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Acker P, Schaub M, Besnard A, Monnat JY, Cam E. Can attraction to and competition for high-quality habitats shape breeding propensity? J Anim Ecol 2022; 91:933-945. [PMID: 35157311 PMCID: PMC9314844 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.13676] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2021] [Accepted: 01/23/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
In many animal species, sexually mature individuals may skip breeding opportunities despite a likely negative impact on fitness. In spatio‐temporally heterogeneous environments, habitat selection theory predicts that individuals select habitats where fitness prospects are maximized. Individuals are attracted to high‐quality habitat patches where they compete for high‐quality breeding sites. Since failures in contests to secure a site may prevent individuals from breeding, we hypothesized that attraction to and competition for high‐quality habitats could shape breeding propensity. Under this hypothesis, we predicted the two following associations between breeding propensity and two key population features. (1) When mean habitat quality in the population increases in multiple patches such that availability of high‐quality sites increases across the population, the resulting decrease in competition should positively affect breeding propensity. (2) When the number of individuals increases in the population, the resulting increase in competitors should negatively affect breeding propensity (negative density dependence). Using long‐term data from kittiwakes Rissa tridactyla, we checked the prerequisite of prediction (1), that availability of high‐quality sites is positively associated with current mean habitat quality in the population (represented by breeding success). We then applied integrated population modelling to quantify annual fluctuations in population mean breeding success, breeding propensity and number of individuals by breeding status (pre‐breeders, breeders, skippers and immigrants), and tested our predictions. Our results showed that breeding propensity acts as an important driver of population growth. As expected, breeding propensity was positively associated with preceding mean habitat quality in the population, and negatively with the number of competitors. These relationships varied depending on breeding status, which likely reflects status dependence in competitive ability. These findings highlight the importance of competition for high‐quality breeding sites in shaping breeding propensity. Thereby, we draw attention towards alternative and complementary explanations to more standard considerations regarding the energetic cost of reproduction, and point to possible side effects of habitat selection behaviours on individual life histories and population dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul Acker
- Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics, Institutt for Biologi, NTNU, Trondheim, Norway.,Laboratoire EDB (UMR 5174), Université Paul Sabatier - CNRS - IRD; 118 route de Narbonne, Toulouse, France.,CEFE, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE-PSL University, IRD, Univ Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, Montpellier, France
| | - Michael Schaub
- Swiss Ornithological Institute; CH-6204, Sempach, Switzerland
| | - Aurélien Besnard
- CEFE, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE-PSL University, IRD, Univ Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, Montpellier, France
| | | | - Emmanuelle Cam
- Laboratoire EDB (UMR 5174), Université Paul Sabatier - CNRS - IRD; 118 route de Narbonne, Toulouse, France.,Univ Brest, CNRS, IRD, Ifremer, LEMAR, F-29280, Plouzané, France
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Acker P, Besnard A, Monnat JY, Cam E. Breeding habitat selection across spatial scales: is grass always greener on the other side? Ecology 2017; 98:2684-2697. [PMID: 28746975 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.1962] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2016] [Revised: 04/17/2017] [Accepted: 07/10/2017] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Habitat selection theory predicts that natural selection should favor mechanisms allowing individuals to choose habitats associated with the highest fitness prospects. However, identifying sources of information on habitat quality that individuals use to choose their breeding habitat has proved to be difficult. It has also proven difficult to identify dispersal costs that prevent individuals from joining the highest-quality sites. A synthesis that integrates dispersal costs and habitat selection mechanisms across space has remained elusive. Because costs of dispersal are generally distance-dependent, we suggest that a habitat selection strategy of sequential proximity search (SPS) can be favored by natural selection. This strategy requires that animals make decisions at multiple scales: whether to stay or leave the previous breeding site, depending on reproductive success; then, if dispersal is chosen, use information on neighborhood habitat quality to decide whether to stay in the neighborhood or leave, expanding the search area until the nearest suitable site is chosen. SPS minimizes distance-dependent dispersal costs while maximizing benefits of gaining a better habitat. We found evidence of breeding