Grecian, WJ, Williams, HJ, Votier, SC et al. (11 more authors) (2019) Individual spatial consistency and dietary flexibility in the migratory behavior of northern gannets wintering in the Northeast Atlantic. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 7. 214. ISSN 2296-701X
Abstract
Migration is a fundamental behavioral process prevalent among a wide variety of animal taxa. As individuals are increasingly shown to present consistent responses to environmental cues for breeding or foraging, it may be expected that approaches to migration would present similar among-individual consistencies. Seabirds frequently show consistent individual differences in a range of traits related to foraging and space-use during both the breeding and non-breeding seasons, but the causes and consequences of this consistency are poorly understood. In this study, we combined analysis of geolocation and stable isotope data across multiple years to investigate individual variation in the non-breeding movements and diets of northern gannets Morus bassanus, and the consequences for changes in body condition. We found that individuals were highly repeatable in their non-breeding destination over consecutive years even though the population-level non-breeding distribution spanned >35° of latitude. Isotopic signatures were also strongly repeatable, with individuals assigned to one of two dietary clusters defined by their distinct trophic (δ15N) and spatial (δ13C) position. The only non-breeding destination in which the two dietary clusters co-occurred was off the coast of northwest Africa. The majority of individuals adopted a consistent foraging strategy, as they remained within the same dietary cluster across years, with little variation in body mass corrected for size among these consistent individuals. In contrast, the few individuals that switched clusters between years were in better condition relative to the rest of the population, suggesting there may be benefits to flexibility during the non-breeding period. Our results indicate that a consistent migratory strategy can be effective regardless of wintering region or diet, but that there may be benefits to those individuals able to display flexibility. This appears to be an important behavioral strategy that may enhance individual condition.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2019 Grecian, Williams, Votier, Bearhop, Cleasby, Grémillet, Hamer, Le Nuz, Lescroël, Newton, Patrick, Phillips, Wakefield and Bodey. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
Keywords: | individual variation; carry-over effects; Geolocator (GLS); stable isotope analysis (SIA); animal migration |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Biological Sciences (Leeds) > School of Biology (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number NERC (Natural Environment Research Council) NE/H007466/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 14 Jun 2019 08:55 |
Last Modified: | 01 Jul 2020 12:37 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Frontiers Media |
Identification Number: | 10.3389/fevo.2019.00214 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:147312 |