Greater flamingos Phoenicopterus roseus are partial capital breeders

Capital breeding refers to a strategy in which birds use body stores for egg formation, whereas income breeders obtain all resources for egg formation at breeding sites. Capital breeding should occur more in large-bodied species because the relative cost of carrying stores for egg formation becomes smaller with increasing body size. Based on a comparison between stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen in potential prey at wintering sites and eggs, we examined whether greater flamingos use nutrients stored earlier in the year for egg production. Our results suggest that the greater flamingo is a partial income breeder, since prey for egg formation were obtained both in overwintering sites and at the breeding site. This may be because there are selective pressures for nesting females to lay soon after arriving at the breeding site, which may be facilitated by arriving at the breeding site with developed ovarian follicles. © 2011 The Authors.Peer Reviewe

Nuevas citas de plantas acuáticas para la Laguna Redonda (Málaga), recientemente restaurada

La Laguna Redonda es una de las ocho lagunas pertenecientes al complejo lacustre “Lagunas de Campillos” situado en las Zonas externas de la Subbética. Esta laguna fue objeto de fuertes alteraciones antrópicas en las décadas de los años 70 y 80, al ser utilizada con cierta asiduidad para el depósito de escombros. La ocupación de la mayor parte del vaso lacustre por estos materiales, junto con las alteraciones de las escorrentías superficiales que alimentan la laguna ocasionó un comportamiento hídrico propio de un humedal temporal ocasional (Carrasco et al. 2005). Todas estas perturbaciones debieron tener repercusiones negativas en las comunidades acuáticas de la misma. A principios de otoño de 2008 dentro del proyecto “Corrección de riberas y zonas húmedas en la provincia de Málaga”, llevado a cabo por parte de la Consejería de Medio Ambiente de la Junta de Andalucía, se procedió a una serie de actuaciones en el vaso lagunar

Estudio preliminar de la hidrodiversidad de humedales andaluces de origen kárstico-evaporítico

Los resultados preliminares obtenidos muestran una gran variedad de facies hidroquímicas (Fig. 3 y 4) y un amplio rango de mineralización de las aguas (Fig. 3 y Tab. 1). Los valores isotópicos de δ18O y δD de las muestras (Fig. 5) indican un enriquecimiento isotópico y presentan un claro desvío con respecto a las líneas meteóricas local y global. Ello demuestra la influencia de la evaporación sobre el agua de los humedales estudiados, más patente en el caso de lagunas estacionales con periodo de inundación prolongado que en aquellas con un hidroperiodo más efímero. Las aguas de las lagunas permanentes, pese a estar expuestas de forma continua a la evaporación, se sitúan en la figura 5 en una posición intermedia, lo que podría deberse a la mezcla de aguas evaporadas con otras de aporte subterráneo. Los humedales de génesis kárstico-evaporítica, pese a tener un origen similar, presentan una gran diversidad geomorfológica, hidrológica e hidrogeológica como consecuencia de condiciones topográficas y geológicas particulares así como de su ubicación dentro de sistemas de flujo subterráneo locales, intermedios o regionales. Dichas particularidades han de ser tomadas en consideración a la hora de gestionar estas áreas naturales y plantear medidas de conservación y restauración, por lo que es necesario profundizar en el conocimiento hidrogeológico de los CCS y de la relación de las aguas subterráneas con los humedales formados en este contexto.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. Grupo Español de la Asociación Internacional de Hidrogeólogo

Offspring Microbiomes Differ Across Breeding Sites in a Panmictic Species

High dispersal rates are known to homogenize host’s population genetic structure in panmictic species and to disrupt host local adaptation to the environment. Long-distance dispersal might also spread micro-organisms across large geographical areas. However, so far, to which extent selection mechanisms that shape host’s population genetics are mirrored in the population structure of the enteric microbiome remains unclear. High dispersal rates and horizontal parental transfer may homogenize bacterial communities between breeding sites (homogeneous hypothesis). Alternatively, strong selection from the local environment may differentiate bacterial communities between breeding sites (heterogeneous hypothesis). Furthermore, selection from age-specific environmental or physiological factors may differentiate the microbiome between juveniles and adults. Here, we analyzed the cloacal bacterial 16S rRNA gene of fledgling greater flamingos, Phoenicopterus roseus, across nine western Mediterranean breeding sites and four breeding seasons (n = 731) and adult birds (n = 27) from a single site. We found that fledgling cloacal microbiome, as measured by alpha diversity, beta diversity, the relative abundance of assigned sequence variants (ASVs) belonging to a phylum and genus composition within phylum, varied significantly between sampling sites and across time within site despite high adult dispersal rates. The spatio-temporal effects were stronger on individual ASV absence/presence than on ASV abundance (i.e., than on core microbiome composition). Spatial effects had a stronger effect than temporal effects, particularly on ASV abundance. Our study supports the heterogeneous hypothesis whereby local environmental conditions select and differentiate bacterial communities, thus countering the homogenizing effects of high-dispersing host species. In addition, differences in core microbiome between adult vs. fledgling samples suggests that differences in age-specific environmental and/or physiological factors result in differential selection pressure of core enteric microbiome between age classes, even within the same environment. In particular, the genus Corynebacterium, associated with both seasonal fat uptake and migration in previous studies, was much more abundant in high-dispersing fledglings than in more resident adults. To conclude, selection mechanisms that shape the host’s genetic structure cannot be extended to the genetic structure of the enteric microbiome, which has important implications regarding our understanding of both host local adaptation mechanisms and enteric microbiome population genetics

