42 research outputs found
The Role of Cognition in Social Information Use for Breeding Site Selection : Experimental Evidence in a Wild Passerine Population
This work was funded by the ANR (Evol-Cog project, ANR-19-CE02-0007), the Centre National pour la Recherche Scientifique (PICS) and the Region RhÎne-Alpes (CIBLE programme) to BD; the NSERC (postdoctoral fellowship), the ABS (student research award), the BOU and the BES (research grants), and the SCO (Fred Cook award) to LC; the MinistÚre de l'Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche, the Department of Ecology and Genetics from Uppsala University and Stiftelsen för Zoologisk Forskning, the Région Auvergne Rhone-Alpes (Explora'Doc mobility grants) and by the University of Lyon (ATER fellowship and IDEX mobility grant) to JM; the Pearcy Sladen Memorial Trust and Carnegie Trust (travel grants), and the BOU and BES (research grants) to PB. The data supporting the findings of this study are openly available in FigShare at http://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.13229081.Peer reviewedPublisher PD
Carryâover effects of seasonal migration on reproductive success through breeding site retention in a partially migratory bird
âą1. Understanding the maintenance and dynamics of phenotypic polymorphisms requires unpicking key ecological mechanisms shaping the fitness costs and benefits of expressing alternative phenotypes, generating selection. Seasonal migration versus year-round residence expressed in partially migratory populations represents one common polymorphism that can experience strong selection through differential reproductive success. Yet, key hypothesised pathways that could generate such selection remain to be empirically tested.
âą2. One hypothesis is that migratory tactics affect subsequent reproductive success through carry-over effects on breeding site retention and resulting breeding dispersal. By remaining in breeding areas all year round, residents could retain their preferred breeding site between years, and consequently have higher reproductive success. Conversely, migrants that escape harsh non-breeding season conditions could return in better condition, with high resource holding potential, and outcompete residents to retain their site. Such effects could further depend on migration timing and vary between years. Yet, such pathways have not been quantified, precluding empirical parameterisation of partial migration theory.
âą3. We used 4âyears of breeding and non-breeding season data from partially migratory European shags (Gulosus aristotelis) to test whether the three most frequent migratory tactics in this population (full resident, early migrant departing soon after breeding, and late migrant departing in late autumn) differed in their breeding site retention; whether site retention predicted reproductive success; and hence whether effects of migratory tactic on reproductive success were explicable through site retention.
âą4. Overall, residents were much more likely to retain their breeding site between years than both early and late migrants, and site retention was associated with increased reproductive success. Yet, these effects varied somewhat among years: late migrants were always least likely to retain their site but had variable relative reproductive success. Path analyses revealed that effects of migratory tactic on reproductive success were only partly attributable to breeding site retention.
âą5. These results indicate that multiple mechanisms underlie reproductive selection on migratory tactics, potentially contributing to maintaining behavioural polymorphisms. Yet, the clear associations between migratory tactics and local breeding dispersal reveal that these movements can be strongly interlinked across seasons, shaping overall spatioseasonal dynamics in partially migratory systems
Context-dependent foraging habitat selection in a farmland raptor along an agricultural intensification gradient
Gradients of agricultural intensification in agroecosystems may determine uneven resource availability for
predators relying on these man-made habitats. In turn, these variations in resource availability may affect
predatorsâ habitat selection patterns, resulting in context-dependent habitat selection. We assessed the effects of
gradients of landscape composition and configuration on habitat selection of a colonial farmland bird of prey, the
lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni), relying on 76 GPS-tracked nestling-rearing individuals from 10 populations
scattered along an agricultural intensification gradient. Analyses were conducted considering two ecological
levels of aggregation (the population and the individual) and two spatial scales of habitat availability (the colony
surroundings and the individual home-range). Overall, non-irrigated croplands and semi-natural grasslands were
the most preferred habitats at both spatial scales. At the colony scale, lesser kestrels showed a preference for
grassland compared to non-irrigated crops, whereas the opposite was the case within individual home-ranges.
