Economic design in a long-distance migrating molluscivore: how fast-fuelling red knots in Bohai Bay, China, get away with small gizzards
We carried out an observational and experimental study to decipher how resource characteristics, in interaction with the predator's phenotype, constrain a fitness-determining performance measure, i.e. refuelling in a migrant bird. Two subspecies of red knot (Calidris canutus rogersi and C. c. p...
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2013
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ftnioz:oai:imis.nioz.nl:230773 2024-09-15T18:00:49+00:00 Economic design in a long-distance migrating molluscivore: how fast-fuelling red knots in Bohai Bay, China, get away with small gizzards Yang, H.-Y. Ma, Z.-J. Hua, N. van Gils, J.A. Zhang, Z.-W. Piersma, T. 2013 http://imis.nioz.nl/imis.php?module=ref&refid=230773 en eng info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/000324233500016 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/doi.org/10.1242/jeb.083576 http://imis.nioz.nl/imis.php?module=ref&refid=230773 info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess %3Ci%3EJ.+Exp.+Biol.+216%2819%29%3C%2Fi%3E%3A+3627-3636.+%3Ca+href%3D%22https%3A%2F%2Fdx.doi.org%2F10.1242%2Fjeb.083576%22+target%3D%22_blank%22%3Ehttps%3A%2F%2Fdx.doi.org%2F10.1242%2Fjeb.083576%3C%2Fa%3E info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2013 ftnioz https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.083576 2024-08-26T03:37:13Z We carried out an observational and experimental study to decipher how resource characteristics, in interaction with the predator's phenotype, constrain a fitness-determining performance measure, i.e. refuelling in a migrant bird. Two subspecies of red knot (Calidris canutus rogersi and C. c. piersmai) use northern Bohai Bay, Yellow Sea, China, for the final prebreeding stopover, during their 10,000-15,000. km long migrations between wintering and breeding areas. Here, they feed on small bivalves, especially 2-7. mm long Potamocorbula laevis. With an average stay of 29 days, and the need to store 80 g of fat for the onward flights to high-Arctic breeding grounds, red knots need to refuel fast. Using existing knowledge, we expected them to achieve this on the basis of (1) prey with high flesh to shell mass ratios, (2) large gizzards to crush the ingested molluscs, or (3) a combination of the two. Rejecting all three predictions, we found that red knots staging in Bohai Bay had the smallest gizzards on record (4.9 +/- 0.8 g, mean +/- s.e.m., N=27), and also found that prey quality of P. laevis is much lower than predicted for the measured gizzard size (i.e. 1.3 rather than the predicted 4.5 kJ. g(-1) dry shell mass, DMshell). The estimated handling time of P. laevis (0.2 s) is much shorter than the observed time between two prey ingestions (0.7 s), indicating that prey handling time is no constraint. Based on field observations of dropping rates and on indoor digestion trails, the shell processing rate was estimated at 3.9 mg DMshell s(-1), i.e. three times higher the rate previously predicted for red knots eating as fast as they can with the measured gizzard size. This is explained by the small and easily crushed P. laevis enabling high processing rates. As P. laevis also occurred in high densities, the metabolizable energy intake rate of red knots with small gizzards at 5 J s(-1) was as high as at northward staging sites elsewhere in the world. Currently, therefore, food characteristics in Bohai Bay are such ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Calidris canutus Red Knot NIOZ Repository (Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research) Journal of Experimental Biology 216 19 3627 3636 |
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Open Polar |
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NIOZ Repository (Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research) |
op_collection_id |
ftnioz |
language |
English |
description |
