Can non-breeding be a cost of breeding dispersal? (original) (raw)
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Public information affects breeding dispersal in a colonial bird: kittiwakes cue on neighbours
Biology Letters, 2008
Habitat selection and dispersal behaviour are key processes in evolutionary ecology. Recent studies have suggested that individuals may use the reproductive performance of conspecifics as a source of public information on breeding patch quality for dispersal decisions, but experimental evidence is still limited for species breeding in aggregates, i.e. colonial species. We addressed this issue by manipulating the local breeding success of marked individuals and that of their neighbours on a series of breeding patches of a colonial seabird, the black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla). Based on previous observations in this species, we predicted that individuals that lost their eggs on successful patches would attend their nest and come back to it the year after at a higher rate than individuals that lost their eggs on patches where their neighbours were also in failure. As predicted, the attendance of breeders and prospectors was strongly affected by the local level of breeding success, resulting in differential site fidelity and recruitment. This suggests that individuals used information conveyed by conspecific breeding performance to make decisions relative to breeding site selection. This process can amplify the response of these populations to environmental change and may have contributed to the evolution of colonial breeding.
Public Information and Breeding Habitat Selection in a Wild Bird Population
Science, 2002
According to the "public information" hypothesis, some animal species may monitor the current reproductive success of conspecifics to assess local habitat quality and to choose their own subsequent breeding site. To test this hypothesis experimentally, we manipulated two components of public information, the mean number of offspring raised locally ("quantity") and their condition ("quality"), in the collared flycatcher Ficedula albicollis. Immigration rate decreased with local offspring quantity but did not depend on local offspring quality, suggesting that immigrants are deprived of information regarding local quality. Conversely, emigration rate increased both when local offspring quantity or quality decreased, suggesting that residents can use both components of public information.
The absence of sex-biased dispersal in the cooperatively breeding grey-crowned babbler
Journal of Animal Ecology, 2011
1. Cooperatively breeding birds are thought to be especially vulnerable to habitat fragmentation, in part because dispersal is typically restricted for one sex, increasing the likelihood of inbreeding. Knowledge of dispersal is essential to conservation efforts, but is often hampered by our inability to measure its frequency and distance when dispersal is infrequent and difficult to observe. 2. Disrupted dispersal is a purported cause of decline in the Australian grey-crowned babbler (Pomatostomus temporalis). Both sexes of offspring delay dispersal for up to several years to help parents raise subsequent broods, yet little else is known about the dispersal of this cooperatively breeding woodland bird. 3. As both sexes appear to help, but only male helpers boost fledgling production, we hypothesized that males would be the more philopatric sex in this species, and that female grey-crowned babblers would disperse over greater distances. 4. To ensure reliable determination of sex and minimize bias towards detecting short-distance dispersal events, we combined molecular-based sexing and analyses of population genetic structure using polymorphic microsatellite loci with observational data obtained over multiple field seasons. 5. Observations of banded birds showed only infrequent fission of groups or short-distance dispersal (mean = 854 m), but no apparent sex-bias in these patterns. 6. There was significant genetic differentiation between social groups, but not between the sexes. Spatial genetic autocorrelation analysis of breeders revealed a random distribution of genotypes across the study area for both sexes. Thus, contrary to expectations, we found no genetic evidence for restricted dispersal or for sex-biased dispersal over the 85-km scale of this study, indicating that effective dispersal occurs over greater distances and more frequently than recoveries of banded birds indicated. 7. We conclude that while constraints on independent breeding encourage high rates of philopatry, incest avoidance nonetheless drives high rates of dispersal by both sexes. In fragmented habitat, the dispersal dynamics of this cooperatively breeding species are unlikely to render them particularly vulnerable to genetic consequences such as inbreeding, but may lead to increased group dissolution.
Oikos, 2006
Breeding performance, mate fidelity, and nest site fidelity in a long-lived seabird: behaving against the current? Á Oikos 115: 263 Á276. There is evidence that breeding failure is associated with divorce and dispersal in many bird species. However, deviations from the general pattern ''success-stay/failure-leave'' seem to be common, suggesting that factors other than breeding performance may importantly influence mate and habitat selection. Moreover, variability in response to performance suggests coexistence of different evolutionary strategies of mate and site selection within a population. In this study, we assessed how individuals conform to the success-stay/failure-leave pattern in kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla), and aimed to identify categories of individuals presenting different behavioural patterns. We considered individual attributes (experience, prior residence at the nest site, performance in multiple breeding attempts), pair attributes (arrival asynchrony, timing of failure, pair duration), and productivity in habitat patches. Timing of failure was an important factor. Pair reunion probability was close to 0.5 in failed pairs, but it was consistently higher in early failed than in late failed pairs. Prior residence better explained variability in probability of reunion in failed pairs than pair duration. However, the positive influence of prior residence on the probability of reunion was perceptible only in early failed pairs. Divorce probability in successful pairs increased with arrival asynchrony, and was higher in first-time than in experienced breeders. Local productivity positively influenced site fidelity probability in early failed birds, but not in late failed ones. Using memory models, we found that dispersal decisions integrate information on individual breeding performance in a temporal scale longer than one year. This study contributed to the identification of relevant states to be considered when addressing mate and nest site choice. Natural selection may operate on slight fitness differences that cannot be detected without high levels of stratification according to the appropriate individual and habitat attributes.
