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Lerma M, Dehnhard N, Castillo‐Guerrero JA, Hernández‐Vázquez S, Voigt CC, Garthe S. Variations in inter-specific and sex-related niche partitioning in pelagic boobies during their annual cycle. Ecol Evol 2024; 14:e11255. [PMID: 38628915 PMCID: PMC11019297 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.11255] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2023] [Revised: 03/14/2024] [Accepted: 03/22/2024] [Indexed: 04/19/2024] Open
Abstract
Animals that co-occur in a region (sympatry) may share the same environment (syntopy), and niche differentiation is expected among closely related species competing for resources. The masked booby (Sula dactylatra) and smaller congeneric red-footed booby (Sula sula) share breeding grounds. In addition to the inter-specific size difference, females of both species are also larger than the respective males (reversed sexual size dimorphism). Although both boobies consume similar prey, sometimes in mixed-species flocks, each species and sex may specialize in terms of their diet or foraging habitats. We examined inter- and intra-specific differences in isotopic values (δ13C and δ15N) in these pelagically feeding booby species during the incubation period at Clarion Island, Mexico, to quantify the degrees of inter- and intra-specific niche partitioning throughout the annual cycle. During incubation, both species preyed mainly on flyingfish and squid, but masked boobies had heavier food loads than red-footed boobies. There was no overlap in isotopic niches between masked and red-footed boobies during breeding (determined from whole blood), but there was slight overlap during the non-breeding period (determined from body feathers). Female masked boobies had a higher trophic position than conspecific males during breeding; however, no such pattern was detected in red-footed boobies. These results provide evidence of inter- and intra-specific niche partitioning in these tropical seabird species, particularly during the breeding period and in the more-dimorphic species. Our results suggest that these closely related species use different strategies to cope with the same tropical marine environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miriam Lerma
- Research and Technology Center (FTZ)University of KielBüsumGermany
| | - Nina Dehnhard
- Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA)TrondheimNorway
| | - José Alfredo Castillo‐Guerrero
- Departamento de Estudios Para el Desarrollo Sustentable de Zonas Costeras, Centro Universitario de la Costa SurUniversidad de GuadalajaraMelaqueJaliscoMexico
| | - Salvador Hernández‐Vázquez
- Departamento de Estudios Para el Desarrollo Sustentable de Zonas Costeras, Centro Universitario de la Costa SurUniversidad de GuadalajaraMelaqueJaliscoMexico
| | - Christian C. Voigt
- Department Evolutionary EcologyLeibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife ResearchBerlinGermany
| | - Stefan Garthe
- Research and Technology Center (FTZ)University of KielBüsumGermany
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Chau KD, Hauser FE, Van Nynatten A, Daane JM, Harris MP, Chang BSW, Lovejoy NR. Multiple Ecological Axes Drive Molecular Evolution of Cone Opsins in Beloniform Fishes. J Mol Evol 2024; 92:93-103. [PMID: 38416218 DOI: 10.1007/s00239-024-10156-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2023] [Accepted: 01/12/2024] [Indexed: 02/29/2024]
Abstract
Ecological and evolutionary transitions offer an excellent opportunity to examine the molecular basis of adaptation. Fishes of the order Beloniformes include needlefishes, flyingfishes, halfbeaks, and allies, and comprise over 200 species occupying a wide array of habitats-from the marine epipelagic zone to tropical rainforest rivers. These fishes also exhibit a diversity of diets, including piscivory, herbivory, and zooplanktivory. We investigated how diet and habitat affected the molecular evolution of cone opsins, which play a key role in bright light and colour vision and are tightly linked to ecology and life history. We analyzed a targeted-capture dataset to reconstruct the evolutionary history of beloniforms and assemble cone opsin sequences. We implemented codon-based clade models of evolution to examine how molecular evolution was affected by habitat and diet. We found high levels of positive selection in medium- and long-wavelength beloniform opsins, with piscivores showing increased positive selection in medium-wavelength opsins and zooplanktivores showing increased positive selection in long-wavelength opsins. In contrast, short-wavelength opsins showed purifying selection. While marine/freshwater habitat transitions have an effect on opsin molecular evolution, we found that diet plays a more important role. Our study suggests that evolutionary transitions along ecological axes produce complex adaptive interactions that affect patterns of selection on genes that underlie vision.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katherine D Chau
- Department of Physical & Environmental Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Department of Biology, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Frances E Hauser
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Alexander Van Nynatten
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Department of Biology, University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada
| | - Jacob M Daane
- Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA
| | | | - Belinda S W Chang
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Department of Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Nathan R Lovejoy
- Department of Physical & Environmental Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, ON, Canada.
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, ON, Canada.