Crop size as an index of chick provisioning in the Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus

After being fed by their parents, Greater Flamingo chicks store food in their crops, which protrude outwards. We allocated the crop profiles of chicks to four categories to assess the relationship between body mass and crop profile variation, and so determine whether crop size can be used as an accurate index of the amount of food ingested, and to determine the timing and frequency of provisioning. We registered changes in body mass and crop fullness in eight chicks captured with turgid crops and kept in captivity until constant mass was achieved. The meal mass ingested by the chicks during each parental feeding was around 18% of net chick mass and varied greatly with crop profile. Mean transition times between the four crop profile categories ranged from 6 to 14h. Between 1998 and 2009, 34% of chicks caught for ringing in a breeding colony had empty crops. From crop profiles recorded during the handling of chicks, it was estimated that approximately one-third of the chicks were fed in the evening and another third during the night. Our results have implications for the estimation of body condition indexes because body mass should be free of the influence of the mass of the food in the crop. © 2012 The Authors. Ibis © 2012 British Ornithologists' Union.Peer Reviewe

Ranging behaviour of greater flamingos during the breeding and post-breeding periods: Linking connectivity to biological processes

Connectivity among habitat patches has mainly been studied in relation to species-specific behaviours. However, the movements of animals among patches may have different functions, and tolerance to gaps between habitat patches may vary between these functions. We tracked the movements of greater flamingos during the breeding and post-breeding periods with the aim of illustrating how the degree of connectivity may vary depending on the biological processes underlying the movements between wetlands. Most foraging sites used by breeding adults in a colony in southern Spain were within 200 km of the colony site, although some birds eventually moved 400 km. After the breeding season, the adults remained for several weeks in specific wetlands, moving to other sites located 280-2100 km away to overwinter. During these movements the birds may use stopover sites, the conservation of which may be critical to facilitate long-range movements. Our results suggest that wetland connectivity during chick rearing does not seem to be determined by whether or not central-place foraging flamingos are able to reach wetlands located at the longest distance that they are able to fly during non-stop flights (>1000 km), but by whether they are able to sustain the energetic costs derived from frequent commuting. In contrast, long-distance movements were occasionally undertaken during the post-breeding period. The energetic costs of such flights could be paid by flamingos because these movements were infrequent. Thus, in the case of flamingos, connectedness thresholds between wetlands vary depending on the biological process involved (chick rearing or post-breeding movements). This emphasizes the need to consider different types of connectivity in conservation planning. © 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Peer Reviewe

Despotic establishment of breeding colonies of greater flamingos, Phoenicopterus ruber, in southern Spain

The spatial distribution of individuals fits an ideal despotic distribution (IDD) model when some individuals prevent others from settling in a high-quality habitat, so that the last group of individuals is forced to use lower-quality habitats in which their fitness is lower. A critical assumption of the IDD model is that individuals using the lower-quality habitats must have attempted to settle first in the better habitats, but this has seldom been demonstrated. We tested key assumptions of the IDD model by using long-term data on choice of breeding sites by greater flamingos (Phoenicopterus ruber) in southern Spain, where these birds breed at Fuente de Piedra lake (FP) and the Guadalquivir marshes (GM). Based on the accessibility of terrestrial predators to breeding sites, the FP colony was of better quality than the GM colony. As expected from an IDD model, the flamingos settled first at FP than at GM. The order of settlement was probably not affected by differences in food availability between sites, since in most years, the flamingos breeding in FP obtained food in GM during the chick-rearing period, once the FP lake dried up. Furthermore, breeding success was much higher at FP than at GM. Another assumption of the model is that individuals are omniscient and that they should try to settle first in the best site. We recorded 18 individually marked flamingos prospecting for nest sites in FP in a season, when many birds had already settled in this colony. The same individuals were subsequently recorded breeding in the same season in GM, indicating that they had previous information on the availability of sites on which to breed. A third assumption of the IDD model is that as the density increases in a given habitat, the fitness of individuals should decrease. In accordance with this, we found a strong effect of bird density on egg losses. The individuals that were recorded prospecting for sites in FP and that later bred in GM were younger than flamingos that were breeding in FP. We suggest that agerelated behavioral dominance may be a mechanism responsible for this despotic distribution.Peer Reviewe

Post-breeding displacements of Greater Flamingos (Phoenicopterus ruber roseus) from Spain to north-western African wetlands

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Global economy interacts with climate change to jeopardize species conservation: The case of the greater flamingo in the Mediterranean and West Africa

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