3 CHAPTER SPATIAL CLUMPING OF FOOD AND SOCIAL DOMINANCE AFFECT INTERFERENCE COMPETITION

• Main Authors: Among Ruddy Turnstones, Wouter K. Vahl, Tamar Lok, Jaap Van, Der Meer, Theunis Piersma, Franz J. Weissing
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arenaria interpres
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.324.4956; http://dissertations.ub.rug.nl/FILES/faculties/science/2006/w.k.vahl/c3.pdf

In studying the success of foraging animals, studies of interference competition have put emphasis on effects of competitor density, whereas studies of resource defense have focused on the effects of the spatial distribution of food within patches. Very few studies have looked at both factors simultaneously, that is, determined whether the effects of competitor density on foraging success depend on the spatial distribution of food. We studied the behavior and the foraging success of ruddy turnstones (Arenaria interpres) using an experiment in which we varied both the presence of a competitor and the food distribution. Because turnstones may differ strongly in their relative dominance status, we also experimentally varied the foragers ’ relative dominance status. We found that the presence of a competitor only reduced the foraging success of subordinate birds foraging at the clumped food distribution. At this condition, dominant and subordinate birds differed markedly in their foraging