Competition for breeding sites and site‐dependent population regulation in a highly colonial seabird, the common guillemot Uria aalge
Summary The hypothesis of site‐dependent population regulation predicts that birds utilize available nesting sites in a pre‐emptive (ideal despotic) manner, leading to density dependence in heterogeneous habitats as poorer sites are used at higher population densities. At small population sizes adap...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.0021-8790.2004.00813.x https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.0021-8790.2004.00813.x https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.0021-8790.2004.00813.x |
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crwiley:10.1111/j.0021-8790.2004.00813.x 2024-09-15T18:02:42+00:00 Competition for breeding sites and site‐dependent population regulation in a highly colonial seabird, the common guillemot Uria aalge Kokko, Hanna Harris, Michael P. Wanless, Sarah 2004 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.0021-8790.2004.00813.x https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.0021-8790.2004.00813.x https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.0021-8790.2004.00813.x en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Journal of Animal Ecology volume 73, issue 2, page 367-376 ISSN 0021-8790 1365-2656 journal-article 2004 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0021-8790.2004.00813.x 2024-08-13T04:16:14Z Summary The hypothesis of site‐dependent population regulation predicts that birds utilize available nesting sites in a pre‐emptive (ideal despotic) manner, leading to density dependence in heterogeneous habitats as poorer sites are used at higher population densities. At small population sizes adaptive site choice protects populations against fluctuations (the buffer effect). Common guillemots Uria aalge (Pontoppidan) breed at high density on sea‐cliffs. The population breeding on the Isle of May, Scotland increased by 60% between 1981 and 2000. A good nest‐site is a prerequisite for successful breeding and there is much competition for the best sites. Throughout this period, site use correlated with two measures of site quality, and photographs taken in 1936 show that this pattern has been extremely stable. The data indicate declining quality of sites that remain available as the population has increased. Site‐dependent regulation was evident in that average breeding success declined over the years, but no declining trend was detected in the best (and most preferred) sites. An individual guillemot generally uses the same nest‐site from year to year, but a minority move, usually less than 2 m, between breeding seasons. These movements can be involuntary or voluntary. Involuntarily moving birds that had occupied very good sites before moving often spent several years as non‐breeders (floaters) close to their previous site before breeding again, and then occupied poorer sites. Voluntarily moving birds significantly improved their site quality by moving. Birds responded both to the physical site characteristics and to their own experience (breeding failure) when abandoning a site. Their behaviour thus combined aspects of the ‘win‐stay, lose‐switch’ strategy with direct assessment of site quality. Our data set is inconclusive with respect to the public information hypothesis, i.e. whether birds use conspecific cues of breeding success when settling in a new site. Article in Journal/Newspaper common guillemot Uria aalge uria Wiley Online Library Journal of Animal Ecology 73 2 367 376 |
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Open Polar |
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Wiley Online Library |
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crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
Summary The hypothesis of site‐dependent population regulation predicts that birds utilize available nesting sites in a pre‐emptive (ideal despotic) manner, leading to density dependence in heterogeneous habitats as poorer sites are used at higher population densities. At small population sizes adaptive site choice protects populations against fluctuations (the buffer effect). Common guillemots Uria aalge (Pontoppidan) breed at high density on sea‐cliffs. The population breeding on the Isle of May, Scotland increased by 60% between 1981 and 2000. A good nest‐site is a prerequisite for successful breeding and there is much competition for the best sites. Throughout this period, site use correlated with two measures of site quality, and photographs taken in 1936 show that this pattern has been extremely stable. The data indicate declining quality of sites that remain available as the population has increased. Site‐dependent regulation was evident in that average breeding success declined over the years, but no declining trend was detected in the best (and most preferred) sites. An individual guillemot generally uses the same nest‐site from year to year, but a minority move, usually less than 2 m, between breeding seasons. These movements can be involuntary or voluntary. Involuntarily moving birds that had occupied very good sites before moving often spent several years as non‐breeders (floaters) close to their previous site before breeding again, and then occupied poorer sites. Voluntarily moving birds significantly improved their site quality by moving. Birds responded both to the physical site characteristics and to their own experience (breeding failure) when abandoning a site. Their behaviour thus combined aspects of the ‘win‐stay, lose‐switch’ strategy with direct assessment of site quality. Our data set is inconclusive with respect to the public information hypothesis, i.e. whether birds use conspecific cues of breeding success when settling in a new site. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Kokko, Hanna Harris, Michael P. Wanless, Sarah |
spellingShingle |
Kokko, Hanna Harris, Michael P. Wanless, Sarah Competition for breeding sites and site‐dependent population regulation in a highly colonial seabird, the common guillemot Uria aalge |
author_facet |
Kokko, Hanna Harris, Michael P. Wanless, Sarah |
author_sort |
Kokko, Hanna |
title |
Competition for breeding sites and site‐dependent population regulation in a highly colonial seabird, the common guillemot Uria aalge |
title_short |
Competition for breeding sites and site‐dependent population regulation in a highly colonial seabird, the common guillemot Uria aalge |
title_full |
Competition for breeding sites and site‐dependent population regulation in a highly colonial seabird, the common guillemot Uria aalge |
title_fullStr |
Competition for breeding sites and site‐dependent population regulation in a highly colonial seabird, the common guillemot Uria aalge |
title_full_unstemmed |
Competition for breeding sites and site‐dependent population regulation in a highly colonial seabird, the common guillemot Uria aalge |
title_sort |
competition for breeding sites and site‐dependent population regulation in a highly colonial seabird, the common guillemot uria aalge |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2004 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.0021-8790.2004.00813.x https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.0021-8790.2004.00813.x https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.0021-8790.2004.00813.x |
genre |
common guillemot Uria aalge uria |
genre_facet |
common guillemot Uria aalge uria |
op_source |
Journal of Animal Ecology volume 73, issue 2, page 367-376 ISSN 0021-8790 1365-2656 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0021-8790.2004.00813.x |
container_title |
Journal of Animal Ecology |
container_volume |
73 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
367 |
op_container_end_page |
376 |
_version_ |
1810440131433201664 |