Individual Spatial Consistency and Dietary Flexibility in the Migratory Behavior of Northern Gannets Wintering in the Northeast Atlantic
Migration is a fundamental behavioral process prevalent among a wide variety of animal taxa. As individuals are increasingly shown to present consistent responses to environmental cues for breeding or foraging, it may be expected that approaches to migration would present similar among-individual co...
Published in: | Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution |
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Online Access: | https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/3051916/ https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2019.00214 https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/3051916/1/fevo-07-00214.pdf |
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ftunivliverpool:oai:livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk:3051916 2024-09-15T18:25:29+00:00 Individual Spatial Consistency and Dietary Flexibility in the Migratory Behavior of Northern Gannets Wintering in the Northeast Atlantic Grecian, W James Williams, Hannah J Votier, Stephen C Bearhop, Stuart Cleasby, Ian R Gremillet, David Hamer, Keith C Le Nuz, Melanie Lescroel, Amelie Newton, Jason Patrick, Samantha C Phillips, Richard A Wakefield, Ewan D Bodey, Thomas W 2019-06-12 text https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/3051916/ https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2019.00214 https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/3051916/1/fevo-07-00214.pdf en eng Frontiers Media SA https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/3051916/1/fevo-07-00214.pdf Collapse authors list. Grecian, W James, Williams, Hannah J, Votier, Stephen C, Bearhop, Stuart, Cleasby, Ian R, Gremillet, David, Hamer, Keith C, Le Nuz, Melanie, Lescroel, Amelie, Newton, Jason et al (show 4 more authors) , Patrick, Samantha C orcid:0000-0003-4498-944X , Phillips, Richard A, Wakefield, Ewan D and Bodey, Thomas W (2019) Individual Spatial Consistency and Dietary Flexibility in the Migratory Behavior of Northern Gannets Wintering in the Northeast Atlantic. FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION, 7 (JUN). 214-. Article NonPeerReviewed 2019 ftunivliverpool https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2019.00214 2024-07-08T14:17:39Z Migration is a fundamental behavioral process prevalent among a wide variety of animal taxa. As individuals are increasingly shown to present consistent responses to environmental cues for breeding or foraging, it may be expected that approaches to migration would present similar among-individual consistencies. Seabirds frequently show consistent individual differences in a range of traits related to foraging and space-use during both the breeding and non-breeding seasons, but the causes and consequences of this consistency are poorly understood. In this study, we combined analysis of geolocation and stable isotope data across multiple years to investigate individual variation in the non-breeding movements and diets of northern gannets Morus bassanus, and the consequences for changes in body condition. We found that individuals were highly repeatable in their non-breeding destination over consecutive years even though the population-level non-breeding distribution spanned ≥ 35° of latitude. Isotopic signatures were also strongly repeatable, with individuals assigned to one of two dietary clusters defined by their distinct trophic (δ15N) and spatial (δ13C) position. The only non-breeding destination in which the two dietary clusters co-occurred was offthe coast of northwest Africa. The majority of individuals adopted a consistent foraging strategy, as they remained within the same dietary cluster across years, with little variation in body mass corrected for size among these consistent individuals. In contrast, the few individuals that switched clusters between years were in better condition relative to the rest of the population, suggesting there may be benefits to flexibility during the non-breeding period. Our results indicate that a consistent migratory strategy can be effective regardless of wintering region or diet, but that there may be benefits to those individuals able to display flexibility. This appears to be an important behavioral strategy that may enhance individual condition. Article in Journal/Newspaper Northeast Atlantic The University of Liverpool Repository Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 7 |
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Open Polar |
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The University of Liverpool Repository |
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ftunivliverpool |
language |
English |
description |
