Ecology Summary - Larus argentatus

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Ecology of Larus argentatus

Main Ref.	Enticott, J. and D. Tipling, 1997
Remarks	Dipping; surface seizing; shallow plunge diving; coastal; <100 km (Ref. 356). Largely dependent on freshwater and terrestrial environments. Feeds mostly on non-fish vertebrate prey. In the North Sea off the coasts of Scotland and northern England, is known to partially feed on the sandeel, Ammodytes marinus (Ref. 95711). Breeds colonially in a wide variety of habitats including roofs in North America, Europe and northeast Asia (Ref. 84934). One of its observed behavior is to balance between attack and fleeing, these birds redirects their aggression and attack to a substitute object like grass pulling (Ref. 87789). As for coloniality, they visit breeding colonies for a year to select a colony, a potential nesting site, and to obtain a mate to determine if the site is where young are successfully reared (Ref. 84934).

Main Ref.

Enticott, J. and D. Tipling, 1997

Remarks

Dipping; surface seizing; shallow plunge diving; coastal; <100 km (Ref. 356). Largely dependent on freshwater and terrestrial environments. Feeds mostly on non-fish vertebrate prey. In the North Sea off the coasts of Scotland and northern England, is known to partially feed on the sandeel, Ammodytes marinus (Ref. 95711). Breeds colonially in a wide variety of habitats including roofs in North America, Europe and northeast Asia (Ref. 84934). One of its observed behavior is to balance between attack and fleeing, these birds redirects their aggression and attack to a substitute object like grass pulling (Ref. 87789). As for coloniality, they visit breeding colonies for a year to select a colony, a potential nesting site, and to obtain a mate to determine if the site is where young are successfully reared (Ref. 84934).

Aquatic zones / Water bodies

	Marine - Neritic	Marine - Oceanic	Brackishwater	Freshwater
Marine zones / Brackish and freshwater bodies	supra-littoral zone littoral zone sublittoral zone	epipelagic mesopelagic epipelagic abyssopelagic hadopelagic	estuaries/lagoons/brackish seas mangroves marshes/swamps	rivers/streams lakes/ponds caves exclusively in caves

Highighted items on the list are where Larus argentatus may be found.

Habitat

Substrate
Substrate Ref.
Special habitats
Special habitats Ref.

Associations

Ref.	Enticott, J. and D. Tipling, 1997
Associations	colony-forming/symphorism;
Associated with
Association remarks
Parasitism

feeding

Feeding type	mainly animals (troph. 2.8 and up)
Feeding type Ref.	Daunt, F., S. Wanless, P.R. Simon, H.J. Greenstreet, K.R. Hamer and M.P. Harris, 2008
Feeding habit	hunting macrofauna (predator)
Feeding habit Ref.	Daunt, F., S. Wanless, P.R. Simon, H.J. Greenstreet, K.R. Hamer and M.P. Harris, 2008

Trophic Level(s)

Estimation method	original sample		unfished population		Remark
Estimation method	Troph	s.e.	Troph	s.e.	Remark
From diet composition	4.41	0.77			Troph of juv./adults.
From individual food items	4.17	0.72			Trophic level estimated from a number of food items using a randomized resampling routine.
Ref.	Hamer, K.C., D.R. Thompson, A.J. Rundle, S.A. Lewis and F.M. Stewart, 1994

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