It is time to move: linking flight and foraging behaviour in a diving bird

Pelletier, David; Guillemette, Magella; Grandbois, Jean-Marc; Butler, Patrick J.

doi:10.1098/rsbl.2007.0088

Cited by 16 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…When deploying the DLs, we assumed that it would be possible to categorise the behaviour of the animals at all times throughout the deployment period using the f H and depth data alone, as in previous similar studies (e.g. Grémillet et al 2005, Pelletier et al 2007). However, preliminary visual inspection of the data revealed that while some behaviours (e.g.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Energetic consequences of plunge diving in gannets

Green

White²,

Bunce³

et al. 2009

Endang. Species. Res.

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Seabirds that forage by plunge diving dive less frequently than those that dive from the water surface, and spend less time in flight than more generalist foragers. We hypothesised that this is due to foraging by plunge diving entailing a high energetic cost, which in turn is due to high energetic costs of take-off and flight. Using heart rate as a proxy for metabolic rate, we evaluated the energetic costs of foraging by plunge diving in the Australasian gannet Morus serrator. As expected, flight entailed a high energetic cost, and energy expenditure during foraging was equivalent to that during flight and significantly higher than that when animals were resting during foraging trips or were inactive on land. These values represent the highest costs of foraging yet recorded in a seabird, and the low frequency of plunge diving can be attributed to these high costs. On average, Australasian gannets perform 2.6 dives h -1 when foraging, with a mean dive duration of 3.4 s. As a result, they spend < 0.25% of the duration of each foraging trip submerged. We combined this information with previously obtained data on diet to calculate an estimated rate of prey capture of ~287 g (min submerged) -1 . This rate is at least 7 times greater than rates recorded in other diving birds. For plunge divers, therefore, the high costs of foraging are offset by high rates of energy gain.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Energetic consequences of plunge diving in gannets

Green

White²,

Bunce³

et al. 2009

Endang. Species. Res.

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“…Data from DLs with more than 190 recorded days were analysed (NZ13). We used a purposedesigned software program to identify all flight events from the recorded HR flight signature described by Pelletier et al (2007). Using a frequency distribution of flight duration, only local flights shorter than 30 min (99% of total flights) were considered in this study.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…where f H is the HR measured directly by the implanted DL (during 'plateau' phase of one flight; see Pelletier et al 2007) and V s is the stroke volume estimated from heart mass (M H ) using an equation of heart mass-specific scaling of V s during flight (V s,flight Z0.3 M H 1.05 ; Bishop & Butler 1995). Unfortunately, as we did not know the heart mass of our experimental birds so we used a mean value obtained from a sample of six female eiders collected on their wintering ground (17.2G1.2 g).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

To fly or not to fly: high flight costs in a large sea duck do not imply an expensive lifestyle

et al. 2008

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A perennial question in ornithology is whether flight has evolved mostly to facilitate access to food or as an anti-predator strategy. However, flight is an expensive mode of locomotion and species using flight regularly are associated with an expensive lifestyle. Using heart rate (HR) data loggers implanted in 13 female common eiders (Somateria mollissima), our objective was to test the hypothesis that a high level of flight activity increases their energy budget. We used the long-term recording (seven months) of HR as an index of energy expenditure and the HR flight signature to compile all flight events. Our results indicate that the eider is one of the thriftiest volant birds with only 10 minutes of flight time per day. Consequently, we were not able to detect any effect of flight activity on their energy budget despite very high flight costs (123-149 W), suggesting that flight was controlled by energy budget limitations. However, the low flight activity of that species may also be related to their prey landscape requiring few or no large-scale movements. Nevertheless, we suggest that the (fitness) benefits of keeping flight ability in this species exceed the costs by allowing a higher survival in relation to predation and environmental harshness.

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“…(b) Flight activity The frequency distribution of f H for each goose was examined to determine a threshold which would identify periods of flight (see also [8,13]). The result was a bimodal distribution with f H values ranging from 40 to 180 b.p.m.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To investigate this further, we used a biologging approach to identify periods of flight in wild unmanipulated barnacle geese by recording heart rate ( f H ) continuously throughout the annual cycle [8,13]. Heart rate increases dramatically during flight, making periods of flight easily identifiable from f H traces [8,13]. We predicted that free-ranging geese increase their flight activity prior to migration.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wild geese do not increase flight behaviour prior to migration

et al. 2011

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Hypertrophy of the flight muscles is regularly observed in birds prior to long-distance migrations. We tested the hypothesis that a large migratory bird would increase flight behaviour prior to migration, in order to cause hypertrophy of the flight muscles, and upregulate key components of the aerobic metabolic pathways. Implantable data loggers were used to record year-round heart rate in six wild barnacle geese (Branta leucopsis), and the amount of time spent in flight each day was identified. Time in flight per day did not significantly increase prior to either the spring or the autumn migration, both between time periods prior to migration (5, 10 and 15 days), or when compared with a control period of low activity during winter. The lack of significant increase in flight prior to migration suggests that approximately 22 min per day is sufficient to maintain the flight muscles in condition for prolonged long-distance flight. This apparent lack of a requirement for increased flight activity prior to migration may be attributable to pre-migratory mass gains in the geese increasing workload during short flights, potentially prompting hypertrophy of the flight muscles.

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It is time to move: linking flight and foraging behaviour in a diving bird

Cited by 16 publications

References 15 publications

Energetic consequences of plunge diving in gannets

Energetic consequences of plunge diving in gannets

To fly or not to fly: high flight costs in a large sea duck do not imply an expensive lifestyle

Wild geese do not increase flight behaviour prior to migration

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