Selection against immigrants in wild seabird populations

International audience Immigration is a major demographic parameter shaping population dynamics and is an important driver of eco‐evolutionary patterns, but the fitness consequences for individuals following their settlement to a new population (immigrants) remain poorly tested in wild animal popula...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ecology Letters
Main Authors: Barbraud, Christophe, Delord, Karine
Other Authors: Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé - UMR 7372 (CEBC), La Rochelle Université (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: HAL CCSD 2020
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Online Access:https://hal.science/hal-04463032
https://hal.science/hal-04463032/document
https://hal.science/hal-04463032/file/Manuscript_EL_Final.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13624
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Summary:International audience Immigration is a major demographic parameter shaping population dynamics and is an important driver of eco‐evolutionary patterns, but the fitness consequences for individuals following their settlement to a new population (immigrants) remain poorly tested in wild animal populations, particularly among long‐lived species. Here we show that immigrants have a lower fitness than residents in three wild seabird populations (wandering albatross Diomedea exulans , southern fulmar Fulmarus glacialoides , snow petrel Pagodroma nivea ). Across all species and during a 32‐year period, immigrants made on average −9 to 29% fewer breeding attempts, had 5–31% fewer fledglings, had 2–16% lower breeding success and produced 6–46% fewer recruits. Female immigration and male residency were also favored through differences in breeding performance. We provide evidence for selection against immigrants in wild populations of long‐lived species and our results are consistent with female‐biased dispersal in birds being driven by asymmetric limiting resources and the competitive ability of dispersers vs. non‐dispersers.