We carried out an observational and experimental study to decipher how resource characteristics, in interaction with the predator's phenotype, constrain a fitness-determining performance measure, i.e. refuelling in a migrant bird. Two subspecies of red knot (Calidris canutus rogersi and C. c. piersmai) use northern Bohai Bay, Yellow Sea, China, for the final prebreeding stopover, during their 10,000-15,000. km long migrations between wintering and breeding areas. Here, they feed on small bivalves, especially 2-7. mm long Potamocorbula laevis. With an average stay of 29 days, and the need to store 80 g of fat for the onward flights to high-Arctic breeding grounds, red knots need to refuel fast. Using existing knowledge, we expected them to achieve this on the basis of (1) prey with high flesh to shell mass ratios, (2) large gizzards to crush the ingested molluscs, or (3) a combination of the two. Rejecting all three predictions, we found that red knots staging in Bohai Bay had the smallest gizzards on record (4.9 +/- 0.8 g, mean +/- s.e.m., N=27), and also found that prey quality of P. laevis is much lower than predicted for the measured gizzard size (i.e. 1.3 rather than the predicted 4.5 kJ. g(-1) dry shell mass, DMshell). The estimated handling time of P. laevis (0.2 s) is much shorter than the observed time between two prey ingestions (0.7 s), indicating that prey handling time is no constraint. Based on field observations of dropping rates and on indoor digestion trails, the shell processing rate was estimated at 3.9 mg DMshell s(-1), i.e. three times higher the rate previously predicted for red knots eating as fast as they can with the measured gizzard size. This is explained by the small and easily crushed P. laevis enabling high processing rates. As P. laevis also occurred in high densities, the metabolizable energy intake rate of red knots with small gizzards at 5 J s(-1) was as high as at northward staging sites elsewhere in the world. Currently, therefore, food characteristics in Bohai Bay are such ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Yang, H.-Y. Ma, Z.-J. Hua, N. van Gils, J.A. Zhang, Z.-W. Piersma, T. |
spellingShingle |
Yang, H.-Y. Ma, Z.-J. Hua, N. van Gils, J.A. Zhang, Z.-W. Piersma, T. Economic design in a long-distance migrating molluscivore: how fast-fuelling red knots in Bohai Bay, China, get away with small gizzards |
author_facet |
Yang, H.-Y. Ma, Z.-J. Hua, N. van Gils, J.A. Zhang, Z.-W. Piersma, T. |
author_sort |
Yang, H.-Y. |
title |
Economic design in a long-distance migrating molluscivore: how fast-fuelling red knots in Bohai Bay, China, get away with small gizzards |
title_short |
Economic design in a long-distance migrating molluscivore: how fast-fuelling red knots in Bohai Bay, China, get away with small gizzards |
title_full |
Economic design in a long-distance migrating molluscivore: how fast-fuelling red knots in Bohai Bay, China, get away with small gizzards |
title_fullStr |
Economic design in a long-distance migrating molluscivore: how fast-fuelling red knots in Bohai Bay, China, get away with small gizzards |
title_full_unstemmed |
Economic design in a long-distance migrating molluscivore: how fast-fuelling red knots in Bohai Bay, China, get away with small gizzards |
title_sort |
economic design in a long-distance migrating molluscivore: how fast-fuelling red knots in bohai bay, china, get away with small gizzards |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
http://imis.nioz.nl/imis.php?module=ref&refid=230773 |
genre |
Calidris canutus Red Knot |
genre_facet |
Calidris canutus Red Knot |
op_source |
%3Ci%3EJ.+Exp.+Biol.+216%2819%29%3C%2Fi%3E%3A+3627-3636.+%3Ca+href%3D%22https%3A%2F%2Fdx.doi.org%2F10.1242%2Fjeb.083576%22+target%3D%22_blank%22%3Ehttps%3A%2F%2Fdx.doi.org%2F10.1242%2Fjeb.083576%3C%2Fa%3E |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/000324233500016 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/doi.org/10.1242/jeb.083576 http://imis.nioz.nl/imis.php?module=ref&refid=230773 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.083576 |
container_title |
Journal of Experimental Biology |
container_volume |
216 |
container_issue |
19 |
container_start_page |
3627 |
op_container_end_page |
3636 |
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1810437977513394176 |