Brood neglect and contingent foraging behavior in a pelagic seabird |
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Authors: | Email author" target="_blank">Sue?LewisEmail author Keith?C?Hamer Luisa?Money Richard?Griffiths Sarah?Wanless Thomas?N?Sherratt |
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Institution: | (1) NERC Centre for Hydrology and Ecology, Banchory Research Station, Hill of Brathens, Banchory, Aberdeenshire, AB31 4BW, UK;(2) School of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, University of Durham, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK;(3) Ecology and Evolution Group, School of Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK;(4) Ornithology Group, Division of Environmental and Evolutionary Biology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow , G12 8QQ, UK;(5) Department of Biology, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, K1S 5B6 , Canada |
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Abstract: | Among species where there is a risk to leaving offspring unattended, parents usually take alternating shifts guarding their young. However, they may occasionally exhibit brood neglect by leaving their offspring unattended at the nest. To investigate this phenomenon further, we examined the foraging behavior of the northern gannet (Morus bassanus) during chick-rearing. This species has a prolonged nestling period (13 weeks) and the single chick is usually guarded by one or other of its parents, because unattended chicks are frequently attacked by conspecifics. We tested the prediction that the foraging behavior of adults when they left their offspring alone at the nest (unattended trips) would differ in character to when adults left offspring with their partner (attended trips). Brood neglect typically occurred after a longer-than-average attendance period at the nest. Unattended trips were, on average, about half the duration of attended trips, and therefore much closer to the colony. There was also a difference in departure direction between attended and unattended trips, with unattended trips tending to be northeast of the colony. Chicks were fed by parents after both attended and unattended trips, but the frequency and the duration of unattended trips increased as chicks grew older whereas the duration of attended trips decreased as chicks grew. These results indicate that parents may be making a trade-off between risk of attack to their offspring and food-intake rate, and that the solution to this trade-off is dependent on chick age.Communicated by C. Brown |
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Keywords: | Dual foraging strategy Gannet Morus bassanus Nest attendance State-dependent foraging |
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