Journal of Animal Ecology, 2001
The role of individual experience vs. the use of conspecific cues on breeding dispersal decisions have seldom been determined in colonial birds. We studied causes of breeding dispersal in the lesser kestrel ( Falco naumanni ), a species that breeds in colonies of variable size as well as solitarily. During a 6-year study in Spain, we gathered information on 486 subsequent breeding attempts and on 26 explanatory variables which evaluated individual experience, conspecific cues in terms of breeding performance and colony size, and different ecological and populational characteristics. 2. Two decisions were separately analysed: whether or not to disperse, and how far to move. Generalized Linear Mixed Models (GLMMs) allowed us to identify the relative contribution of each explanatory variable while controlling for the non-independence of individual dispersal decisions across years. 3. Females seemed to disperse more often than males (34% vs. 19%), and both sexes apparently dispersed less with age. However, a GLMM showed that experience (i.e. the number of years a bird bred in a particular colony) was the only factor influencing breeding dispersal. Birds showed higher site fidelity the greater their experience in a colony, which could be related to benefits derived of increased local familiarity. A second GLMM showed that, before birds acquired experience in a particular colony, individual nest failure due to predation and proximity to other colonies increased the probability of dispersal, dispersal being also higher in colonies with poor conspecific breeding success. Furthermore, solitary nesting birds were more prone to disperse and dispersal probability decreased the larger the colony of origin, according to fitness expectations associated with colony size. 4. A GLMM explaining dispersal distances retained two variables -birds dispersed farther the lower the breeding density in the surroundings, and the larger the distance to the nearest colony. Dispersing birds tended to settle within their previous foraging areas (median dispersal distance = 1·6 km), being constrained by the availability of nearby colonies. 5. Lesser kestrels mainly cue on their own breeding performance and experience in a particular colony at the time of taking a dispersal decision. However, inexperienced birds also partially cue on the size and breeding success of their own colonies ( but not on the size or breeding performance of other colonies), and birds moved larger distances when dispersing from areas of low populational density. These results support some degree of conspecific attraction. . Probability of colony change as predicted by the GLMM for inexperienced birds: (a) individuals whose nests were predated; ( b) individuals whose nests were not predated. Continuous lines correspond to breeding failure of colony neighbours and discontinuous lines to colony neighbours raising an average of four fledglings. Number of pairs show probabilities for three different colony sizes. . Observed dispersal distances for male () and female (ᮀ) lesser kestrels.
Coupling Delayed Breeding with Short-distance Dispersal in Cooperatively Breeding Birds
Ethology, 2010
Short-distance dispersal in cooperatively breeding birds is demonstrated and a new model describes how it could be causally related to delayed breeding. Nonbreeders are hypothesized to wait for specific, adjacent territories of high quality. Strong, predictable differences in territory quality select for extended natal philopatry in comparison with species whose young disperse upon maturity. A nonbreeder's ability to discriminate territory quality, and competitive advantages of age and proximity in obtaining nearby breeding positions, are necessary conditions of this model. Direct benefits to both males (potential for inheritance of a breeding position on the natal territory) and females (priority to nearby territories of high quality) result from philopatry. This model differs from most others by emphasizing potential direct benefits of delayed dispersal, rather than assuming constraints, such as habitat saturation. Short-distance dispersal is widespread in other bird and mammal social systems characterized by natal philopatry and delayed breeding, suggesting a general application of this model.
PloS one, 2011
Environmental conditions under which species reproduce have major consequences on breeding success and subsequent fitness. Therefore breeding habitat choice is ultimately important. Studies rarely address the potential fitness pay-offs of alternative natural breeding habitats by experimental translocation. Here we present a new tool to study fitness consequences of free living birds in different habitats. We translocated a migratory passerine, the pied flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca), to a novel site, where pairs were subjected to a short stay (2-4 days) in a nest box-equipped aviary before being released. We show that it is technically possible to retain birds in the new area for breeding, allowing the study of reproductive consequences of dispersal under natural conditions. The translocation resulted in an extension of the interval between arrival and egg laying of four days, highlighting the importance of having an adequate control group. Clutch size and nestling parameters did n...
Breeding dispersal in black‐headed gull: the value of familiarity in a contrasted environment
Journal of Animal Ecology, 2010
1. Some species (e.g. migratory species with high movement ability) are unlikely to experience any physical cost when dispersing, at least at the landscape scale. In these species dispersal is nevertheless behaviourally constrained to avoid non-physical costs such as the loss of familiarity with the breeding environment, and these constraints can be maladaptive in a fast-changing environment. 2. We evaluated such constraints using multievent modelling of a 20-year capture-mark-recapture data set from a multisite population of Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus). The population undertakes seasonal migrations that are very large compared with the size of the study area.
Effects of Prior Nesting Success on Site Fidelity and Breeding Dispersal: An Experimental Approach
The Auk, 1998
Based on more than 300 individually marked American Robins (Turdus migratorius) and Brown Thrashers (Toxostoma rufum), I tested three hypotheses to explain low return rates of birds whose nesting attempts are unsuccessful: (1) birds with low reproductive success are low-quality individuals that are more likely to suffer mortality between breeding seasons; (2) nesting failure increases reproductive effort by causing birds to renest, and this energetic stress increases the probability of mortality; and (3) birds use a "decision rule" based on prior experience to select nesting sites, such that individuals that experience low reproductive success are more likely to move to an alternate breeding site, whereas birds that nest successfully are more likely to breed in the same site again. Birds subjected to experimental nesting failure returned at a significantly lower rate (robins 18%, thrashers 12%) than birds that nested successfully (robins 44%, thrashers 29%). Birds that nested more than once in a season returned at rates (robins 43%, thrashers 21%) indistinguishable from birds that nested only once in a season (robins 36%, thrashers 23%). These results, as well as supplementary data, were inconsistent with hypotheses I and 2 and consistent with hypothesis 3. This study provides strong evidence that low return rates result from dispersal in response to nesting failure.