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Data from: Global marine flyways identified for long-distance migrating seabirds from tracking data

Morten, Joanne1; Garcia Alonso, Virginia1; Davies, Tammy1

Published Mar 28, 2025 on Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.59zw3r2jc

Data files

Mar 28, 2025 version files 7.47 MB

Abstract

Aim: To identify the broad-scale oceanic migration routes (‘marine flyways’) used by multiple pelagic, long-distance migratory seabirds based on a global compilation of tracking data.

Location: Global

Time period: 1989 – 2023

Major taxa studied: Seabirds (Families: Phaethontidae, Hydrobatidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Laridae and Stercorariidae)

Methods: We collated a comprehensive global tracking dataset that included the migratory routes of 48 pelagic and long-distance migrating seabird species across the Atlantic, Indian, Pacific and Southern Oceans. We grouped individuals that followed similar routes, independent of species or timings of migration, using a dynamic time warping clustering approach. We visualized the routes of each cluster using a line density analysis and used knowledge of seabird spatial ecology to combine the clusters to identify the broad-scale flyways followed by most pelagic migratory seabirds tracked to-date at an ocean-basin scale.

Results: Six marine flyways were identified across the world’s oceans: the Atlantic Ocean Flyway, North Indian Ocean Flyway, East Indian Ocean Flyway, West Pacific Ocean Flyway, Pacific Ocean Flyway, and Southern Ocean Flyway. Generally, the flyways were used bi-directionally, and individuals either followed sections of a flyway, a complete flyway, or their movements linked to two or more flyways. Transhemispheric figure-of-eight routes in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and a circumnavigation flyway in the Southern Ocean correspond with major wind-driven ocean currents.

Main conclusions: The marine flyways identified demonstrate that pelagic seabirds have similar and repeatable migration routes across ocean-basin scales. Our study highlights the need to account for connectivity in seabird conservation and provides a framework for international cooperation.