2024-03-29T05:50:04Zhttp://digital.csic.es/dspace-oai/requestoai:digital.csic.es:10261/1896712022-01-24T07:31:45Zcom_10261_88com_10261_8col_10261_341
http://hdl.handle.net/10261/189671
369851
Year-round individual specialization in the feeding ecology of a longlived seabird
Nature Publishing Group
2019
artículo
Zango, Laura
Reyes-González, José M.
rp07172
Militão, Teresa
Zajková, Zuzana
Álvarez-Alonso, Eduardo
Ramos, Raül
González-Solís, Jacob
2019
Este artículo contiene 12 páginas, 5 figuras, 1 tabla.
Many generalist species are composed of individuals varying in the size of their realized niches within
a population. To understand the underlying causes and implications of this phenomenon, repeated
samplings on the same individuals subjected to different environmental conditions are needed. Here,
we studied individual specialization of feeding strategies in breeding and non-breeding grounds of
Cory’s shearwaters (Calonectris borealis) for 2–8 years, and its relationship with fitness. Individuals were
relatively flexible in non-breeding destinations, but specialized in diet, habitat use and daily activity
across years. Daily activity was also consistent throughout the year for the same individual, suggesting
that it is driven by individual constraints, whereas individual diet and habitat use changed between
breeding and non-breeding grounds, indicating that these specializations may be learned at each area.
Moreover, individuals that were intermediate specialized in their diet tended to show higher breeding
success than those with weakly and highly specialized diets, suggesting stabilizing selection. Overall,
this study suggests that the development of individual specialization is more flexible than previously
thought, i.e. it emerges under specific environmental conditions and can develop differently when
environmental conditions vary. However, once established, individual specialization may compromise
the ability of individuals to cope with environmental stochasticity.
Scientific Reports
2019
9
11812