The cost of reproduction and experience-dependent vital rates in a small petrel

Abstract

Life history theory predicts that higher levels of reproductive investment entail higher reproductive costs especially among young and inexperienced individuals that might not optimize reproductive investment. Using a long-term individual and state-dependent capture-recapture data on Storm Petrels (Hydrobates pelagicus) we analyzed whether breeding experience and current breeding investment were associated with the expression of the cost of reproduction in terms of reduced survival and/or future breeding performance. We found a positive relationship between current breeding investment, breeding experience, and future survival and an improvement in breeding performance with individual experience independently of the previous breeding outcome. Our results suggest that the survival cost paid by first-time breeders and the positive correlation between reproduction and survival corresponds to selection against low quality birds unrelated to the breeding effort. Our work outlines the need to investigate the effect of multiple individual traits on different life history trade-offs simultaneously. © 2008 by the Ecological Society of America.