Conversely, croplands were positively selected with comparable intensity at both spatial scales. Strong selection
for grassland at the colony scale highlights the importance of this semi-natural habitat for the species. The
weaker preference for grassland at the home-range scale is likely due to the phenology and structure of the
vegetation in the late breeding season. Spatial scale differences in selection patterns may thus derive from spatiotemporal
changes in resource availability through the breeding season. The strength of selection for the two most
used habitats varied markedly among individuals. At the spatial scale of the colony, individual selection strength
for grasslands increased with decreasing compositional diversity of the surrounding landscape, suggesting that
agroecosystem heterogeneity may at least partly buffer the loss of semi-natural habitats. At the within homerange
scale, higher cropland availability reduced the strength of individual preference for this habitat, suggesting
a negative functional response possibly related to density-dependent processes acting on foraging
movements. Our study provides evidence that farmland species show context-dependent habitat selection patterns
in response to landscape gradients shaped by agricultural intensification as well as by intrinsic characteristics
and habitat availability. Our findings highlight the importance of addressing both individual and
population-level variability and considering multiple spatial scales in studies of habitat selection to inform
speciesâ management and conservation
Host dispersal shapes the population structure of a tick-borne bacterial pathogen
Birds are hosts for several zoonotic pathogens. Because of their high mobility, especially of longdistance migrants, birds can disperse these pathogens, affecting their distribution and phylogeography. We focused on Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, which includes the causative agents of Lyme borreliosis, as an example for tick-borne pathogens, to address the role of birds as propagation hosts of zoonotic agents at a large geographical scale. We collected ticks from passerine birds in 11 European countries. B. burgdorferi s.l. prevalence in Ixodes spp. was 37% and increased with latitude. The fieldfare Turdus pilaris and the blackbird T. merula carried ticks with the highest Borrelia prevalence (92 and 58%, respectively), whereas robin Erithacus rubecula ticks were the least infected (3.8%). Borrelia garinii was the most prevalent genospecies (61%), followed by B. valaisiana (24%), B. afzelii (9%), B. turdi (5%) and B. lusitaniae (0.5%). A novel Borrelia genospecies "Candidatus Borrelia aligera" was also detected. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) analysis of B. garinii isolates together with the global collection of B. garinii genotypes obtained from the Borrelia MLST public database revealed that: (a) there was little overlap among genotypes from different continents, (b) there was no geographical structuring within Europe, and (c) there was no evident association pattern detectable among B. garinii genotypes from ticks feeding on birds, questing ticks or human isolates. These findings strengthen the hypothesis that the population structure and evolutionary biology of tick-borne pathogens are shaped by their host associations and the movement patterns of these hosts.Peer reviewe
Sources de variabilité dans l'utilisation d'informations sociales pour le choix d'habitat de reproduction : rÎle de la génétique et de la personnalité chez le gobe-mouche à collier (Ficedula albicollis)
All their life, individuals have to make decisions that may strongly affect their fitness. To optimize their decisions, they can use personally acquired information but also information obtained from observing other individuals (âsocial informationâ). The propensity to gather and use social information and the information meaning might depend on both individual and environmental factors. Studying what drives within- and between-individual differences in social information use should help us understand the evolutionary potential of this supposedly adaptive behaviour. The aim of my PhD was to empirically investigate sources of variability in heterospecific social information use for breeding habitat selection. I worked on a natural population of collared flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis, Gotland Island, Sweden), a passerine species shown to cue on the presence, density, reproductive investment and nest site preference of dominant titmice for settlement decisions. Using both long term and experimental data, I showed that the use of heterospecific social information, measured as the probability to copy tit nest preference, is not heritable but depends on male age and aggressiveness and on tit apparent breeding investment at the time of flycatcher settlement. Using a playback experiment, I also showed that female flycatchers can fine-tune nest site choice according to (i) song features supposedly reflecting great tit (Parus major) quality and (ii) their own aggressiveness level. This thesis highlights the importance of personality in the use of heterospecific social information for breeding site selection in this population, and broadens the traditionally known sources of heterospecific information to fine song characteristics reflecting heterospecificsâ quality. To fully understand the evolutionary mechanisms and consequences of heterospecific social information use, genetically based plasticity and fitness consequences remains to be exploredAu cours de leur vie, les individus doivent constamment prendre des dĂ©cisions qui peuvent fortement affecter leur valeur sĂ©lective. Pour optimiser leur prise de dĂ©cisions, ces individus peuvent utiliser des informations soit issues de leurs propres interactions avec lâenvironnement (informations personnelles), soit issues de lâobservation dâautres individus (informations sociales). La propension Ă utiliser des informations sociales et leur signification dĂ©pend certainement de paramĂštres individuels et environnementaux. Pour comprendre le