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    Phenotypic and environmental correlates of natal dispersal in a long-lived territorial vulture

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    Natal dispersal, the movement between the birth and the first breeding site, has been rarely studied in long-lived territorial birds with a long-lasting pre-breeding stage. Here we benefited from the long-term monitoring programs of six populations of Egyptian vultures (Neophron percnopterus) from Spain and France to study how the rearing environment determines dispersal. For 124 vultures, we recorded a median dispersal distance of 48km (range 0-656km). Linear models were used to assess the effect of population and individual traits on dispersal distance at two spatial scales. Dispersal distances were inversely related to vulture density in the natal population, suggesting that birds perceive the abundance of conspecifics as a signal of habitat quality. This was particularly true for declining populations, so increasing levels of opportunistic philopatry seemed to arise in high density contexts as a consequence of vacancies created by human-induced adult mortality. Females dispersed further than males, but males were more sensitive to the social environment, indicating different dispersal tactics. Both sexes were affected by different individual attributes simultaneously and interactively with this social context. These results highlight that complex phenotype-by-environment interactions should be considered for advancing our understanding of dispersal dynamics in long-lived organisms.Funds were partially provided by Diputación General de Aragón, Junta de Andalucía, Comunidad de Bardenas and Projects CGL2009-12753-C02-02, CGL2009-12753-C02-01/BOS and CGL2010-15726 of Spanish Ministerio of Economía y Competitividad. ACA was supported by a contract Juan de la Cierva Incorporación (IJCI-2014-20744; Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Spain) and a Post-Doc contract Programa Viçent Mut of Govern Balear, Spain (PD/039/2017). EA was supported by La Caixa-Severo Ochoa International PhD Program 2015, JM was supported by a Basque Government predoctoral fellowship PRE_2018_2_0112 (2017)
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