Journal article 1325 views 254 downloads
Impact of changing wind conditions on foraging and incubation success in male and female wandering albatrosses
Tina Cornioley,
Luca Borger 
,
Arpat Ozgul,
Henri Weimerskirch,
Jennifer Gill
,
Arpat Ozgul,
Henri Weimerskirch,
Jennifer Gill
Journal of Animal Ecology
Swansea University Author:
Luca Borger
-
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DOI (Published version): 10.1111/1365-2656.12552
Abstract
Wind is an important climatic factor for flying animals as by affecting their locomotion, it can deeply impact their life-history characteristics. In the context of globally changing wind patterns, we investigated the mechanisms underlying recently reported increase in body mass of a population of w...
| Published in: | Journal of Animal Ecology |
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| Published: |
2016
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| Online Access: |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/wol1/doi/10.1111/1365-2656.12552/abstract |
| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa27102 |
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| Abstract: |
Wind is an important climatic factor for flying animals as by affecting their locomotion, it can deeply impact their life-history characteristics. In the context of globally changing wind patterns, we investigated the mechanisms underlying recently reported increase in body mass of a population of wandering albatrosses (Diomedea exulans) with increasing wind speed over time. We built a foraging model detailing the effects of wind on movement statistics and ultimately on mass gained by the forager and mass lost by the incubatingpartner. We then simulated the body mass of incubating pairs and their incubation success under varying wind scenarios. We tracked the frequency at which critical mass leading to nest abandonment was reached to assess incubation success. We found that wandering albatross behave as time-minimizers during incubation as mass gain was independent of any movement statistics but decreased with increasing mass at departure. Individuals forage until their energy requirements, which are determined by their body conditions, are fulfilled. This can come at the cost of their partner’s condition as mass loss of the incubating partner depended on trip duration. This behaviour is consistent with strategies of long-lived species which favoured their own survival over their current reproductive attempt. In addition, wind speed increased ground speed which in turn reduced trip duration and males foraged further away than females at high ground speed. Contrasted against an independent dataset, the simulation performed satisfactorily for males but less so for females under current wind conditions. The simulation predicted an increase in male body mass growth rate with increasing wind speed whereas females’ rate decreased. This trend may providean explanation for the observed increase in mass of males but not of females. Conversely, the simulation predicted very few nest abandonments, which is in line with the high breeding success of this species and is contrary to the hypothesis that wind patterns impact incubation success by altering foraging movement. |
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| Keywords: |
movement, reproductive success, wind, bird flight, birds, movement ecology |
| College: |
Faculty of Science and Engineering |