Migration is a fundamental behavioral process prevalent among a wide variety of animal taxa. As individuals are increasingly shown to present consistent responses to environmental cues for breeding or foraging, it may be expected that approaches to migration would present similar among-individual consistencies. Seabirds frequently show consistent individual differences in a range of traits related to foraging and space-use during both the breeding and non-breeding seasons, but the causes and consequences of this consistency are poorly understood. In this study, we combined analysis of geolocation and stable isotope data across multiple years to investigate individual variation in the non-breeding movements and diets of northern gannets Morus bassanus, and the consequences for changes in body condition. We found that individuals were highly repeatable in their non-breeding destination over consecutive years even though the population-level non-breeding distribution spanned ≥ 35° of latitude. Isotopic signatures were also strongly repeatable, with individuals assigned to one of two dietary clusters defined by their distinct trophic (δ15N) and spatial (δ13C) position. The only non-breeding destination in which the two dietary clusters co-occurred was offthe coast of northwest Africa. The majority of individuals adopted a consistent foraging strategy, as they remained within the same dietary cluster across years, with little variation in body mass corrected for size among these consistent individuals. In contrast, the few individuals that switched clusters between years were in better condition relative to the rest of the population, suggesting there may be benefits to flexibility during the non-breeding period. Our results indicate that a consistent migratory strategy can be effective regardless of wintering region or diet, but that there may be benefits to those individuals able to display flexibility. This appears to be an important behavioral strategy that may enhance individual condition. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Grecian, W James Williams, Hannah J Votier, Stephen C Bearhop, Stuart Cleasby, Ian R Gremillet, David Hamer, Keith C Le Nuz, Melanie Lescroel, Amelie Newton, Jason Patrick, Samantha C Phillips, Richard A Wakefield, Ewan D Bodey, Thomas W |
spellingShingle |
Grecian, W James Williams, Hannah J Votier, Stephen C Bearhop, Stuart Cleasby, Ian R Gremillet, David Hamer, Keith C Le Nuz, Melanie Lescroel, Amelie Newton, Jason Patrick, Samantha C Phillips, Richard A Wakefield, Ewan D Bodey, Thomas W Individual Spatial Consistency and Dietary Flexibility in the Migratory Behavior of Northern Gannets Wintering in the Northeast Atlantic |
author_facet |
Grecian, W James Williams, Hannah J Votier, Stephen C Bearhop, Stuart Cleasby, Ian R Gremillet, David Hamer, Keith C Le Nuz, Melanie Lescroel, Amelie Newton, Jason Patrick, Samantha C Phillips, Richard A Wakefield, Ewan D Bodey, Thomas W |
author_sort |
Grecian, W James |
title |
Individual Spatial Consistency and Dietary Flexibility in the Migratory Behavior of Northern Gannets Wintering in the Northeast Atlantic |
title_short |
Individual Spatial Consistency and Dietary Flexibility in the Migratory Behavior of Northern Gannets Wintering in the Northeast Atlantic |
title_full |
Individual Spatial Consistency and Dietary Flexibility in the Migratory Behavior of Northern Gannets Wintering in the Northeast Atlantic |
title_fullStr |
Individual Spatial Consistency and Dietary Flexibility in the Migratory Behavior of Northern Gannets Wintering in the Northeast Atlantic |
title_full_unstemmed |
Individual Spatial Consistency and Dietary Flexibility in the Migratory Behavior of Northern Gannets Wintering in the Northeast Atlantic |
title_sort |
individual spatial consistency and dietary flexibility in the migratory behavior of northern gannets wintering in the northeast atlantic |
publisher |
Frontiers Media SA |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/3051916/ https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2019.00214 https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/3051916/1/fevo-07-00214.pdf |
genre |
Northeast Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Northeast Atlantic |
op_relation |
https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/3051916/1/fevo-07-00214.pdf Collapse authors list. Grecian, W James, Williams, Hannah J, Votier, Stephen C, Bearhop, Stuart, Cleasby, Ian R, Gremillet, David, Hamer, Keith C, Le Nuz, Melanie, Lescroel, Amelie, Newton, Jason et al (show 4 more authors) , Patrick, Samantha C orcid:0000-0003-4498-944X , Phillips, Richard A, Wakefield, Ewan D and Bodey, Thomas W (2019) Individual Spatial Consistency and Dietary Flexibility in the Migratory Behavior of Northern Gannets Wintering in the Northeast Atlantic. FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION, 7 (JUN). 214-. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2019.00214 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution |
container_volume |
7 |
_version_ |
1810466004150517760 |