Sex, age, experience and condition as factors affecting arrival date in prospecting common terns, Sterna hirundo

Dittmann, Tobias; Becker, Peter

doi:10.1006/anbe.2003.2128

Cited by 84 publications

(95 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Consequently, an early arrival can be regarded as a benefit, as a consistent trait of high individual quality, and as an important factor of fitness. Unlike arrival date, body mass at arrival was not linked with recruitment age in the common terns studied here, even if it is significantly related to age in this species (31,41).…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 63%

“…1), and is positively related to the date of egg laying (25). As in other migratory species (12,20,23,24,30), young individuals arrive at the breeding site later in the season than older conspecifics (25,31,32), and subadults advance their arrival from year to year (9,25).…”

mentioning

confidence: 71%

“…If individuals are unable to arrive early enough to start a breeding attempt in a given season, they may need one or more additional seasons to advance arrival or may even fail to breed at all. The advancement with age occurs at the individual level and can be explained mainly with a gain in individual experience (31): During the repeated returns the subadults may improve migration patterns and foraging behavior, enabling them to arrive in time step by step. Determining the total time available at a potential breeding site within a season (24,28), arrival date is closely linked to the way of becoming a breeder: establishing a nesting territory, attracting a mate, mating, courtship feeding, and finally starting a breeding attempt.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Here, we make use of this exceptional individual-based dataset to test whether the date of initial arrival of a 2-year-old common tern is linked with its recruitment age. We controlled for body mass (''arrival mass'') and sex, because both traits may be associated with arrival date and recruitment age: Male common terns arrive a few days earlier than females (25,31), which is the norm in migratory birds (12,14), whereas mass (33) and female sex (25,31) can be positively linked with early recruitment in birds. Furthermore, based on the individual age trajectories of arrival dates we analyzed whether and how the date of initial arrival of an individual at the natal colony is linked with its arrival date later in life and whether the timing of spring arrival is a consistent parameter characterizing an individual over the years.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Timing of initial arrival at the breeding site predicts age at first reproduction in a long-lived migratory bird

Becker

Dittmann

Ludwigs³

et al. 2008

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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In long-lived vertebrates, individuals generally visit potential breeding areas or populations during one or more seasons before reproducing for the first time. During these years of prospecting, they select a future breeding site, colony, or mate and improve various skills and their physical condition to meet the requirements of reproduction. One precondition of successful reproduction is arrival in time on the breeding grounds. Here, we study the intricate links among the date of initial spring arrival, body mass, sex, and the age of first breeding in the common tern Sterna hirundo, a long-lived migratory colonial seabird. The study is based on a unique, individual-based, long-term dataset of sexed birds, marked with transponders, which allow recording their individual arrival, overall attendance, and clutch initiation remotely and automatically year by year over the entire lifetime at the natal colony site. We show that the seasonal date of initial arrival at the breeding grounds predicts the individual age at first reproduction, which mostly occurs years later. Late first-time arrivals remain delayed birds throughout subsequent years. Our findings reveal that timing of arrival at the site of reproduction and timing of reproduction itself are coherent parameters of individual quality, which are linked with the prospects of the breeding career and may have consequences for fitness.prospecting ͉ recruitment age ͉ seabirds ͉ spring arrival

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 63%

mentioning

confidence: 71%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Timing of initial arrival at the breeding site predicts age at first reproduction in a long-lived migratory bird

Becker

Dittmann

Ludwigs³

et al. 2008

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…large gulls, kittiwakes, skuas, and terns) have argued that early arrival dates and high nest-site attendances are associated with strong intraspecific competion for breeding sites, which also would prevent "prospectors" from settling and breeding (e.g. Wooller and Coulson, 1977;Duncan, 1978;Coulson, 1991;Klomp and Furness, 1992), or insufficient information about breeding site and congeners, or simply a lack of partner (Curio, 1982;Weimerskirch, 1992;Ludwigs and Becker, 2002;Dittmann and Becker, 2003). As to the Northern Fulmar, Salomonsen (1955) proposed that the early arrival was due to intraspecific competion for nest-sites and a relaxed interspecific competion for food in winter.…”

