Public Information and Breeding Habitat Selection in a Wild Bird Population

Doligez, Blandine; Danchin, Étienne; Clobert, Jean

doi:10.1126/science.1072838

Cited by 439 publications

(470 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Secondly, nest building is very costly in terms of time and energy for white storks (Vergara et al 2010), so it could be more advantageous for newly recruited, inexperienced birds to occupy an old nest in the neighbourhood of a high-quality pair, instead of building a new one in a previously unoccupied area. Finally, it cannot be excluded that first-time breeders use reproductive success of more experienced conspecifics as a public information on the quality of habitat patches, which has been reported for a number of other avian species (Doligez et al 2002). Under such circumstances, young inexperienced storks could be attracted to settle close to the high-quality pairs which raise, on average, more fledglings than pairs of lower quality.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Timing of arrival at breeding grounds determines spatial patterns of productivity within the population of white stork (Ciconia ciconia)

2013

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Early arrival at breeding grounds have important fitness consequences for migratory birds, both at individual and population level. The aim of this study was to investigate how the timing of arrival at the breeding territories affects the spatial patterns of reproductive success within a population of white storks (Ciconia ciconia). Data were gathered annually for ca. 200 pairs of storks breeding in central Poland between 1994 and 2011. Geostatistical analysis of data indicated that in years of delayed arrival of the population (measured by the first quartile arrival date), the reproductive output of storks was negatively autocorrelated, which indicated that there was a tendency for pairs of high breeding success to neighbour with pairs of low success. By contrast, in years when first storks returned in early dates to the breeding grounds, their reproductive success did not show any kind of spatial autocorrelation. These results suggest that delayed return of the first-arriving storks of the population may increase intensity of intra-specific competition to the level at which high-quality breeding pairs monopolize most of available resources at the expense of neighbouring lowquality pairs, which have lower reproductive success as a consequence. Such hypothesis was further supported with the analysis of nesting densities, showing that the latearriving breeding pairs incurred greater fitness costs (or derived lower fitness benefits) while breeding in high densities comparatively to the early-arriving conspecifics.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Timing of arrival at breeding grounds determines spatial patterns of productivity within the population of white stork (Ciconia ciconia)

2013

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“…vegetation structure (Orians & Wittenberger 1991) or presence of parasites (Boulinier et al 2001)) that are linked to the reproductive success of conspecifics. A recent manipulation of the local reproductive performance of conspecifics in a population of collared flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis) showed that individual habitat selection is linked to public information (Doligez et al 2002). This study further hypothesized that individuals use different measures of public information for settlement and departure decisions because of individualspecific constraints on information gathering behaviour (Doligez et al 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In nature, however, individuals are likely to deviate from such ideal expectations because of (i) constraints acting on individual spatial knowledge and (ii) limited reliability of cues used in assessing habitat quality (Orians & Wittenberger 1991;Lima & Zollner 1996). Recent theoretical (Boulinier & Danchin 1997;Danchin et al 2001;Doligez et al 2003a) and experimental (Boulinier et al 2002;Doligez et al 2002) studies suggest that public information (i.e. information derived from the reproductive performance of conspecifics (Valone & Giraldeau 1993;), may be highly reliable information for selecting a breeding habitat, provided the environment is sufficiently predictable in time (Boulinier & Danchin 1997;Doligez et al 2003a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A recent manipulation of the local reproductive performance of conspecifics in a population of collared flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis) showed that individual habitat selection is linked to public information (Doligez et al 2002). This study further hypothesized that individuals use different measures of public information for settlement and departure decisions because of individualspecific constraints on information gathering behaviour (Doligez et al 2002). However, although the use of public information was implicated in this study, the associated information gathering behaviour was not studied explicitly, thus leaving the results open to alternative mechanisms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Gathering public information for habitat selection: prospecting birds cue on parental activity

Pärt

Doligez

2003

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

Self Cite

111

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Because habitat quality strongly affects individual fitness, understanding individual habitat selection strategies is fundamental for most aspects of the evolution and conservation of species. Several studies suggest that individuals gather public information, i.e. information derived from the reproductive performance of conspecifics, to assess and select habitats. However, the behavioural mechanisms of information gathering, i.e. prospecting, are largely unknown, despite the fact that they directly constrain individual selection strategies. To test whether prospectors gather public information or other cues of habitat quality, we manipulated brood size of collared flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis) and investigated subsequent attraction of prospectors. Experimentally adding two nestlings increased the probability of attracting prospectors to the nest as a result of increased parental feeding rates. Prospectors were attracted to the most successful sites because feeding rate predicted subsequent fledgling production. In the year following prospecting, individuals selected a breeding site very close to the prospected site. These results provide the first experimental evidence, to our knowledge, of the links between information gathering behaviour and breeding habitat selection strategies based on public information.

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“…The strategies adopted by individuals to minimize this uncertainty rely on adaptive behaviour processes [7], in which animals use biological information (hereafter we will use the nomenclature and definitions proposed in [8]) to adjust their behaviour to the environmental and intrinsic factors related to reproductive success. Behavioural processes include dispersal versus philopatry (at either intra-or interpopulation level [9][10][11]), divorce versus mate retention [12,13], as well as habitat [14] and mate [15] selection.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nest fidelity is driven by multi-scale information in a long-lived seabird

et al. 2014

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Although the reproductive success of most organisms depends on factors acting at several spatial scales, little is known about how organisms are able to synthesize multi-scale information to optimize reproduction. Using longitudinal data from a long-lived seabird, Monteiro's storm-petrel, we show that average breeding success is strongly related to oceanic conditions at the population level, and we postulate that (i) individuals use proximal information (their own reproduction outcome in year t) to assess the qualities of their mate and nest and to decide to retain them or not in year t þ 1; (ii) the intensity of these responses depends on the quality of the oceanic environment in year t, which affects the predictability of reproduction outcome in year t þ 1. Our results confirm that mate and nest fidelities are higher following successful reproduction and that the relationship between the success of a given pair and subsequent nest fidelity is stronger in years with unfavourable oceanic conditions, suggesting that individuals rely on distant information to modulate their use of proximal information and adjust their breeding strategy.

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Public Information and Breeding Habitat Selection in a Wild Bird Population

Cited by 439 publications

References 26 publications

Timing of arrival at breeding grounds determines spatial patterns of productivity within the population of white stork (Ciconia ciconia)

Timing of arrival at breeding grounds determines spatial patterns of productivity within the population of white stork (Ciconia ciconia)

Gathering public information for habitat selection: prospecting birds cue on parental activity

Nest fidelity is driven by multi-scale information in a long-lived seabird

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