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
- Department of Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
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Fayet AL, Sanchez C, Appoo J, Constance J, Clucas G, Turnbull LA, Bunbury N. Marked differences in foraging area use and susceptibility to predation between two closely-related tropical seabirds. Oecologia 2023; 203:167-179. [PMID: 37815598 PMCID: PMC10615964 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-023-05459-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2023] [Accepted: 09/25/2023] [Indexed: 10/11/2023]
Abstract
Ecological theory predicts that closely-related species must occupy different niches to coexist. How marine top predators achieve this during breeding, when they often gather in large multi-species colonies and are constrained to central-place foraging, has been mostly studied in productive temperate and polar oceans with abundant resources, but less so in poorer, tropical waters. Here, we track the foraging movements of two closely-related sympatric seabirds-the white-tailed and red-tailed tropicbirds Phaethon lepturus and P. rubricauda-breeding on Aldabra Atoll, Seychelles, to investigate potential mechanisms of niche segregation and shed light on their contrasting population trends. Combining data from GPS, immersion, depth and accelerometry loggers, we show that the two species have similar behaviour at sea, but are completely segregated spatially, with red-tailed tropicbirds flying further to feed and using different feeding areas than white-tailed tropicbirds. Using nest-based camera traps, we show that low breeding success of both species-which likely drives observed population declines-is caused by high nest predation. However, the two species are targeted by different predators, with native avian predators mainly targeting red-tailed tropicbird nests, and invasive rats raiding white-tailed tropicbird nests when they leave their eggs unattended. Our findings provide new insight into the foraging ecology of tropicbirds and have important conservation implications. The extensive range and spatial segregation highlight the importance of considering large-scale protection of waters around tropical seabird colonies, while the high level of nest predation provides evidence in support of rat eradication and investigating potential nest protection from native avian predators.
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Affiliation(s)
- Annette L Fayet
- Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA), Trondheim, Norway.
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
| | - Cheryl Sanchez
- Seychelles Islands Foundation, Victoria, Seychelles
- Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| | - Jennifer Appoo
- Seychelles Islands Foundation, Victoria, Seychelles
- UMR ENTROPIE, Université de La Réunion, Saint-Denis, La Réunion, France
| | | | - Gemma Clucas
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University, Ithaca, USA
| | | | - Nancy Bunbury
- Seychelles Islands Foundation, Victoria, Seychelles
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn, UK
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Saldanha S, Cox SL, Militão T, González-Solís J. Animal behaviour on the move: the use of auxiliary information and semi-supervision to improve behavioural inferences from Hidden Markov Models applied to GPS tracking datasets. MOVEMENT ECOLOGY 2023; 11:41. [PMID: 37488611 PMCID: PMC10367325 DOI: 10.1186/s40462-023-00401-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2022] [Accepted: 06/21/2023] [Indexed: 07/26/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND State-space models, such as Hidden Markov Models (HMMs), are increasingly used to classify animal tracks into behavioural states. Typically, step length and turning angles of successive locations are used to infer where and when an animal is resting, foraging, or travelling. However, the accuracy of behavioural classifications is seldom validated, which may badly contaminate posterior analyses. In general, models appear to efficiently infer behaviour in species with discrete foraging and travelling areas, but classification is challenging for species foraging opportunistically across homogenous environments, such as tropical seas. Here, we use a subset of GPS loggers deployed simultaneously with wet-dry data from geolocators, activity measurements from accelerometers, and dive events from Time Depth Recorders (TDR), to improve the classification of HMMs of a large GPS tracking dataset (478 deployments) of red-billed tropicbirds (Phaethon aethereus), a poorly studied pantropical seabird. METHODS We classified a subset of fixes as either resting, foraging or travelling based on the three auxiliary sensors and evaluated the increase in overall accuracy, sensitivity (true positive rate), specificity (true negative rate) and precision (positive predictive value) of the models in relation to the increasing inclusion of fixes with known behaviours. RESULTS We demonstrate that even with a small informed sub-dataset (representing only 9% of the full dataset), we can significantly improve the overall behavioural classification of these models, increasing model accuracy from 0.77 ± 0.01 to 0.85 ± 0.01 (mean ± sd). Despite overall improvements, the sensitivity and precision of foraging behaviour remained low (reaching 0.37 ± 0.06, and 0.06 ± 0.01, respectively). CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrates that the use of a small subset of auxiliary data with known behaviours can both validate and notably improve behavioural classifications of state space models of opportunistic foragers. However, the improvement is state-dependant and caution should be taken when interpreting inferences of foraging behaviour from GPS data in species foraging on the go across homogenous environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Saldanha
- Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat (IRBio), Universitat de Barcelona (UB), Barcelona, Spain.
