Dominance Relationships in Dark-Bellied Brent Geese<i>Branta bernicla bernicla</i>at Spring Staging Areas

Poisbleau, Maud; Desmonts, Diane; Fritz, Hervé

doi:10.5253/078.096.0117

Cited by 2 publications

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References 21 publications

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“…This suggests that a combination of juvenile condition, competition, and dominance in flocks may influence the persistence of goose family bonds (Johnson and Raveling 1988;Jónsson and Afton 2008). Family size decrease and family dissolution, i.e., the loss of some or all juveniles, have been linked to the onset of spring (Prevett and Mac-Innes 1980;Johnson and Raveling 1988;Black and Owen 1989), increased levels of parental aggression toward juveniles (Black and Owen 1989;Poisbleau et al 2008;Scheiber et al 2013) and the higher exposure of families to hunting (Madsen et al 2002;Madsen 2010;Guillemain et al 2013;Clausen et al 2017). Still, accidental events, such as the separation of geese from their families during chaotic flock take-offs cannot be ruled out (Prevett and MacInnes 1980).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Family size dynamics in wintering geese

et al. 2018

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Many bird populations are made up of social units with differences in size and social status. Of these, the family and flock structure of geese Anserini are among the better known. However, how the association of juvenile geese with their parents in families influences the migration timing and space-use of populations, as well as the events leading to juvenile independence are not well understood. We focus on family size dynamics of the Greater White-fronted Goose Anser a. albifrons on its wintering grounds in the Netherlands and northern Germany, where we gathered 17 years of observation data on foraging flocks and tracked 13 complete families with GPS transmitters. We explored how social status and family size affected wintering site choice and migration timing as well as how and why family sizes decreased. We found that family size decreased strongly during autumn migration, likely from juvenile death due to insufficient fuelling. It further decreased through the winter, here seemingly by juveniles accidentally splitting off during strong disturbance events. Different from previous findings, a large proportion of juveniles became independent during winter. Large families generally arrived later to the wintering grounds, wintered further from the breeding grounds and departed later for spring migration than adults without young. Independent young left for spring migration last. Thus, White-fronted Geese are differential migrants by social status. In combination with the observation of low breeding success in this population in recent years, our findings improve the understanding of its spatial and temporal patterns during winter, and their apparent changes. This can support conservation and management decisions for both White-fronted Geese as well as other large migrants with complex age and social structure. Keywords Greater White-fronted Goose Anser a. albifrons • Social status • Differential migration • Foraging flocks • Family separation • Age ratio Zusammenfassung Dynamik der Familiengröße bei überwinternden Gänsen Die Populationen der meisten Vogelarten setzen sich aus Individuen verschiedener Größe und sozialem Status zusammen. Gänsefamilien und-schwärme gehören dabei zu den besser bekannten. Wie jedoch der Verband von juvenilen Gänsen mit ihren Eltern als Familie Zugtiming und Raumnutzung der Population bestimmen und welche Ereignisse zur Unabhängigkeit von Juvenilen führen, ist bisher nicht ganzheitlich verstanden. Wir haben hier untersucht, wie Familiengrößen von Blässgänsen Anser a. albifrons sich in ihren Überwinterungsgebieten in den Niederlanden und Norddeutschland über den Winter entwickeln. Dazu haben wir 17 Jahre Beobachtungsdaten fressender Gänsegruppen gesammelt und 13 vollständige Familien mit GPS-Sendern verfolgt. Es wurde untersucht, wie sozialer Status und Familiengröße sich auf die Wahl des Überwinterungsgebietes und Zugtiming auswirken, und wie und warum Familien sich trennen. Wir konnten zeigen, dass Familiengrößen während des Herbstzuges stark abnehmen, vermutlich durch Tod der Jungti...

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Family size dynamics in wintering geese

et al. 2018

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“…In geese, sex, age, mating status (paired or single) and reproductive success (number of juveniles) have been found to be variously related to dominance status (e.g. Lamprecht 1986b;Black and Owen 1987;Stahl et al 2001;Poisbleau et al 2006aPoisbleau et al , 2008. Stahl et al (2001) found that social dominance increased with age for female Barnacle Geese Branta leucopsis whereas it was less obvious for males in a group of non-breeding moulting individuals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preservation of winter social dominance status in Brent Geese Branta bernicla bernicla within and across winters

2010

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Dominant and subordinate individuals in a group may benefit from the stability of the social dominance organisation, avoiding excessive waste of time and energy in aggressive interactions and reducing injury risks. Nevertheless, the likely evolutionary incentive for individuals to become, and furthermore to stay, dominant may destabilise such dominance hierarchies. In this context, the relative importance of fixed (e.g. sex, morphological size) and fluctuating (e.g. body condition, mating status, reproductive success, social unit size) traits influencing the establishment and preservation of dominance relationships could play a key role in group structure. We investigated the relative role of fixed and fluctuating traits on social status in Dark-bellied Brent Geese Branta bernicla bernicla which form large fairly unstable groups both within and across winters. We compared individual dominance scores of ringed Brent Geese during four consecutive winters. Brent Geese conserved their dominance score within a given winter irrespective of their age but were generally unable to conserve it across consecutive winters. As winter dominance scores correlated best with social unit size, dominance status thus appeared to be mostly a by-product of a fluctuating trait: breeding success in the previous summer. When we considered only adults that had the same social unit size during two consecutive winters, we observed a significant preservation of dominance scores. This result suggests that a fixed trait such as sex or morphological size may still play a role in setting dominance status.

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Dominance Relationships in Dark-Bellied Brent GeeseBranta bernicla berniclaat Spring Staging Areas

Abstract: BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses.

Cited by 2 publications

References 21 publications

Family size dynamics in wintering geese

Family size dynamics in wintering geese

Preservation of winter social dominance status in Brent Geese Branta bernicla bernicla within and across winters

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