Section: Pre-breeding Periodmentioning

confidence: 99%

Year-round video surveillance of individual nest-site attendance of Northern Fulmars (Fulmarus glacialis) in the Faroe Islands / Í eitt ár vórðu reiðurstaðir hjá havhesti (Fulmarus glacialis) í Føroyum eygleiddir við vakmyndatóli

Danielsen¹,

Bengtson

2017

Frit

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Nest-site attendance was monitored on a year-round basis by using video surveillance cameras at 10 potential nest-sites in a small colony of Northern Fulmars (Fulmarus glacialis) in the Faroe Islands. In the colony 27-34 nests-sites were occupied each year; 25-38% contained egg and 0-10 young were fledged. Altogether 40 potential nest-sites were identified during the course of the study (2004)(2005)(2006)(2007) 18 of which were actively used for breeding (i.e. egg-laying) in 1-4 years. Although few birds were marked and individually identifiable some cases of change of partner and/or nest-site were shown to occur. Successfully breeding pairs departed the colony at the end of August or early in September, whereas those that lost eggs in June left earlier though stayed for several weeks before leaving; hence, individual length of post-breeding absence (coinciding with primary moult) varied between 105 and 180 days. First arrivals mostly occurred in second half of December, though at this time of the year the nest-sites were only intermittently attended with considerable individual variation. During the pre-breeding period nest-site attendance peaked in April immediately followed by a marked drop and a pre-laying exodus in May. This general pattern was true for one-bird-attendance and the simultaneous attendance of two birds (presumably a pair) at the nest-site. In 2006 and 2007 the pre-laying exodus (defined as no. days in a run without the presence of the pair) at the individual nest-sites started between 21 April and 4 May and lasted for 21 to 32 days. In two cases when the length of the exodus could be related to sex the male had a shorter exodus than the female. A return from prelaying exodus did not always result in egg-laying (2 cases). In 2006 and 2007 copulations were observed between 11 and 30 April and 20 April and 1 May, respectively, though without any distinct peaks. Besides, copulations occurred at all times of the day. The total number of successful copulations (3-33), time between first and last copulation (2-19 days), and mean numbers (1.0-8.3) per day with copulations varied considerable between the sites. No eggs were laid in the two nests with the lowest mean number of copulations.

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Nestboxes augment seabird breeding performance in a high‐density colony: Insight from 15 years of monitoring data

Burke¹,

O’Connell

Kinchin‐Smith

et al. 2022

Ecol Sol and Evidence

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The provision of artificial nest structures is used in the conservation of a broad range of bird groups including raptors, owls, ducks, passerines and seabirds, with varying degrees of success. Artificial nestboxes have been provided to increase the density and breeding success of Roseate Tern pairs at colonies in north‐west Europe and the eastern seaboard of the USA and Canada, but their effect on breeding productivity has never been comprehensively quantified. Using 15 years of monitoring data, based on daily nest monitoring visits, we carried out a comparative analysis of the breeding performance of Roseate Tern pairs utilizing artificial nestboxes with those in open nests, on Rockabill Island (Ireland), to evaluate the effectiveness of nestbox installation as a conservation measure. Nestboxes were used ahead of open sites early in the season, likely by the experienced breeding pairs. Hatching success and fledging success were higher for pairs in nestboxes compared with those in open nest sites. Earlier clutches were more successful than later ones, independent of the effects of nest site type. The results of this study show definitively that Roseate Terns nesting in nestboxes perform better than those using open nest sites at their largest European colony and that nestboxes are chosen ahead of other sites, likely by the experienced breeding pairs. We recommend the continued and expanded use of nestboxes to help maximize the densities and breeding performance of the Roseate Tern.

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Sex, age, experience and condition as factors affecting arrival date in prospecting common terns, Sterna hirundo

Cited by 84 publications

References 21 publications

Timing of initial arrival at the breeding site predicts age at first reproduction in a long-lived migratory bird

Timing of initial arrival at the breeding site predicts age at first reproduction in a long-lived migratory bird

Year-round video surveillance of individual nest-site attendance of Northern Fulmars (Fulmarus glacialis) in the Faroe Islands / Í eitt ár vórðu reiðurstaðir hjá havhesti (Fulmarus glacialis) í Føroyum eygleiddir við vakmyndatóli

Nestboxes augment seabird breeding performance in a high‐density colony: Insight from 15 years of monitoring data

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