120 Figure 24. Cumulative percentages of the total number of nests and of the total nesting surface concentrated over the predefined four set of islets. The numbers on the x-axis refer to the set of islets designation (see Table 16 SI Appendix). 4.2 Nesting site selection 4.2.1 Inter-islet nesting site selection The first PCA was run considering the mean value of all ‘islet’ variables over the study period upon the mean value of predicted number of nests per islet over the study period (Figure 25). The first dimension of the PCA (26% of overall variance) was strongly correlated with the islets’ geographical features. The number of nests is positively influenced by the islet’s total perimeter, favorable perimeter or to its surface. It is also negatively influenced by its distance to a reef-pass or by erosion index. The second dimension (22% of overall variance) is correlated with the intensity of anthropogenic disturbances. The number of nests is positively influenced by the islet’s distance to Noumea, to any other harbors or to its protection index. It is also negatively influenced by the number of boats anchored around the islet and the number of fire camps or visitors encountered on the islet.
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