- Dept Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals, Universitat de Barcelona, Av Diagonal 643, Barcelona, 08028, Spain.
| | - Sam L Cox
- Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES), Toulouse, 31400, France
- MARBEC, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, Ifremer, IRD, Sète, France
- Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Sète, France
- MaREI Centre, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
| | - Teresa Militão
- Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat (IRBio), Universitat de Barcelona (UB), Barcelona, Spain
- Dept Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals, Universitat de Barcelona, Av Diagonal 643, Barcelona, 08028, Spain
| | - Jacob González-Solís
- Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat (IRBio), Universitat de Barcelona (UB), Barcelona, Spain
- Dept Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals, Universitat de Barcelona, Av Diagonal 643, Barcelona, 08028, Spain
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Carreiro AR, Ramos JA, Mata VA, Matos DM, dos Santos I, Araújo PM, Rodrigues I, Almeida NM, Militão T, Saldanha S, Paiva VH, Lopes RJ. High-throughput sequencing reveals prey diversity overlap between sympatric Sulids in the tropical Atlantic. FOOD WEBS 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.fooweb.2022.e00258] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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Mott R, Herrod A, Clarke RH. Transboundary priorities for protection of frigatebird non-breeding habitat in a heavily impacted region. Glob Ecol Conserv 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.gecco.2021.e01545] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
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Santos CD, Campos LF, Efe MA. Foraging habitat choice of White-tailed Tropicbirds revealed by fine-scale GPS tracking and remote sensing. PeerJ 2019; 7:e6261. [PMID: 30671305 PMCID: PMC6339477 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.6261] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2018] [Accepted: 12/11/2018] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The introduction of animal tracking technology has rapidly advanced our understanding of seabird foraging ecology. Tracking data is particularly powerful when combined with oceanographic information derived from satellite remote sensing, allowing insights into the functional mechanisms of marine ecosystems. While this framework has been used extensively over the last two decades, there are still vast ocean regions and many seabird species for which information is scarce, particularly in tropical oceans. Methods In this study we tracked the movement at high GPS recording frequency of 15 White-tailed Tropicbirds (Phaethon lepturus) during chick-rearing from a colony in Fernando de Noronha (offshore of Northeast Brazil). Flight behaviours of travelling and searching for food were derived from GPS data and examined in relation to satellite-sensed oceanographic variables (sea surface temperature, turbidity and chlorophyll-a concentration). Results White-tailed Tropicbirds showed marked preference for clear and warm sea surface waters, which are indicative of low primary productivity but are likely the best habitat for preying upon flying fish. Discussion These findings are consistent with previous studies showing that foraging habitat choices of tropical seabirds may not be driven by primary productivity, as has been widely shown for non-tropical species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carlos D. Santos
- Núcleo de Teoria e Pesquisa do Comportamento, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, Brazil
- Department of Migration and Immuno-Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Radolfzell, Germany
| | - Leila F.A.S. Campos
- Laboratório de Bioecologia e Conservação de Aves Neotropicais, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde, Universidade Federal de Alagoas, Maceió, Brazil
| | - Márcio A. Efe
- Laboratório de Bioecologia e Conservação de Aves Neotropicais, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde, Universidade Federal de Alagoas, Maceió, Brazil
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Castro MS, Bonecker ACT. Larval fish collected from sound-scattering layers in an offshore tropical area. JOURNAL OF FISH BIOLOGY 2017; 91:1668-1682. [PMID: 29023705 DOI: 10.1111/jfb.13487] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2017] [Accepted: 09/13/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
The composition of the larval fish assemblage in the sound-scattering layer of the continental shelf waters off the coast of south-eastern Brazil (12 and 22° S), a research project that is part of the Brazilian programme Avaliação do Potencial Sustentável de Recursos Vivos na Zona Econômica Exclusiva (REVIZEE), is described. Samples were collected during daylight hours and at dusk at five oceanographic stations in the winter of 1999 using an Isaacs-Kidd Midwater Trawl (IKMT). The oceanographic stations were chosen based on the detection of plankton layers by acoustic observation. A total of 2192 larval fish were identified, comprising 52 families and 62 species. Maurolicus stehmanni (Sternoptychidae) was the most abundant species found within the study area, comprising 18·5% of all identified larvae, followed by Psilotris celsus (Gobiidae) at 10·9%.
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Affiliation(s)
- M S Castro
- Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Instituto de Biologia, Departamento de Zoologia, Av. Carlos Chagas Filho, 373 - Prédio do CCS, Bloco A, Sala A0-084, Ilha do Fundão-21.941-902, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
| | - A C T Bonecker
- Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Instituto de Biologia, Departamento de Zoologia, Av. Carlos Chagas Filho, 373 - Prédio do CCS, Bloco A, Sala A0-084, Ilha do Fundão-21.941-902, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
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