dispersal behavior consistent with this strategy in a kittiwake population stratified into a spatial hierarchy from colonies to nest sites. We used a mixed sequential regression model to study dispersal decisions, indexed by breeding dispersal movement, of 2,558 individuals over 32 yr. Scale-dependent dispersal propensities of kittiwakes varied according to breeding status, breeding experience, sex and individual identity. We suggest that distance-dependent dispersal costs result from strong competition among kittiwakes for nest sites. Individual decisions regarding dispersal (whether to leave or not, and where to go) depend on nesting habitat quality as well as the competitive ability required to keep territory ownership in a previous site, or to acquire a new site; this ability varies according to distance between sites and individual characteristics. Additional studies are needed to establish the generality of SPS in habitat selection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul Acker
- Laboratoire Évolution et Diversité Biologique (EDB), UMR 5174, Université Paul Sabatier - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) - Ecole Nationale de Formation Agronomique (ENFA), 118 Route de Narbonne, Toulouse, F-31062, France.,EPHE, PSL Research University, CNRS, UM, SupAgro, IRD, INRA, UMR 5175 CEFE, Montpellier, F-34293, France
| | - Aurélien Besnard
- EPHE, PSL Research University, CNRS, UM, SupAgro, IRD, INRA, UMR 5175 CEFE, Montpellier, F-34293, France
| | | | - Emmanuelle Cam
- Laboratoire Évolution et Diversité Biologique (EDB), UMR 5174, Université Paul Sabatier - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) - Ecole Nationale de Formation Agronomique (ENFA), 118 Route de Narbonne, Toulouse, F-31062, France
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Schmidt KA. Information thresholds, habitat loss and population persistence in breeding birds. OIKOS 2016. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.03703] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Kenneth A. Schmidt
- Dept of Biological Sciences Texas Tech University MS 3131 Lubbock TX 79409 USA
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Rebstock GA, Boersma PD, García-Borboroglu P. Changes in habitat use and nesting density in a declining seabird colony. POPUL ECOL 2015. [DOI: 10.1007/s10144-015-0523-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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Van Looy K, Piffady J, Cavillon C, Tormos T, Landry P, Souchon Y. Integrated modelling of functional and structural connectivity of river corridors for European otter recovery. Ecol Modell 2014. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2013.11.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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Baden AL, Wright PC, Louis EE, Bradley BJ. Communal nesting, kinship, and maternal success in a social primate. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2013. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-013-1601-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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Dynamics of a northern fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis) population at the southern limit of its range in Europe. POPUL ECOL 2012. [DOI: 10.1007/s10144-012-0306-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
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Desprez M, Pradel R, Cam E, Monnat JY, Gimenez O. Now you see him, now you don't: experience, not age, is related to reproduction in kittiwakes. Proc Biol Sci 2011; 278:3060-6. [PMID: 21367783 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2011.0189] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
In long-lived species, individuals can skip reproduction. The proportion of breeders affects population growth rate and viability, there is a need to investigate the factors influencing intermittent breeding. The theory predicts that if lack of experience is an important constraint, breeding probabilities should increase with experience for individuals of the same age, whereas under the so-called restraint hypothesis, breeding probabilities should increase with age regardless of experience. However, because the probability of detecting individuals in the wild is generally less than 1, it is difficult to know exactly the number of previous breeding episodes (breeding experience). To cope with this issue, we developed a hidden process model to incorporate experience as a latent state possibly influencing the probability of breeding. Using a 22-year mark-recapture dataset involving 9970 individuals, we analysed simultaneously experience and age effects on breeding probabilities in the kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla). We did not detect an influence of age on adult breeding probabilities. We found that inexperienced birds breed less frequently than experienced birds. Our approach enables us to highlight the key role of experience on adults breeding probabilities and can be used for a wide range of organisms for which detection is less than 1.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marine Desprez
- Centre d'Écologie Fonctionnelle et Évolutive, Campus CNRS, UMR 5175, 1919 Route de Mende, 34293 Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
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