Browsing by Author "Bearhop, Stuart"
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- A deepening understanding of animal culture suggests lessons for conservationPublication . Brakes, Philippa; Carroll, Emma L; Dall, Sasha R X; Keith, Sally Anne; McGregor, Peter; Mesnick, Sarah L.; Noad, Michael; Rendell, Luke Edward; Robbins, Martha M.; Rutz, Christian; Thornton, Alex; Whiten, Andrew; Whiting, Martin J.; Aplin, Lucy M.; Bearhop, Stuart; Ciucci, Paolo; Fishlock, Vicki; Ford, John K. B.; Sciara Di, Giuseppe Notarbartolo; Simmonds, Mark P.; Spina, Fernando; Wade, Paul R.; Whitehead, Hal; Williams, James; Garland, Ellen C.A key goal of conservation is to protect biodiversity by supporting the long-term persistence of viable, natural populations of wild species. Conservation practice has long been guided by genetic, ecological and demographic indicators of risk. Emerging evidence of animal culture across diverse taxa and its role as a driver of evolutionary diversification, population structure and demographic processes may be essential for augmenting these conventional conservation approaches and decision-making. Animal culture was the focus of a ground-breaking resolution under the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), an international treaty operating under the UN Environment Programme. Here, we synthesize existing evidence to demonstrate how social learning and animal culture interact with processes important to conservation management. Specifically, we explore how social learning might influence population viability and be an important resource in response to anthropogenic change, and provide examples of how it can result in phenotypically distinct units with different, socially learnt behavioural strategies. While identifying culture and social learning can be challenging, indirect identification and parsimonious inferences may be informative. Finally, we identify relevant methodologies and provide a framework for viewing behavioural data through a cultural lens which might provide new insights for conservation management.
- How do Robins Erithacus rubecula resident in Iberia respond to seasonal flooding by conspecific migrants?Publication . Campos, Ana R.; Catry, Paulo; Tenreiro, Paulo; Neto, Júlio M.; Pereira, António C.; Brito, Rui; Cardoso, Helder; Ramos, Jaime; Bearhop, Stuart; Newton, JasonInexistente
- Inter-colony and inter-annual variation in discard use by albatross chicks revealed using isotopes and regurgitatesPublication . Kuepfer, Amanda; Catry, Paulo; Bearhop, Stuart; Sherley, Richard; Bell, Olivia; Newton, Jason; Brickle, Paul; Arkhipkin, Alexander; Votier, StephenEffective marine ecosystem monitoring is critical for sustainable management. Monitoring seabird diets can convey important information on ecosystem health and seabird–fishery interactions. The diet of breeding black-browed albatross (Thalassarche melanophris) has previously been assessed using stomach content analysis (SCA) or stable isotope analysis (SIA), but not both methods together. Combining dietary sampling approaches reduces biases associated with using single methods. This study combines SCA and SIA to study the diet of black-browed albatross chicks, with a specific focus on fishery discard consumption, at two Falkland Islands colonies (New Island 51°43′S, 61°18′W and Steeple Jason Island 51°01′S, 61°13′W) during two consecutive breeding seasons (2019 and 2020). SCA provided high taxonomic resolution of short-term diet and priors for stable isotope mixing models, with multiple measures of dietary items (e.g. numeric frequency N%, frequency of occurrence FO%). By contrast, SIA of down feathers provided a single and more integrated dietary signal from throughout chick development. Although the two methods disagreed on the dominant prey group (SCA—crustacean; SIA—pelagic fish), the complementary information suggested a chick diet dominated by natural prey (SCA: 74%–93% [FO], 44%–98% [N]; SIA: minimum 87%–95% contribution). Nonetheless, SCA revealed that a high proportion of breeding adults do take discards. We detected consistent colony-specific diets in relation to prey species, but not in relation to higher discard use. Overall, discard consumption was highest in 2020, the year characterised by the poorest foraging conditions. Our results have implications for fisheries management and future dietary studies assessing discard use.
