Good prospects: high-resolution telemetry data suggests novel brood site selection behaviour in waterfowl

Casazza, Michael L.; McDuie, Fiona; Lorenz, Austen A.; Keiter, David A.; Yee, Julie L.; Overton, Cory T.; Peterson, Sarah H.; Feldheim, Cliff L.; Ackerman, Joshua T.

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2020.04.013

Cited by 20 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…return to their natal colony to breed) or instead prospect other patches using public information (i.e. breeding success and the presence of both conspecifics and heterospecifics) to make natal dispersal decisions (Schjørring 2002 ; Ward 2005 ; Dittmann et al 2007 ; Bosman et al 2013 ; Casazza et al 2020 ). For Audouin’s gulls, recruitment is mostly informed, meaning that it occurs more often when the individual has prospected the patch the year before (Genovart et al 2020 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Duerr et al 2007 ; Henaux et al 2007 ; Davis et al 2017 ; Genovart et al 2020 ). The most suitable method for those species is telemetry tracking to monitor individual movement and behaviour with accuracy (Votier et al 2011 ; Ponchon et al 2013 , 2015a ; Casazza et al 2020 ). Here we study the prospecting and dispersal processes in social Audouin’s gulls using a long-term monitored spatially structured population at large scale and tracked breeding individuals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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High frequency of prospecting for informed dispersal and colonisation in a social species at large spatial scale

et al. 2021

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Animals explore and prospect space searching for resources and individuals may disperse, targeting suitable patches to increase fitness. Nevertheless, dispersal is costly because it implies leaving the patch where the individual has gathered information and reduced uncertainty. In social species, information gathered during the prospection process for deciding whether and where to disperse is not only personal but also public, i.e. conspecific density and breeding performance. In empty patches, public information is not available and dispersal for colonisation would be more challenging. Here we study the prospecting in a metapopulation of colonial Audouin’s gulls using PTT platform terminal transmitters tagging for up to 4 years and GPS tagging during the incubation period. A large percentage of birds (65%) prospected occupied patches; strikingly, 62% of prospectors also visited empty patches that were colonised in later years. Frequency and intensity of prospecting were higher for failed breeders, who dispersed more than successful breeders. Prospecting and dispersal also occurred mostly to neighbouring patches where population density was higher. GPSs revealed that many breeders (59%) prospected while actively incubating, which suggests that they gathered information before knowing the fate of their reproduction. Prospecting may be enhanced in species adapted to breed in ephemeral habitats, such as Audouin’s gulls. Interestingly, none of the tracked individuals colonised an empty patch despite having prospected over a period of up to three consecutive years. Lack of public information in empty patches may drive extended prospecting, long time delays in colonisation and non-linear transient phenomena in metapopulation dynamics and species range expansion.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High frequency of prospecting for informed dispersal and colonisation in a social species at large spatial scale

et al. 2021

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“…Breeding hens take incubation breaks to feed and drink in nearby wetland habitat (Figure 2; Casazza et al 2020;Croston et al 2020Croston et al , 2021 and then leave the nest with their ducklings within 2 days of hatch (Peterson et al 2019) and move their brood to nearby wetland habitats (Casazza et al 2020; Figure 2). These wetlands are brackish and highly managed within the marsh, and their salinity concentrations vary extensively, which has important implications for the survival and growth of ducklings (Krista et al 1961;Schmidt-Nielsen and Kim 1964;Swanson et al 1984;Mitcham and Wobeser 1988a,b;Barnes and Nudds 1991;Moorman et al 1991;Stolley and Meteyer 2004;DeVink et al 2005).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Wetland habitat is important to breeding waterfowl during both the nesting and broodrearing periods. Although dabbling ducks, such as mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) and gadwall (Mareca strepera), typically nest in upland habitat, hens take daily incubation breaks to forage in nearby wetlands and may also assess those wetlands as future brood-rearing sites (Casazza et al 2020;Croston et al 2020;Croston et al 2021). Shortly after hatch, hens move ducklings to nearby wetland habitat suitable for brood rearing (Mauser et al 1994a;Peterson et al 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wetland Availability and Salinity Concentrations for Breeding Waterfowl in Suisun Marsh, California

