This database was created as part of the Marine Ecosystem Research Programme (MERP), funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and aiming to integrate existing and new marine data sets with current models of marine ecosystem services to further our knowledge and understanding of the UK marine ecosystems. The aim of the Seabird Prey Database was to collate a new dataset from all known information on prey consumed by seabirds breeding in the British Isles. We have focused on the 10 most common seabird species by total biomass during the breeding season, accounting for 95% of biomass of seabirds consuming a marine diet in 2000. Thus the prey reflects the majority of marine prey consumed by seabirds in British waters. Information was primarily gathered from the primary literature by searching the web of science for titles, abstract or keywords containing ‘diet’, ‘food’, and predator’s species name. Data are presented as the frequency of each identified prey taxon per colony and year; data for each prey taxon is entered as a separate record. The contribution of the prey to the diet in the study year and site is expressed in one of three currencies commonly used in seabird dietary studies (Duffy & Jackson 1986, Barrett et al. 2007): frequency of occurrence, numerical frequency and biomass frequency (see the data attributes table).
| Start date | End date |
|---|---|
| 1933-01-01 | 2017-12-31 |
| attribute name | definition | format, unit or codes |
|---|---|---|
| id | Datapoint identifier | dimensionless |
| pred_common_name | Common name of the seabird predator | |
| pred_species | Scientific name of the seabird (predator) species | |
| year | Year or midpoint of range of years (rounded up to the nearest year) during which diet samples were taken | YYYY |
| startyear | Year or start of range of years during which diet samples were taken | YYYY |
| endyear | Year or end of range of years during which diet samples were taken | YYYY |
| multiyear | Whether samples were taken over a range of multiple years | FALSE = FALSE TRUE = TRUE |
| location | Location where diet samples were taken, typically a breeding colony, as given in the reporting study. Where samples were taken over a wider region or where sampling was not distinguished between two or more locations, the midpoint between multiple locations was recorded | |
| latitude | Location latitude (N) | degree |
| longitude | Location longitude (E) | degree |
| pred_breeding_status | Whether diets were sampled during the Breeding season or the Non-breeding season | breeding = breeding breeding & non-breeding = breeding & non-breeding non-breeding = non-breeding |
| pred_age_group | Predator age group. Whether the diet samples were collected from Adult or Chick. When age group could not be determined “adult & chick” was recorded. | chick = chick adult & chick = adult & chick adult = adult |
| prey_orig_descr | The taxonomic term used in the original source | |
| prey_taxon | Prey taxonomic identity. Matched to the lowest possible taxonomic level. | |
| freq_occ | Relative frequency of occurrence of a prey taxon across diet samples in a given study. For stomach content analyses, whenever possible this was expressed as a proportion of stomachs that had some content (i.e. empty stomachs were excluded). Frequency of occurrence of all prey taxa recorded in a particular study won’t necessarily sum to 1. | dimensionless |
| freq_num | Relative numerical frequency of prey taxon among total number of recorded prey items. Numerical frequencies of all recorded prey taxa in a given study should sum to 1. | dimensionless |
| freq_biomass | Relative biomass of prey taxon with respect to the total biomass/volume/energy recorded in a given study (where biomass of all prey taxa was available) | dimensionless |
| prey_size | Average prey size. Textual data as recorded in the data source which may contain standard deviation and inconsistent units | |
| sample_size | Number of samples from which relative frequencies have been calculated | dimensionless |
| sample_type | Method used to assess diet | discard = discard pellet = pellet regurgitate = regurgitate stomach = stomach stomach & regurgitate = stomach & regurgitate stomach dead = stomach dead stomach shot = stomach shot stomach shot & dead = stomach shot & dead stomach water offloading = stomach water offloading vis obs = vis obs |
| source | Data source | dataset = dataset primary literature = primary literature report = report |
| notes | Notes | |
| prey_age_group | Prey age group. Whether prey was age 0 or +1 years old. | >= 1 = >= 1 0 = 0 |
| pred_rank | Predator taxonomic rank | species = species |
| pred_aphia_id | WoRMS aphia id associated with original predator species name | dimensionless |
| pred_valid_name | Valid name on WoRMS of original predator species | |
| pred_valid_aphia_id | WoRMS aphia id associated with valid predator species name | dimensionless |
| prey_rank | Prey taxonomic rank | phylum = phylum subphylum = subphylum class = class order = order family = family genus = genus species = species |
| prey_aphia_id | WoRMS aphia id associated with original prey taxon name | dimensionless |
| prey_valid_name | Valid name on WoRMS of original prey taxon | |
| prey_valid_aphia_id | WoRMS aphia id associated with valid prey taxon name | dimensionless |
| ref_n | Number of references associated with record | dimensionless |
| ref_ids | Reference identifiers associated with record |
| unit name | parent SI unit | unit type | description |
|---|
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