Gathering public information for habitat selection: prospecting birds cue on parental activity

Pärt, Tomas; Doligez, Blandine

doi:10.1098/rspb.2003.2419

Cited by 107 publications

(80 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Birds have been shown to gather information about the presence and breeding performance of conspecifics during the breeding season to select a suitable breeding site in the following year (Pärt and Doligez 2003;Parejo et al 2007;Betts et al 2008b). However, the number of breeding pairs and breeding success provide information about the presence and breeding performance of conspecifics for a single year only, whereas undamaged old nests may provide information from several years.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social cues are preferred over resource cues for breeding-site selection in Barn Swallows

Ringhofer

Hasegawa

2014

J Ornithol

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To maximize fitness, animals choose habitats by using a combination of direct resource cues, such as the quality and quantity of safe breeding sites or food resources, and indirect social cues, such as the presence or breeding performance of conspecifics. Many reports show that nest predation leads to reduced fitness. However, it remains unclear how birds assess predation risk and how it affects breeding-site selection. In this study, we analyzed the relationship between predation risk and breeding-site selection in Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica). We assessed the cues that swallows use in their selection. We used nestsite characteristics related to predation and foraging sites as direct resource cues, number of breeding pairs, and breeding success in the previous year as indirect social cues, and number of old and undamaged old nests as direct resource and/or indirect social cues. Breeding-site preference was assessed using the arrival date of males. We showed that only the number of undamaged old nests was used for breeding-site selection. When comparing effects at two spatial scales, nest-site and home-range, the effect of the number of undamaged old nests occurred at the homerange scale only, suggesting that these nests are used as an indirect social cue rather than a direct resource cue to reduce the energy or time-consuming costs of nest building. We suggest that undamaged old nests may indicate the presence and breeding performance of conspecifics for several previous years. Because Barn Swallows are migratory birds, undamaged old nests may be a reliable indirect social cue and may reduce the time required to sample information at breeding sites.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social cues are preferred over resource cues for breeding-site selection in Barn Swallows

Ringhofer

Hasegawa

2014

J Ornithol

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“…Fledgling condition (e.g. gape, skin and plumage colorations) and activity (Parejo et al 2007) as well as parental feeding rates (Pärt & Doligez 2003) and number of nestlings (Doligez et al 2002) have been proposed as possible proximate cues for settlement. Such detailed cues would presumably be time-consuming to collect, thus creating a trade-off between information quality and quantity (Dall et al 2005;Stamps & Krishnan 2005).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social information trumps vegetation structure in breeding-site selection by a migrant songbird

et al. 2008

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To maximize fitness, organisms must assess and select suitable habitat. Early research studying birds suggested that organisms consider primarily vegetation structural cues in their habitat choices. We show that experimental exposure to singing in the post-breeding period provides a social cue that is used for habitat selection the following year by a migrant songbird, the black-throated blue warbler (Dendroica caerulescens). Our experimental social cues coerced individuals to adopt territories in areas of very poor habitat quality where individuals typically do not occur. This indicates that social information can override typical associations with vegetation structure. We demonstrate that a strong settlement response was elicited because post-breeding song at a site is highly correlated with reproductive success. These results constitute a previously undocumented, but highly parsimonious mechanism for the inadvertent transfer of reproductive (public) information from successful breeders to dispersers. We hypothesize that post-breeding song is a pervasive and reliable cue for species that communicate vocally, inhabit temporally autocorrelated environments, produce young asynchronously and/or abandon territories after reproductive failure.

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“…raptors (Serrano & Tella 2003;Alonso et al 2004;Serrano et al 2004), swallows (Shields et al 1988;Brown et al 2000b) and colonial seabirds (Cadiou et al 1994;Forbes & Kaiser 1994;Boulinier et al 1996;Danchin et al 1998;Danchin & Cam 2001). One of the most detailed studies of PI use in avian breeding aggregations involves the collared flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis), a socially breeding land bird in which non-breeding or failed-breeding adult birds use conspecifics' reproductive success in their future settlement decisions (Doligez et al 1999(Doligez et al , 2002(Doligez et al , 2004Pärt & Doligez 2003). PI, however, is not always available at breeding group locations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inadvertent social information in breeding site selection of natal dispersing birds

2005

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Several species use the number of young produced as public information (PI) to assess breeding site quality. PI is inaccessible for synchronously breeding birds because nests are empty by the time the young can collect this information. We investigate if location cues are the next best source of inadvertent social information (ISI) used by young prospectors during breeding site choice. We experimentally deployed ISI as decoys and song playbacks of breeding males in suitable and sub-optimal habitats during pre-and postbreeding periods, and monitored territory establishment during the subsequent breeding season for a social, bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus), and a more solitary species, Nelson's sharp-tailed sparrow (Ammodramus nelsoni ). The sparrows did not respond to treatments, but bobolinks responded strongly to post-breeding location cues, irrespective of habitat quality. The following year, 17/20 sub-optimal plots to which bobolink males were recruited were defended for at least two weeks, indicating that song heard the previous year could exert a 'carry-over attraction' effect on conspecifics the following year. Sixteen recruited males were natal dispersers, as expected when animals have little opportunity to directly sample their natal habitat quality. We suggest that differences in breeding synchronicity may induce an equivalent clinal distribution of ISI use.

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Gathering public information for habitat selection: prospecting birds cue on parental activity

Cited by 107 publications

References 37 publications

Social cues are preferred over resource cues for breeding-site selection in Barn Swallows

Social cues are preferred over resource cues for breeding-site selection in Barn Swallows

Social information trumps vegetation structure in breeding-site selection by a migrant songbird

Inadvertent social information in breeding site selection of natal dispersing birds

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