Schacter¹,

Peterson²,

Herzog³

et al. 2021

SFEWS

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Availability of wetlands with low salinities during the breeding season can influence waterfowl reproductive success and population recruitment. Salinities as low as 2 ppt (3.6 mScm–1) can impair duckling growth and influence behavior, with mortality occurring above 9 ppt (14.8 mScm–1). We used satellite imagery to quantify the amount of available water, and sampled surface water salinity at Grizzly Island, in the brackish Suisun Marsh, at three time-periods during waterfowl breeding (April, May, July) over 4 years (2016–2019). More water was available and salinity was lower during wetter years (2017, 2019) than during drier years (2016, 2018), and the amount of water in wetlands decreased 73%–86% from April to July. Across all time-periods and years, the majority (64%–100%) of wetland habitat area had salinities above what has been shown to negatively affect ducklings (> 2 ppt), and up to 42% of wetland area had salinities associated with duckling mortality (> 9 ppt). During peak duckling production in May, 81%–95% of available water had salinity above 2 ppt, and 5%–21% was above 9 ppt. In May of the driest year (2016), only 0.5 km2 of low-salinity water (< 2 ppt) was available to ducklings in the study area, compared to 2.6 km2 in May of the wettest year (2017). Private duck clubs own the majority of wetland habitat at Grizzly Island and consistently had a greater percentage of land flooded during summer than did publicly owned wetlands, but private wetlands generally had higher salinities than public wetlands, likely because they draw from higher-salinity water sources. By July, few wetlands remained flooded, and most had salinities high enough to impair duckling growth and survival. Local waterfowl populations would benefit from management practices that provide fresher water during peak duckling production in May and retain more water through July.

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“…We attached the transmitters in a modified Dwyer style configuration (Dwyer 1972) with 2 separate loops for the body and neck, which were secured with a knot and epoxied. We used Conrad‐Jarvis 6‐mm black nylon automotive elastic with neoprene elastomer (Casazza et al 2020) and tightened until the tip of the thumb fit under the unit. We released marked birds within 12 hours at the location of capture.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temporal variation and landcover influence survival in adult female mottled ducks

et al. 2022

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Adult survival is a key driver of waterfowl population growth and is subject to temporal and spatial variation. Mottled ducks (Anas fulvigula) are native to the Gulf Coast and peninsular Florida, USA, and have suffered population declines over the past decade, especially in Texas and Louisiana, USA. Although the cause of this decline is not well understood, previous research concluded variation in survival contributed to nearly a third of variation in the species' population growth rate.We used global positioning system-groupe spécial mobile (GPS-GSM) transmitters to study temporal and spatial variation in survival of adult female western Gulf Coast mottled ducks in southwestern Louisiana, 2017-2020. We evaluated weekly survival models parameterized with combinations of hunted and non-hunted periods, biological seasons, and landcover types that were used by mottled ducks. There were 3 competitive survival models, and all contained 4 parameters that parsed the annual cycle into the non-hunted period, first part of the general waterfowl season, and second part of the waterfowl season, and included the proportion of GPS locations in agricultural lands. Weekly survival was 0.979 during the first part of the general waterfowl hunting season, and 0.996 during the second part of the general waterfowl season. Daily survival rate increased with an increasing proportion of locations logged in agricultural lands. Annual survival rates were similar to other waterfowl that are not experiencing population declines, which suggests survival is not limiting population growth of mottled ducks along the

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Good prospects: high-resolution telemetry data suggests novel brood site selection behaviour in waterfowl

Cited by 20 publications

References 62 publications

High frequency of prospecting for informed dispersal and colonisation in a social species at large spatial scale

High frequency of prospecting for informed dispersal and colonisation in a social species at large spatial scale

Wetland Availability and Salinity Concentrations for Breeding Waterfowl in Suisun Marsh, California

Temporal variation and landcover influence survival in adult female mottled ducks

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