Olfactory foraging in temperate waters: sensitivity to dimethylsulphide of shearwaters in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea

Many procellariiforms use olfactory cues to locate food patches over the seemingly featureless ocean surface. In particular, some of them are able to detect and are attracted by dimethylsulphide (DMS), a volatile compound naturally occurring over worldwide oceans in correspondence with productive feeding areas. However, current knowledge is restricted to sub-Antarctic species and to only one study realized under natural conditions at sea. Here, for the first time, we investigated the response to DMS in parallel in two different environments in temperate waters, the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, employing Cory’s (Calonectris borealis) and Scopoli’s (Calonectris diomedea) shearwaters as models. To test whether these birds can detect and respond to DMS, we presented them with this substance in a Y-maze. Then, to determine whether they use this molecule in natural conditions, we tested the response to DMS at sea. The number of birds that chose DMS in the Y-maze and that were recruited at DMS-scented slicks at sea suggests that these shearwaters are attracted to DMS in both non-foraging and natural contexts. Our findings show that the use of DMS as a foraging cue may be a strategy adopted by procellariiforms across oceans but that regional differences may exist, giving a worldwide perspective to previous hypotheses concerning the use of DMS as a chemical cue.