Population dynamics of breeding seabirds and diet of common breeding seabirds along the coast of Zhejiang Province, China

doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.202607.032

Abstract

Abstract: Seabirds are a key indicator species of marine. Understanding their diet is of great significance for assessing coastal trophic structure and formulating conservation strategies. Based on integrated citizen science data from 2021 to 2025 and DNA metabarcoding technology, we analyzed population dynamics of breeding seabirds along the coast of Zhejiang Province, as well as the dietary characteristics of two common species, Larus crassirostris and Onychoprion anaethetus, during the breeding season. Citizen science data indicated that the coastal area of Zhejiang served as an important habitat for seabirds. A total of 95269 seabirds were recorded in the past five years. Zhoushan Archipelago had become the core breeding habitat for seabirds. High-throughput sequencing based on DNA metabarcoding of fecal samples from L. crassirostris and O. anaethetus identified a total of 36 fish species and 30 crustacean species. There was dietary differentiation between L. crassirostris and O. anaethetus. L. crassirostris mainly preyed on marine fish of Mugilidae and Engraulidae, while O. anaethetus prefer marine fish of Clupeidae and Mullidae. Both species fed on arthropods of Macrophthalmidae and Portunidae. In addition, L. crassirostris consumed the freshwater fish Micropterus salmoides, revealing dietary plasticity in the ecotone between marine and terrestrial habitats. Due to limited sampling of O. anaethetus, dietary diversity analysis was only performed on L. crassirostris from multiple breeding islands. The results showed that L. crassirostris from Wuzhushan Island of Zhoushan had the highest dietary composition diversity, without differences among islands. This study filled the gap in basic dietary data of common seabirds along the coast of Zhejiang Province and provides scientific support for the conservation of coastal biodiversity.

Key words: Larus crassirostris, Onychoprion anaethetus, dietary analysis, DNA metabarcoding, trophic niche differentiation, Zhejiang coast

ZHU Keying, LU Yiwei, WANG Siyu, DING Peng, LI Chunyao, SU Bo, YU Xiao, ZHOU Xilai, FAN Zhongyong, HE Ke. Population dynamics of breeding seabirds and diet of common breeding seabirds along the coast of Zhejiang Province, China[J]. Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology, 2026, 37(7): 2415-2423.

