Flocking in birds is associated with diet, foraging substrate, timing of activity, and life history

Beauchamp, Guy

doi:10.1007/s00265-022-03183-9

Cited by 11 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…Species at this end of the life history continuum occupy niches that might have on their own an impact on wing morphology. For instance, life history is associated with flocking tendencies in birds (Beauchamp, 2022) and migration (Winger and Pegan, 2021). However, the results show that life history is associated with wing morphology independently of flocking and other potentially confounding variables such as migration.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 69%

“…Lower predation risk in more social species, by contrast, appears to have relaxed selection against high wing loading and high aspect ratio. Sociality in birds is more common in open habitats and in aquatic species (Beauchamp, 2022). As habitat and lifestyle can have a direct influence on wing morphology (Rayner, 1988), the association between sociality and wing morphology might occur indirectly through the effect of habitat and lifestyle.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…I used a published source for information on sociality (Beauchamp, 2022). The occurrence of flocking during foraging was the metric for sociality.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indeed, life history and sociality are associated with particular ecological niches whose features could on their own directly influence wing morphology. For instance, sociality as well as wing morphology are associated with body size and lifestyle (Greenewalt, 1962;Rayner, 1988;Beauchamp, 2022). Migrating species share traits with species at the slow end of the life history continuum such as high adult survival (Winger and Pegan, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Is wing morphology across birds associated with life history and sociality?

Beauchamp

2023

Front. Bird Sci.

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Wings in birds vary tremendously in size and shape across species. Ecological needs are thought to shape variation across species in wing morphology over evolutionary times. For instance, demands for energetic efficiency in species that fly long distances have produced long and narrow wings with a high aspect ratio. Demand for maneuverability in cluttered habitats or to escape predators more easily have favored wings with large areas relative to body size producing a low wing loading. The association between ecological needs and wing morphology is complex, however, and could involve other ecological variables. Here, I draw attention to two ecological factors that have received little attention, namely, life history and sociality. Species at the slow end of the life history continuum emphasize adult survival over reproduction and are considered risk averse. I predicted that such species would benefit from low wing loading and low aspect ratio to increase maneuverability and the ability to escape predators. More solitary species cannot rely on others in their groups to decrease predation risk. I predicted that such species should also benefit from low wing loading and low aspect ratio. Using data from the literature on wing loading and aspect ratio in a large number of species, I examined these predictions in a phylogenetic framework including several potentially confounding ecological variables that have been previously linked to wing morphology such as habitat, lifestyle, and migration. As predicted, more solitary species tended to have low wing loading and low aspect ratio. Low wing loading was also more common in species at the slow end of the life history continuum, but aspect ratio was higher than predicted. Overall, the results support the idea that life history and sociality can predict variation across species in wing morphology and highlight the effect of predation risk on the evolution of wing morphology in birds.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 69%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…I used a published source for information on sociality (Beauchamp, 2022). The occurrence of flocking during foraging was the metric for sociality.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Is wing morphology across birds associated with life history and sociality?

Beauchamp

2023

Front. Bird Sci.

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“…On the other hand, foraging ecology is likely to be particularly important for shaping patterns of sociality in frugivores (e.g., cotingas, manakins, birds-of-paradise), which may increase fruit-finding success or efficiency by foraging in groups, and trap-lining nectarivores (e.g., hermit hummingbirds), which must take distinct and solitary routes to maximize individual nectar payoffs from flowers (Gill 1988). Of course, predation and foraging are not mutually exclusive and may interact in complex ways with one another (Beauchamp 2022) and other variables (e.g., lek structure, habitat, mating skew) to produce diverse off-lek behavioral strategies, even among closely related species. For instance, species in the manakin family, which likely face similar predation pressure and exhibit "redundant" foraging ecologies (Loiselle et al 2007), apparently vary widely in the types of off-lek sociality they exhibit.…”

Section: Diversity In Off-lek Sociality In Lekking Birdsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The adaptive significance of off-lek sociality in birds: A synthetic review, with evidence for the reproductive benefits hypothesis in Long-wattled Umbrellabirds

2023

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Anecdotal evidence suggests that lekking birds exhibit considerable variation in form and degree of sociality away from the lek, yet this phenomenon has received very little theoretical or empirical research attention. Here, we provide the first synthetic literature review of off-lek sociality in birds and develop a conceptual framework for the potential adaptive function of off-lek sociality across lekking taxa. We then present a case study of the Long-wattled Umbrellabird (Cephalopterus penduliger), where we find support for the hypothesis that off-lek sociality is primarily driven by male reproductive incentives for coordinating lek attendance during the breeding season. During periods of high lekking activity, male umbrellabirds depart the lek in highly coordinated groups and maintain larger off-lek social groups relative to periods of low lekking activity. These seasonal differences in off-lek sociality do not occur in females, are not explained by patterns of foraging behavior, and are expected to confer individual-level benefits for participating males. Both the literature review and empirical study of umbrellabirds suggest that off-lek interactions and behavioral strategies may shape sexual selection processes at leks in important ways. Further research into this historically understudied area of lekking species’ behavioral ecology will likely deepen our understanding of the evolutionary dynamics of lek mating.

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Flock size increases with the diversity and abundance of local predators in an avian family

Beauchamp¹,

Krams

2023

Oecologia

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Flocking in birds is associated with diet, foraging substrate, timing of activity, and life history

Cited by 11 publications

References 65 publications

Is wing morphology across birds associated with life history and sociality?

Is wing morphology across birds associated with life history and sociality?

The adaptive significance of off-lek sociality in birds: A synthetic review, with evidence for the reproductive benefits hypothesis in Long-wattled Umbrellabirds

Flock size increases with the diversity and abundance of local predators in an avian family

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