03_trait-data
Species-specific data on behavioural and life-history traits were collected for each seabird species from Handbook of Birds of the World, 2025 and Dunning et al 2007.
We focused on traits that have previously been used to explain observed patterns in plastic ingestion and traits which we theorised could increase vulnerability to plastic ingestion. These were diet, use of anthropogenic subsidies, foraging method, whether a species is a pelagic specialist, and body mass.
Diet was categorised based on the presence or absence of prey types in the published diet descriptions: ‘carrion and non-fish vertebrates’, ‘cephalopods’, ‘crustaceans’, ‘fish’, or ‘other invertebrates’. Species were classified as using anthropogenic subsidies in the form of agricultural sources (i.e. following farm machinery of workers etc.), refuse (i.e. association with landfills etc.), or fisheries (i.e., attending trawlers, foraging on fisheries discards or offal, fish farms etc.).
Foraging method was categorised based on the presence or absence of foraging methods: ‘aerial pursuit’, ‘bottom-feeding’, ‘diving’ (i.e. moving through the water powered by feet or wings), ‘plunging’ (including pursuit plunging and surface plunging from any height, or any submersion of head/body while feeding on the water's surface), ‘terrestrial-feeding’ (hunting live prey or scavenging on land), ‘scavenging’ (either terrestrially or on the water), ‘skimming’ (including hydroplaning), or ‘surface seizing’ (including dabbling, dipping, and pattering). Species were classified as pelagic specialists if they predominantly forage in the pelagic zone.
Columns contain the following.
- HBWv8.1_Binomial. Species name following Handbook of Birds of the World (HBW) v8.1 taxonomy. Note taxonomy is updated to Clements et al 2025 in the data cleaning stages.
- Link_species. Link to the HBW species account.
- Feeding.Method.Simple. Primary feeding method for each species. Options are: aerial pursuit, bottom-feeding, diving, plunging (includes pursuit plunging and surface plunging), scavenging, skimming, or surface seizing (includes dipping and pattering). Taken from the HBW species account.
- Diet. Primary diet based on the dominant prey type. Options are: carrion and non-fish vertebrates, cephalopods, crustaceans, fish, or other invertebrates. Taken from the HBW species account.
- Diet_description. Verbatim copy of HBW species account diet information.
- Anthropogenic.subsidy.search.word.
- Anthropogenic.subsidy.simple.
- Fish. Presence or absence of fish in the diet description in HBW.
- Cephalopods. Presence or absence of cephalopods in the diet description in HBW.
- Crustaceans. Presence or absence of crustaceans in the diet description in HBW.
- Other.Inverts. Presence or absence of other invertebrates (i.e. not cephalopods or crustaceans) in the diet description in HBW.
- Carrion.NonFishVertebrates. Presence or absence of carrion or non fish vertebrates in the diet description in HBW.
- Anthropogenic.Subsidy. Does the species use anthropogenic food sources? Yes/No. Species were classified as using anthropogenic resources if diet descriptions included mention of an association with landfills, fisheries (i.e., attending trawlers, foraging on fisheries discards or offal) fish farms or other human food sources.
- pelagic_specialist_CR. Does the species predominantly forage in the pelagic zone? Yes/No.
- Body.Mass.g. Species body mass (g). If more than one value given, we used the average for Male and Female.
- scaled.body.mass. Mean normalised body mass.
- Source_Body.Mass.g. Source of body mass data, primarily Dunning JB Jr. 2007 CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses, Second Edition. 2nd edn. Boca Raton: CRC Press. See https://www.crcpress.com/CRC-Handbook-of-Avian-Body-Masses-Second-Edition/Dunning-Jr/p/book/9781420064445.
- AS.Fishery. Presence or absence of feeding on fisheries discards or attending trawlers in the diet description in HBW.
- AS.Refuse. Presence or absence of feeding on refuse in the diet description in HBW.
- AS.Agriculture. Presence or absence of feeding on agricultural sources, e.g. attending fields in the diet description in HBW.
- aerial_pursuit. Presence or absence of aerial pursuit feeding in the feeding behaviour description in HBW.
- bottom_feeding. Presence or absence of bottom feeding in the feeding behaviour description in HBW.
- diving. Presence or absence of diving in the feeding behaviour description in HBW.
- plunging. Presence or absence of plunging (including pursuit plunging and surface plunging) in the feeding behaviour description in HBW.
- scavenging. Presence or absence of scavenging in the feeding behaviour description in HBW.
- skimming. Presence or absence of skimming or hydroplaning in the feeding behaviour description in HBW.
- surface_seizing. Presence or absence of surface seizing (including dabbling, dipping, and pattering) in the feeding behaviour description in HBW.
- terrestrial_feeding. Presence or absence of terrestrial-feeding (hunting live prey or scavenging on land) in the feeding behaviour description in HBW.
- feeding_method_notes. Notes taken from HBW species accounts used to determine the feeding method.
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| Last updated | 26 January 2026 |
|---|---|
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| Format | CSV |
| License | Creative Commons Attribution |
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| id | 48abd699-814a-49af-a63b-f1bdf04ef8f5 |
| last modified | 8 months ago |
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| position | 2 |
| state | active |