Behavioral Ecology
Volume 29, Issue 5, 2018, Pages 1157-1166

Body stores persist as fitness correlate in a long-distance migrant released from food constraints (Article) (Open Access)

Dokter A.M.* , Fokkema W. , Bekker S.K. , Bouten W. , Ebbinge B.S. , Müskens G. , Olff H. , Van Der Jeugd H.P. , Nolet B.A.
  • a Centre for Avian Migration and Demography, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), P.O. Box 50, Wageningen, 6700 AB, Netherlands, Department of Animal Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), P.O. Box 50, Wageningen, 6700 AB, Netherlands, Theoretical and Computational Ecology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, P.O. Box 94248, Amsterdam, 1090 GE, Netherlands
  • b Conservation Ecology, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 11103, Groningen, 9700 CC, Netherlands
  • c Centre for Avian Migration and Demography, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), P.O. Box 50, Wageningen, 6700 AB, Netherlands
  • d Theoretical and Computational Ecology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, P.O. Box 94248, Amsterdam, 1090 GE, Netherlands
  • e Team Animal Ecology, Wageningen Environmental Research (Alterra), Wageningen University, P.O. Box 47, Wageningen, 6700 AA, Netherlands
  • f Team Animal Ecology, Wageningen Environmental Research (Alterra), Wageningen University, P.O. Box 47, Wageningen, 6700 AA, Netherlands
  • g Conservation Ecology, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 11103, Groningen, 9700 CC, Netherlands
  • h Centre for Avian Migration and Demography, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), P.O. Box 50, Wageningen, 6700 AB, Netherlands, Department of Animal Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), P.O. Box 50, Wageningen, 6700 AB, Netherlands
  • i Department of Animal Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), P.O. Box 50, Wageningen, 6700 AB, Netherlands, Theoretical and Computational Ecology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, P.O. Box 94248, Amsterdam, 1090 GE, Netherlands

Abstract

Long-distance migratory birds rely on the acquisition of body stores to fuel their migration and reproduction. Breeding success depends on the amount of body stores acquired prior to migration, which is thought to increase with access to food at the fueling site. Here, we studied how food abundance during fueling affected time budgets and reproductive success. In a regime of plenty, we expected that 1) limitations on food harvesting would become lifted, allowing birds to frequently idle, and 2) birds would reach sufficient fuel loads, such that departure weight would no longer affect reproductive success. Our study system comprised brent geese (Branta b. bernicla) staging on high-quality agricultural pastures. Fueling conditions were assessed by a combination of high-resolution GPS tracking, acceleration-based behavioral classification, thermoregulation modeling, and measurements of food digestibility and excretion rates. Mark-resighting analysis was used to test for correlations between departure weight and offspring recruitment. Our results confirm that birds loafed extensively, actively postponed fueling in early spring, and took frequent digestion pauses, suggesting that traditional time constraints on harvest and fueling rates are absent on modern-day fertilized grasslands. Nonetheless, departure weight remained correlated with recruitment success. The persistence of this correlation after a prolonged stopover with access to abundant high-quality food, suggests that between-individual differences in departure condition are not so much enforced by food quality and availability during stopover, but reflect individual quality and longer-lived life-history traits, such as health status and digestive capacity, which may be developed before the fueling period. © The Author(s) 2018.

Author Keywords

carry-over effects arctic waterfowl GPS tracking migratory fueling recruitment cultivated grassland

Index Keywords

Anatidae Branta bernicla Aves Branta
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85053895299&doi=10.1093%2fbeheco%2fary080&partnerID=40&md5=06325a48c80de51a861a8a7b9177416c
DOI: 10.1093/beheco/ary080
ISSN: 10452249
Cited by: 3
Original Language: English