potentiel Ă©volutif de ce comportement Ă priori adaptatif, il est nĂ©cessaire de comprendre les causes de ces variations inter- et intra-individuelles. Le but de cette thĂšse Ă©tait donc de dĂ©terminer les sources de variations individuelles dans lâutilisation dâinformation sociales hĂ©tĂ©rospĂ©cifiques pour le choix dâhabitat de reproduction, chez le gobe-mouche Ă collier (Ficedula albicollis). A partir de donnĂ©es Ă long terme et dâexpĂ©rimentations en nature dans la population de Gotland (SuĂšde), jâai montrĂ© que lâutilisation dâinformations sociales nâest pas hĂ©ritable dans cette population, mais dĂ©pend de lâĂąge et de lâagressivitĂ© des mĂąles, ainsi que de la taille de ponte des compĂ©titeurs au moment oĂč les gobe-mouches font leur choix. A partir dâune expĂ©rience de repasse, jâai Ă©galement montrĂ© que les femelles peuvent ajuster, en fonction de leur propre niveau dâagressivitĂ©, leur choix de site de nidification en fonction de caractĂ©ristiques de chants supposĂ©ment liĂ©s Ă la qualitĂ© des mĂ©sanges charbonniĂšres (Parus major). Cette thĂšse souligne lâimportance de la personnalitĂ© dans lâutilisation dâinformations sociales hĂ©tĂ©rospecifiques pour la sĂ©lection dâhabitat de reproduction dans cette population, et montre que des caractĂ©ristiques fines de signaux Ă lâintention de congĂ©nĂšres peuvent aussi ĂȘtre utilisĂ©es par dâautres espĂšces. Cela nous aide ainsi Ă mieux comprendre les mĂ©canismes Ă©volutifs de ce comportemen
Sources of variability in heterospecific social information use for breeding habitat selection : Role of genetics and personality in collared flycatchers
All their life, individuals have to make decisions that may strongly affect their fitness. To optimize their decisions, they can use personally acquired information but also information obtained from observing other individuals (âsocial informationâ). The propensity to gather and use social information and the information meaning might depend on both individual and environmental factors. Studying what drives within- and between-individual differences in social information use should help us understand the evolutionary potential of this supposedly adaptive behaviour. The aim of my PhD was to empirically investigate sources of variability in heterospecific social information use for breeding habitat selection. I worked on a natural population of collared flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis, Gotland Island, Sweden), a passerine species shown to cue on the presence, density, reproductive investment and nest site preference of dominant titmice for settlement decisions. Using both long term and experimental data, I showed that the use of heterospecific social information, measured as the probability to copy tit nest preference, is not heritable but depends on male age and aggressiveness and on tit apparent breeding investment at the time of flycatcher settlement. Using a playback experiment, I also showed that female flycatchers can fine-tune nest site choice according to (i) song features supposedly reflecting great tit (Parus major) quality and (ii) their own aggressiveness level. This thesis highlights the importance of personality in the use of heterospecific social information for breeding site selection in this population, and broadens the traditionally known sources of heterospecific information to fine song characteristics reflecting heterospecificsâ quality. To fully understand the evolutionary mechanisms and consequences of heterospecific social information use, genetically based plasticity and fitness consequences remain to be explored.The public defence will be video-linked to seminar room 1003, Evolutionary Biology Center (EBC), NorbyvĂ€gen 18D, Uppsala.</p
Sources of variability in heterospecific social information use for breeding habitat selection : Role of genetics and personality in collared flycatchers
All their life, individuals have to make decisions that may strongly affect their fitness. To optimize their decisions, they can use personally acquired information but also information obtained from observing other individuals (âsocial informationâ). The propensity to gather and use social information and the information meaning might depend on both individual and environmental factors. Studying what drives within- and between-individual differences in social information use should help us understand the evolutionary potential of this supposedly adaptive behaviour. The aim of my PhD was to empirically investigate sources of variability in heterospecific social information use for breeding habitat selection. I worked on a natural population of collared flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis, Gotland Island, Sweden), a passerine species shown to cue on the presence, density, reproductive investment and nest site preference of dominant titmice for settlement decisions. Using both long term and experimental data, I showed that the use of heterospecific social information, measured as the probability to copy tit nest preference, is not heritable but depends on male age and aggressiveness and on tit apparent breeding investment at the time of flycatcher settlement. Using a playback experiment, I also showed that female flycatchers can fine-tune nest site choice according to (i) song features supposedly reflecting great tit (Parus major) quality and (ii) their own aggressiveness level. This thesis highlights the importance of personality in the use of heterospecific social information for breeding site selection in this population, and broadens the traditionally known sources of heterospecific information to fine song characteristics reflecting heterospecificsâ quality. To fully understand the evolutionary mechanisms and consequences of heterospecific social information use, genetically based plasticity and fitness consequences remain to be explored.The public defence will be video-linked to seminar room 1003, Evolutionary Biology Center (EBC), NorbyvĂ€gen 18D, Uppsala.</p
Heterospecific song quality as social information for settlement decisions: an experimental approach in a wild bird
International audienc