| Title | Individual foraging site fidelity increases from incubation to nestling rearing in a colonial bird |
| Abstract | oraging specialization, whereby animals exploit only a minor fraction of the population's foraging home range or trophic niche, may arise as a response to increasing levels of intraspecific competition. This phenomenon may be particularly frequent in colonial species, whenever individuals breed in large aggregations and are constrained to exploit shared foraging areas surrounding the colony site where competition for access to food resources may be high. Foraging specialization may be driven by individual foraging site fidelity, occurring whenever individuals consistently target specific foraging sites, which may differ from those used by other colony members. We assessed the extent of foraging specialization in a colonial breeding raptor, the lesser kestrel, Falco naumanni, by estimating the repeatability of foraging movement patterns of 45 GPS-tracked individuals during both incubation and nestling rearing. We found that the consistency of individual movement patterns was generally higher during nestling rearing than during incubation. Nestling-rearing individuals, but not incubating ones, travelled along relatively consistent routes when targeting foraging grounds and tended to target the same foraging areas throughout the tracking period. In colonial birds, and likely in altricial species more generally, an increased individual foraging site fidelity during nestling rearing versus incubation may result from increased energy demands due to frequent nestling provisioning in addition to self-provisioning. By consistently exploiting previously visited foraging sites that are likely to be rewarding, nestling-rearing birds might indeed increase their foraging efficiency, shortening food-searching time and maximizing their foraging effort. In addition, the use of distinct foraging areas may reduce intraspecific competition for food, thus buffering an important cost of coloniality. |
| Source | Animal behaviour (Online) |
| Keywords | Falco naumannienergyhome rangeintraspecific competitionphilopatry |
| Journal | Animal behaviour (Online) |
| Editor | Published for the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour and the Animal Behavior Society by Academic Press, London, Regno Unito |
| Year | 2022 |
| Type | Articolo in rivista |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.07.014 |
| Authors | Samuele Ramellini, Simona Imperio, Jennifer Morinay, Federico De Pascalis, Carlo Catoni, Michelangelo Morganti, Diego Rubolini, Jacopo G Cecere |
| Text | 471099 2022 10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.07.014 Falco naumanni energy home range intraspecific competition philopatry Individual foraging site fidelity increases from incubation to nestling rearing in a colonial bird Samuele Ramellini, Simona Imperio, Jennifer Morinay, Federico De Pascalis, Carlo Catoni, Michelangelo Morganti, Diego Rubolini, Jacopo G Cecere 1. University of Milan; 2. ISPRA; 3. Technosmart EU; 4.CNR IRSA oraging specialization, whereby animals exploit only a minor fraction of the population s foraging home range or trophic niche, may arise as a response to increasing levels of intraspecific competition. This phenomenon may be particularly frequent in colonial species, whenever individuals breed in large aggregations and are constrained to exploit shared foraging areas surrounding the colony site where competition for access to food resources may be high. Foraging specialization may be driven by individual foraging site fidelity, occurring whenever individuals consistently target specific foraging sites, which may differ from those used by other colony members. We assessed the extent of foraging specialization in a colonial breeding raptor, the lesser kestrel, Falco naumanni, by estimating the repeatability of foraging movement patterns of 45 GPS tracked individuals during both incubation and nestling rearing. We found that the consistency of individual movement patterns was generally higher during nestling rearing than during incubation. Nestling rearing individuals, but not incubating ones, travelled along relatively consistent routes when targeting foraging grounds and tended to target the same foraging areas throughout the tracking period. In colonial birds, and likely in altricial species more generally, an increased individual foraging site fidelity during nestling rearing versus incubation may result from increased energy demands due to frequent nestling provisioning in addition to self provisioning. By consistently exploiting previously visited foraging sites that are likely to be rewarding, nestling rearing birds might indeed increase their foraging efficiency, shortening food searching time and maximizing their foraging effort. In addition, the use of distinct foraging areas may reduce intraspecific competition for food, thus buffering an important cost of coloniality. Preprint Articolo in rivista Published for the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour and the Animal Behavior Society by Academic Press 1095 8282 Animal behaviour Online Animal behaviour Online Anim. behav. Online Animal behaviour Online Animal behavior Online RUBOLINI DIEGO michelangelo.morganti MORGANTI MICHELANGELO |
