Age-related variation in non-breeding foraging behaviour and carry-over effects on fitness in an extremely long-lived bird ...

Senescence has been widely documented in wild vertebrate populations, yet the proximate drivers of age‐related declines in breeding success, including allocation trade‐offs and links with foraging performance, are poorly understood. For long‐lived, migratory species, the non‐breeding period represen...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Clay, TA, Pearmain, EJ, McGill, RAR, Manica, A, Phillips, RA
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:https://dx.doi.org/10.17863/cam.25156
https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/277815
Description
Summary:Senescence has been widely documented in wild vertebrate populations, yet the proximate drivers of age‐related declines in breeding success, including allocation trade‐offs and links with foraging performance, are poorly understood. For long‐lived, migratory species, the non‐breeding period represents a critical time for investment in self‐maintenance and restoration of body condition, which in many species is linked to fitness. However, the relationships between age, non‐breeding foraging behaviour and fitness remain largely unexplored. We performed a cross‐sectional study, investigating age‐related variation in the foraging activity, distribution and diet of an extremely long‐lived seabird, the wandering albatross Diomedea exulans, during the non‐breeding period. Eighty‐two adults aged 8–33 years were tracked with geolocator‐immersion loggers, and body feathers were sampled for stable isotope analysis. We tested for variation in metrics of foraging behaviour and linked age‐related trends to subsequent ...