References

[1] Grémillet D, Ponchon A, Paleczny M, et al. Persisting worldwide seabird-fishery competition despite seabird community decline. Current Biology, 2018, 28: 4009-4013.e2
[2] Diamond AW, Devlin CM. Seabirds as indicators of changes in marine ecosystems: Ecological monitoring on Machias Seal Island. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 2003, 88: 153-181
[3] Le Bohec C, Whittington JD, Le Maho Y. Polar monitoring: Seabirds as sentinels of marine ecosystems// Verde C, di Prisco G, eds. Adaptation and Evolution in Marine Environments, Volume 2: The Impacts of Global Change on Biodiversity. Berlin: Springer, 2013: 205-230
[4] Furness RW, Camphuysen KCJ. Seabirds as monitors of the marine environment. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 1997, 54: 726-737
[5] 侯西勇, 刘静, 宋洋, 等. 中国大陆海岸线开发利用的生态环境影响与政策建议. 中国科学院院刊, 2016, 31(10): 1143-1150
[6] Gao HD, Wang JH, Chen F, et al. Priority areas for wintering waterbirds and the need to remove Spartina along Zhejiang coast. Global Ecology and Conservation, 2024, 56: e03279
[7] Wang SY, Ding P, Lu YW, et al. Decadal banding efforts pay off: Assessing Chinese Crested Tern conservation through resighting data. Avian Research, 2026, 17: 100329
[8] Chen SH, Fan ZY, Roby DD, et al. Human harvest, climate change and their synergistic effects drove the Chinese Crested Tern to the brink of extinction. Global Ecology and Conservation, 2015, 4: 137-145
[9] Lu YW, Roby DD, Fan ZY, et al. Creating a conservation network: Restoration of the critically endangered Chinese crested tern using social attraction. Biological Conservation, 2020, 248: 108694
[10] 陈水华. 中国海域繁殖海鸟的现状与保护. 生物学通报, 2010, 45(3): 1-5, 64
[11] Zhang DN, Liu W, Xin Y, et al. Trophic transfer of PFAS potentially threatens vulnerable Saunders's gull (Larussaundersi) via the food chain in the coastal wetlands of the Yellow Sea, China. Frontiers in Marine Science, 2024, 11: 1467022
[12] Yang HY, Chen B, Barter M, et al. Impacts of tidal land reclamation in Bohai Bay, China: Ongoing losses of critical Yellow Sea waterbird staging and wintering sites. Bird Conservation International, 2011, 21: 241-259
[13] Burgess MG, McDermott GR, Owashi B, et al. Protecting marine mammals, turtles, and birds by rebuilding global fisheries. Science, 2018, 359: 1255-1258
[14] Fan ZY, Chen CS, Chen SH, et al. Breeding seabirds along the Zhejiang coast: Diversity, distribution and conservation. Chinese Birds, 2011, 2: 39-45
[15] Evans LG, Harris SM, Thompson PM, et al. Advancing seabird diet studies through buccal swabbing for DNA metabarcoding. Ecology and Evolution, 2025, 15: e71606
[16] Hernández J, Arroyo JI. Foraging guilds of seabirds. Ornithology Research, 2025, 33: 57
[17] Rountos KJ, Frisk MG, Pikitch EK. Are we catching what they eat? Moving beyond trends in the mean trophic level of catch. Fisheries, 2015, 40: 376-385
[18] Sydeman WJ, Thompson SA, Anker-Nilssen T, et al. Best practices for assessing forage fish fisheries-seabird resource competition. Fisheries Research, 2017, 194: 209-221
[19] Kwon YS, Noh HS, Kim M. Difference in black-tailed gull (Laruscrassirostris) diet during the breeding season for the last 10 years in the South Sea of Korea. Journal of Ecology and Environment, 2013, 36: 217-222
[20] Miya M, Sato Y, Fukunaga T, et al. MiFish, a set of universal PCR primers for metabarcoding environmental DNA from fishes: Detection of more than 230 subtropical marine species. Royal Society Open Science, 2015, 2: 150088
[21] Leray M, Yang JY, Meyer CP, et al. A new versatile primer set targeting a short fragment of the mitochondrial COI region for metabarcoding metazoan diversity: Application for characterizing coral reef fish gut contents. Frontiers in Zoology, 2013, 10: 34
[22] 赵盛龙, 徐汉祥, 钟俊生, 等. 浙江海洋鱼类志. 杭州: 浙江科学技术出版社, 2016
[23] Komura T, Ando H, Horikoshi K, et al. DNA barcoding reveals seasonal shifts in diet and consumption of deep-sea fishes in wedge-tailed shearwaters. PLoS One, 2018, 13: e0195385
[24] Fonseca VG. Pitfalls in relative abundance estimation using eDNA metabarcoding. Molecular Ecology Resources, 2018, 18: 923-926
[25] 舟山市林业局定海分局. 舟山定海奋力打造濒危物种保护海岛样板. 浙江林业, 2025(4): 22-23
[26] Fayet AL, Clucas GV, Anker-Nilssen T, et al. Local prey shortages drive foraging costs and breeding success in a declining seabird, the Atlantic puffin. Journal of Animal Ecology, 2021, 90: 1152-1164
[27] Pelletier D, Guillemette M. Times and partners are a-changin': Relationships between declining food abundance, breeding success, and divorce in a monogamous seabird species. PeerJ, 2022, 10: e13073
[28] Petrovski N, Sutton GJ, Arnould JPY. Energetic consequences of prey type in little penguins (Eudyptula minor). Royal Society Open Science, 2023, 10: 221595
[29] Andrews RD, Enstipp MR. Diving physiology of seabirds and marine mammals: Relevance, challenges and some solutions for field studies. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A: Molecular & Integrative Physiology, 2016, 202: 38-52
[30] 倪海儿, 陆杰华. 舟山渔场主要渔业资源利用现状. 应用生态学报, 2003, 14(4): 569-572
[31] Laubier A, Laubier L. Marine crustacean farming: Pre-sent status and perspectives. Aquatic Living Resources, 1993, 6: 319-329
[32] 陈东东, 程建祥, 周晓, 等. 中国海鸟多样性及其保护. 生物学通报, 2018, 53(3): 3-9
[33] Pichegru L, Ryan PG, van Eeden R, et al. Industrial fishing, no-take zones and endangered penguins. Biolo-gical Conservation, 2012, 156: 117-125
[34] Liu HY, Xu W, Xu N, et al. Fecal DNA metabarcoding reveals the dietary composition of wintering Red-crowned Cranes (Grus japonensis). Avian Research, 2023, 14: 100145