TY - JOUR T1 - Flying to the moon: Lunar cycle influences trip duration and nocturnal foraging behavior of the wedge-tailed shearwater Ardenna pacifica A1 - Ravache,Andreas A1 - Bourgeois,Karen A1 - Thibault,Martin A1 - Dromzée,Sylvain A1 - Weimerskirch,Henri A1 - de Grissac,Sophie A1 - Prudor,Aurélien A1 - Lorrain,Anne A1 - Menkes,Christophe A1 - Allain,Valerie A1 - Bustamante,Paco A1 - Letourneur,Yves A1 - Vidal,Eric AD - IMBE, Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, IRD, Avignon Université, Centre IRD Nouméa - BP A5, 98848 NouméaCedex, New-Caledonia, France AD - UMR ENTROPIE (IRD—Université de La Réunion—CNRS), Laboratoire d'Excellence Labex-CORAIL, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, BP A5, 98848 Nouméa Cedex, New Caledonia, France AD - University of New Caledonia / ISEA, BP R4, 98851 Nouméa Cedex, New-Caledonia, France AD - Centres d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé – CNRS, France AD - Univ Brest, CNRS, IRD, Ifremer, LEMAR, F-29280 Plouzane, France AD - Secretariat of the Pacific Community, SPC, BP D5, 98848 Nouméa Cedex, New Caledonia, France AD - Littoral Environnement et Sociétés (LIENSs), UMR 7266 CNRS - La Rochelle Université, 2 Rue Olympe de Gouges, 17000 La Rochelle, France AD - Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), 1 rue Descartes, 75005 Paris, France UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jembe.2020.151322 DO - 10.1016/j.jembe.2020.151322 KW - Ardenna pacifica KW - Foraging KW - Lunar phase KW - Moon KW - GPS-tracking KW - Stable isotope analyses N2 - Lunar phase and illumination are known to affect nocturnal behavior of many organisms, particularly through predator-prey interactions. Visual predators can benefit from higher light levels to increase their activity, while prey may decrease their activity to avoid predation. The lower number of nocturnal seabirds observed on colonies during full moon nights has been mostly interpreted as a predation avoidance strategy. However, it is also possible that shearwaters take advantage of the moon's illumination to feed also at night, and stay at sea to forage during full moon nights. We used miniaturized GPS-loggers to obtain 179 tracks from 99 wedge-tailed shearwaters breeding in New Caledonia, to investigate moonlight effects on individual behavior. Lunar phase significantly predicted self-provisioning trip duration, with individuals performing longer trips around the full moon. However, this relationship was not significant during chick-provisioning trips when adults have to frequently return to the colony. Adults mostly returned to the colony during moonlit periods, refuting the predation avoidance theory. Tracked individuals showed an unexpectedly high amount of nocturnal foraging activity (28% of total activity), positively influenced by the presence of the moon. δ15N stable isotope values were significantly related to the percentage of nocturnal foraging, but with a weak relationship, impeding our ability to confirm that wedge-tailed shearwaters fed on different prey when foraging at night. This study suggests that reduced colony attendance around the full moon may be linked to greater at-sea foraging opportunities in distant oceanic areas than to increased predation risk on land. Y1 - 2020/04 PB - Elsevier BV JF - Journal Of Experimental Marine Biology And Ecology SN - 0022-0981 VL - 525 ID - 71880 ER -