From colony to first patch: Processes of prey searching and social information in Cape Gannets

Thiebault, Andréa; Mullers, Ralf H. E.; Pistorius, Pierre A.; Meza-Torres, María Andrea; Dubroca, Laurent; Green, David B.; Tremblay, Yann

doi:10.1642/auk-13-209.1

Cited by 59 publications

(67 citation statements)

References 82 publications

(111 reference statements)

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“…Thiebault, Mullers, Pistorius, & Meza-Torres et al, 2014Tremblay et al, 2014) indicate that seabirds have higher foraging success and/or expend less time/energy while searching if public information is used. For instance, cape gannets, Morus capensis, halve the time to first dive on foraging trips from the colony during the breeding season by responding to flying conspecifics either returning to or departing from the colony (Thiebault, Mullers, Pistorius, & Meza-Torres et al, 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For local enhancement to be profitable, other predators feeding on similar prey must be easily detected (e.g. high densities, high visibility) and reliably indicate the location of prey patches with high enough densities to minimize competitive interactions (Thiebault, Mullers, Pistorius, & Meza-Torres et al, 2014). There are a growing number of studies illustrating that seabirds cue to the foraging activities of conspecifics (e.g.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…There are a growing number of studies illustrating that seabirds cue to the foraging activities of conspecifics (e.g. Grunbaum & Veit, 2003;Thiebault, Mullers, Pistorius, & Meza-Torres et al, 2014 and allospecifics (e.g. Camphuysen & Webb, 1999;Davoren, Garthe, Montevecchi, & Benvenuti, 2010) to locate prey.…”

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Relative importance of local enhancement as a search strategy for breeding seabirds: an experimental approach

2015

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Relative importance of local enhancement as a search strategy for breeding seabirds: an experimental approach

2015

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“…Social information can either be gathered within and around the breeding colony (Bijleveld et al 2010;Machovsky-Capuska et al 2014;Racine et al 2012;Waggitt et al 2014;Ward and Zahavi 1973a;Weimerskirch et al 2010) or at sea (Thiebault et al 2014). Birds can utilise a variety of social cues to find prey, such as a returning conspecifics' direction of travel (Thiebault et al 2014;Weimerskirch et al 2010), the foraging behaviour of conspecifics and heterospecifics (local enhancement, Goyert et al 2014;Silverman et al 2004), the presence of conspecifics (conspecific attraction, Beauchamp et al 1997;Porter and Sealy 1982) or even anthropogenic activity (Votier et al 2013). Accessing social information at colonies might be more valuable when prey is patchy and ephemeral (Barta and Giraldeau 2001), while birds feeding on predictable prey can rely on a combination of memory and conspecific attraction to find prey patches .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social foraging European shags: GPS tracking reveals birds from neighbouring colonies have shared foraging grounds

et al. 2015

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Developments in tracking technologies have enhanced our understanding of the behaviours of many seabird species. However few studies have examined the social aspects of seabird foraging behaviour, despite the effect this might have on the distribution of foraging areas and the differences that might arise between colonies. Here we use bird-borne GPS and behavioural observation to study the social foraging behaviour and habitat use of breeding shags from three breeding colonies in the Isles of Scilly, UK. Thirteen breeding shags from three colonies (six at two colonies and a single bird from another) were tracked between 2010 and 2012 and related to observations of conspecific foraging aggregations (2013-2014). Tracked shags had short foraging ranges (1.74 ± 1.6 km) mostly travelling to shallow waters between the islands and observations revealed that many shags foraged in large social groups that were consistent in time and space. There were also no clear differences in foraging distributions among colonies-birds shared similar foraging grounds. Our finding provides important insight into the use of social information among foraging seabirds and how this may lead to shared foraging areas, as well as space partitioning.

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“…Cape Gannets Morus capensis form frequent associations at sea (Thiebault et al . ) and Brown Boobies Sula leucogaster follow other conspecifics to find food sources (Yoda et al . ).…”

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Inter‐population variation in the behaviour of adult and juvenile Red‐footed Boobies Sula sula

Mendez

Prudor

Weimerskirch

2019

Ibis

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Early life is a critical phase of the life cycle of animals and is attracting increased attention because little information is available on the behaviour of young individuals during this period. Behaviour during early life is probably influenced by the environmental conditions encountered by young animals, but data on intraspecific variation between breeding sites during this crucial period of life are limited. Here we study variability in the foraging behaviour of juveniles and adults in three colonies of a pantropical seabird, the Red‐footed Booby Sula sula. Both adults and juveniles were measured and fitted with GPS loggers in three remote islands: Genovesa (Galapagos, Eastern Pacific Ocean), Europa (Western Indian Ocean) and Surprise (New Caledonia, Western Pacific Ocean). Foraging behaviour was compared between age‐classes, sex and colonies by examining trip characteristics, different behaviours at sea, potential associations between individuals and morphological characteristics. Compared with adults, juveniles conducted shorter trips that were restricted to around the colony, especially on Genovesa (max. range: 203.4 ± 125.1 km and 3.6 ± 3.1 km, respectively). Juveniles appeared more constrained by poor flight skills and experience rather than by their morphology. Adults travelled 45% of the time during at‐sea trips, whereas juveniles spent a a lower proportion of time travelling but foraged more often using an ‘area‐restricted search’ behaviour, potentially training to catch prey. Associations between juveniles were commonly detected in the three colonies and occurred mostly during foraging, suggesting that social learning is an important strategy. Variability of morphometric measurements in both adults and juveniles was high between sites, with larger birds found on Genovesa. These results suggest that adaptations to local environmental conditions are already visible in their early life. Future studies should continue to investigate the behavioural flexibility of juvenile birds to better understand the effect of local environmental conditions during this critical stage of life.

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From colony to first patch: Processes of prey searching and social information in Cape Gannets

Cited by 59 publications

References 82 publications

Relative importance of local enhancement as a search strategy for breeding seabirds: an experimental approach

Relative importance of local enhancement as a search strategy for breeding seabirds: an experimental approach

Social foraging European shags: GPS tracking reveals birds from neighbouring colonies have shared foraging grounds

Inter‐population variation in the behaviour of adult and juvenile Red‐footed Boobies Sula sula

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