Public information affects breeding dispersal in a colonial bird: kittiwakes cue on neighbours.

ABSTRACT: Habitat selection and dispersal behaviour are key processes in evolutionary ecology. Recent studies have suggested that individuals may use the reproductive performance of conspecifics as a source of public information on breeding patch quality for dispersal decisions, but experimental evidence is still limited for species breeding in aggregates, i.e. colonial species. We addressed this issue by manipulating the local breeding success of marked individuals and that of their neighbours on a series of breeding patches of a colonial seabird, the black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla). Based on previous observations in this species, we predicted that individuals that lost their eggs on successful patches would attend their nest and come back to it the year after at a higher rate than indivi

SUBMITTER: Boulinier T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2610090 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature