Brood Reduction in Black-Legged Kittiwakes

Braun, Barbara; Hunt, George L.

doi:10.1093/auk/100.2.469

Cited by 114 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…465 km, mean 268 km), above those recorded for the species elsewhere [83], [52], allowed kittiwakes to access profitable and predictable prey. Nonetheless, feeding rates and fledging success were below those reported for other years [10], [51], [86]. In addition, adult nutritional stress at both colonies was apparently higher than that found in warm years [75]; analogous to trends found for thick-billed murres at the Pribilofs ( Uria lomvia ) [7].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 57%

Foraging Responses of Black-Legged Kittiwakes to Prolonged Food-Shortages around Colonies on the Bering Sea Shelf

et al. 2014

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We hypothesized that changes in southeastern Bering Sea foraging conditions for black-legged kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla) have caused shifts in habitat use with direct implications for population trends. To test this, we compared at-sea distribution, breeding performance, and nutritional stress of kittiwakes in three years (2008–2010) at two sites in the Pribilof Islands, where the population has either declined (St. Paul) or remained stable (St. George). Foraging conditions were assessed from changes in (1) bird diets, (2) the biomass and distribution of juvenile pollock (Theragra chalcogramma) in 2008 and 2009, and (3) eddy kinetic energy (EKE; considered to be a proxy for oceanic prey availability). In years when biomass of juvenile pollock was low and patchily distributed in shelf regions, kittiwake diets included little or no neritic prey and a much higher occurrence of oceanic prey (e.g. myctophids). Birds from both islands foraged on the nearby shelves, or made substantially longer-distance trips overnight to the basin. Here, feeding was more nocturnal and crepuscular than on the shelf, and often occurred near anticyclonic, or inside cyclonic eddies. As expected from colony location, birds from St. Paul used neritic waters more frequently, whereas birds from St. George typically foraged in oceanic waters. Despite these distinctive foraging patterns, there were no significant differences between colonies in chick feeding rates or fledging success. High EKE in 2010 coincided with a 63% increase in use of the basin by birds from St. Paul compared with 2008 when EKE was low. Nonetheless, adult nutritional stress, which was relatively high across years at both colonies, peaked in birds from St. Paul in 2010. Diminishing food resources in nearby shelf habitats may have contributed to kittiwake population declines at St Paul, possibly driven by increased adult mortality or breeding desertion due to high foraging effort and nutritional stress.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 57%

Foraging Responses of Black-Legged Kittiwakes to Prolonged Food-Shortages around Colonies on the Bering Sea Shelf

et al. 2014

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“…These trends are exhibited also in facultatively siblicidal species (e.g., Blaker 1969, Siegfried 1972, Poole 1982, Braun and Hunt 1983, Mock, 1984b, Fujioka 1985a, Drummond et al 1986, i.e., those in which the junior nestlings are sometimes, but not always, killed by older sibs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 83%

“…First, for many species sib fighting is temporally associated with meals (e.g., Siegfried 1968, Braun and Hunt 1983, Jamieson et al 1983, Groves 1984, Fujioka 1985a, when nestlings are presumed to be most hungry. First, for many species sib fighting is temporally associated with meals (e.g., Siegfried 1968, Braun and Hunt 1983, Jamieson et al 1983, Groves 1984, Fujioka 1985a, when nestlings are presumed to be most hungry.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…First, for many species sib fighting is temporally associated with meals (e.g., Siegfried 1968, Braun and Hunt 1983, Jamieson et al 1983, Groves 1984, Fujioka 1985a, when nestlings are presumed to be most hungry. Third, it has been noted that protracted periods of inclement weather, when parental feeding rates are reduced, tend to increase the frequency of junior-sib deaths (Williams and Burger 1979, Poole 1982, Braun and Hunt 1983, though we know of no data showing that aggression per se increases at such times (i.e., dying may increase simply because sustenance dwindles and exposure is especially severe, without any change in fighting levels). Third, it has been noted that protracted periods of inclement weather, when parental feeding rates are reduced, tend to increase the frequency of junior-sib deaths (Williams and Burger 1979, Poole 1982, Braun and Hunt 1983, though we know of no data showing that aggression per se increases at such times (i.e., dying may increase simply because sustenance dwindles and exposure is especially severe, without any change in fighting levels).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Proximate and Ultimate Roles of Food Amount in Regulating Egret Sibling Aggression

Mock¹,

Lamey²,

Ploger³

1987

Ecology

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In facultatively siblicidal bird species, the amount of food delivered by parent birds to their young ("food amount") has been assumed to be both an important proximate and ultimate cause of fatal aggression. The proximate "Food Amount Hypothesis" (FAH) contends that sibling aggression will vary inversely with the quantity of food delivered by the parents, presumably mediated by chick hunger. At the ultimate level, food shortages are expected to influence whether the combined effects of aggression and food control by older siblings will be fatal to the youngest brood member(s). We evaluated the effects of food amount on aggression and survival in facultatively siblicidal Ardeidae: (1) Sibling aggression in unmanipulated broods of Great Egrets (Casmerodius albus) and Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias) did not decline with increasing amounts of food, as had been predicted; indeed, this relationship may even be weakly positive. (2) In egret broods, the strongest predictors of total brood success were competitive vigor of the youngest sib and fighting rate. (3) Wild egret broods whose food amount was experimentally doubled did not reduce fighting rates, but experienced significantly lower brood reduction than control broods. (4) Captive egret broods whose food amount was experimentally decreased did not increase fighting rates, but suffered significantly more brood reduction than control broods. (5) In the wild, food amount appears not to be a sufficiently stable parameter on which to base prudent sib-aggression strategies. We conclude that food amount has little direct influence on fighting behavior in these birds, though it consistently influences chick survival. Thus the proximate effects of this ecological variable must be divorced from its ultimate role, at least in species such as these ardeids and in obligate-siblicidal species. However, the FAH may well account for sib-fighting variation in other facultatively siblicidal birds, such as Blue-footed Boobies (Sula nebouxii), Black-legged Kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla), Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus), and South Polar Skuas (Catharacta maccormicki). It is predicted that sibling aggression will be food-amount dependent in species whose food fluctuations are relatively slow. An attempt to manipulate prey monopolizability (bolus size) in captive Great Egrets was unsuccessful, either because sib aggression in the laboratory was so inflated as to swamp prey-size effects or because this species simply lacks sufficient developmental flexibility in its intrabrood fighting behavior. If the latter were true, it would reveal a striking difference between Great Egrets and Great Blue Herons, which have shown considerable (adaptive) plasticity in this regard.

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“…They usually lay two-egg clutches that hatch asynchronously, although food shortages can increase the number of one-egg clutches or failed laying attempts [32]. In many nests, the B chick (from the second-laid egg) suffers a reduced growth rate and eventual death because it is outcompeted or directly killed by the A chick (from the first-laid egg) [33], [34]. Food clearly plays a role in brood reduction, because experimental food supplementation (where both parents and chicks are provided with ad libitum supplemental food for the duration of the chick-rearing period) permits a larger proportion of parents to successfully raise both chicks [35].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Food Availability on Yolk Androgen Deposition in the Black-Legged Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla), a Seabird with Facultative Brood Reduction

et al. 2013

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In birds with facultative brood reduction, survival of the junior chick is thought to be regulated primarily by food availability. In black-legged kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla) where parents and chicks are provided with unlimited access to supplemental food during the breeding season, brood reduction still occurs and varies interannually. Survival of the junior chick is therefore affected by factors in addition to the amount of food directly available to them. Maternally deposited yolk androgens affect competitive dynamics within a brood, and may be one of the mechanisms by which mothers mediate brood reduction in response to a suite of environmental and physiological cues. The goal of this study was to determine whether food supplementation during the pre-lay period affected patterns of yolk androgen deposition in free-living kittiwakes in two years (2003 and 2004) that varied in natural food availability. Chick survival was measured concurrently in other nests where eggs were not collected. In both years, supplemental feeding increased female investment in eggs by increasing egg mass. First-laid (“A”) eggs were heavier but contained less testosterone and androstenedione than second-laid (“B”) eggs across years and treatments. Yolk testosterone was higher in 2003 (the year with higher B chick survival) across treatments. The difference in yolk testosterone levels between eggs within a clutch varied among years and treatments such that it was relatively small when B chick experienced the lowest and the highest survival probabilities, and increased with intermediate B chick survival probabilities. The magnitude of testosterone asymmetry in a clutch may allow females to optimize fitness by either predisposing a brood for reduction or facilitating survival of younger chicks.

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Brood Reduction in Black-Legged Kittiwakes

Cited by 114 publications

References 22 publications

Foraging Responses of Black-Legged Kittiwakes to Prolonged Food-Shortages around Colonies on the Bering Sea Shelf

Foraging Responses of Black-Legged Kittiwakes to Prolonged Food-Shortages around Colonies on the Bering Sea Shelf

Proximate and Ultimate Roles of Food Amount in Regulating Egret Sibling Aggression

Effects of Food Availability on Yolk Androgen Deposition in the Black-Legged Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla), a Seabird with Facultative Brood Reduction

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