- Movements, winter distribution and activity patterns of Falkland and brown skuas: Insights from loggers and isotopesPublication . Phillips, Richard A.; Catry, Paulo; Silk, Janet R. D.; Bearhop, Stuart; McGill, Rona A R; Afanasyev, Vsevolod; Strange, Ian J.In the first published study of the wintering ranges and activity patterns of skuas from any colony, we combined tracking (geolocator) and stable isotope analysis in a comparison of migration behaviour of brown skuas Catharacta lonnbergi and Falkland skuas C. antarctica from South Georgia and the Falkland Islands, respectively. Brown skuas, particularly failed breeders, departed and returned to the colony much earlier than Falkland skuas, and 2 of 3 brown skuas performed a pre-laying exodus. During winter, brown skuas were distributed widely over deep, oceanic water within the Argentine Basin (37 to 52° S) between the Antarctic Polar Front and the northern sub-tropical Front. Falkland skuas, by comparison, wintered mainly in subantarctic waters around the central Patagonian shelf-break (40 to 52° S). Much greater overlap existed among core areas within than between species, and sex did not influence distribution. The partial inter-specific spatial segregation was also reflected in a divergence in activity patterns, with brown skuas in flight for a greater proportion, and more time on average, during both daylight and darkness. Both species of skua spent far more time on the water than do foraging albatrosses, and there was limited overlap between their nonbreeding distributions and those of large procellariids from the same archipelagos. Stable isotope signatures of brown skua feathers indicated that distributions of tracked birds were typical of most or all of the breeding population, and were consistent from year to year. None was characteristic of species that winter on adjacent continental shelves or off south-west Europe. Isotope values also suggested a mixed diet for brown skuas of zooplankton, low trophic-level squid and fish, with little or no reliance on seabird predation or fisheries.
- Provenance does matter: Links between winter trophic segregation and the migratory origins of European robinsPublication . Catry, Paulo; Campos, Ana R.; Granadeiro, José Pedro; Neto, Júlio M.; Ramos, Jaime; Newton, Jason; Bearhop, StuartAmongst migratory species, it is common to find individuals from different populations or geographical origins sharing staging or wintering areas. Given their differing life histories, ecological theory would predict that the different groups of individuals should exhibit some level of niche segregation. This has rarely been investigated because of the difficulty in assigning migrating individuals to breeding areas. Here, we start by documenting a broad geographical gradient of hydrogen isotopes (δ (2)H) in robin Erithacus rubecula feathers across Europe. We then use δ (2)H, as well as wing-tip shape, as surrogates for broad migratory origin of birds wintering in Iberia, to investigate the ecological segregation of populations. Wintering robins of different sexes, ages and body sizes are known to segregate between habitats in Iberia. This has been attributed to the despotic exclusion of inferior competitors from the best patches by dominant individuals. We find no segregation between habitats in relation to δ (2)H in feathers, or to wing-tip shape, which suggests that no major asymmetries in competitive ability exist between migrant robins of different origins. Trophic level (inferred from nitrogen isotopes in blood) correlated both with δ (2)H in feathers and with wing-tip shape, showing that individuals from different geographic origins display a degree of ecological segregation in shared winter quarters. Isotopic mixing models indicate that wintering birds originating from more northerly populations consume more invertebrates. Our multi-scale study suggests that trophic-niche segregation may result from specializations (arising in the population-specific breeding areas) that are transported by the migrants into the shared wintering grounds.
- Sex differences in settlement behaviour and condition of chiffchaffs Phylloscopus collybita at a wintering site in Portugal. Are females doing better?Publication . Catry, Paulo; Bearhop, Stuart; Lecoq, MiguelIn passerine birds, males are generally larger and dominant over females. In line with the dominance theory, in all known differential migrant passerines, females migrate further than males. However, there are alternative explanations to the dominance hypothesis, including the specialisation hypothesis, predicting that females should do better than males in habitats and/or regions to which they are specially adapted, and where they predominate in numbers. Few studies have aimed at comparing the behaviour and condition of males and females wintering in locations largely dominated by female birds. We studied a partly nomadic species, the common chiffchaff Phylloscopus collybita, at a wintering site in Portugal. Most individuals caught at this site were transients. The only consistent and relatively powerful predictor of settlement behaviour was sex. Almost all the birds that settled in the study area were female, while there was an almost even sex ratio in the transient sample. Females had higher muscle and postjuvenile moult scores when first captured. In addition, there was a significant sex-based difference in mass trajectories, with females maintaining body mass and males losing body mass when settled at the study site. Results from this study suggest that the poor performance of males was either due to inferior male competitive ability in a region/habitat where females predominate and/or it resulted from the fact that males that reach these wintering grounds are of inferior individual quality.