| Sector | Marine protected areas |
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| Biotic | Yes |
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| Explanation | |
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| Commons Aggregation | Population |
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| Explanation | Rissa tridactyla |
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| Commons Boundaries | |
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| Explanation | |
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| Commons Indicator | ["Status of highly migratory species"] |
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| Explanation | The Black-legged Kittiwake nests along coastlines in much of the north Pacific and Atlantic oceans, and also breeds on inlands off the northern coast of Russia and on the northern coast of Norway. It winters at sea, ranging across much of the north Atlantic and Pacific oceans |
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| Commons Unit Size | Small (2) |
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| Explanation | The adult is 37–41 cm in length with a wingspan of 91–105 cm and a body mass of 305–525g |
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| Environmental Medium | Oceanic |
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| Explanation | Breeds on land, but forages at sea - it is a highly pelagic species, usually remaining on the wing out of sight of land |
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| Inter Annual Predictability | Moderate (2) |
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| Explanation | Kittiwakes return to the same colonies each year to breed - mixed trend across all colonies
http://www.mosj.no/en/fauna/marine/black-legged-kittiwake.html |
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| Intra Annual Predictability | High (3) |
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| Explanation | Little variation within years
http://www.mosj.no/en/fauna/marine/black-legged-kittiwake.html
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| Commons Renewability | Renewable (1) |
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| Explanation | Generation length: 12.9 years
(http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/22694497/0) |
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| Productivity | Moderately Productive (2) |
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| Explanation | Generation length: 12.9 years |
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| Commons Accessibility | Somewhat accessible (2) |
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| Explanation | The black-legged kittiwake is not currently targeted by human harvesting efforts on Svalbard (but is hunted on Greenland). Does not appear to be amajor by-catch species. In Svalbard, there are dense colonies on steep rock cliffs in all parts of the archipelago. |
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| Commons Heterogeneity | Moderate (2) |
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| Explanation | Ranges widely across open sea but returns to the same breeding colonies |
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| Commons Mobility | High (3) |
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| Explanation | Migratory species |
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| Commons Spatial Extent | 52365 |
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| Explanation | 52,365km2 is the spatial extent of the Svalbard MPAs.
It's distribution size is: 1,080,000km2 (http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=3255) |
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| Technical Substitute | No |
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| Explanation | |
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