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

• Main Authors: Clay, TA, Pearmain, EJ, McGill, RAR, Manica, A, Phillips, RA
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2018
• Subjects: activity patterns; ageing; life-history theory; migration; senescence; sexual segregation; stable isotopes; wandering albatross; Diomedea exulans; Wandering Albatross
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17863/cam.25156; https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/277815

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 ...