Factors affecting population dynamics of Eurasian woodcocks wintering in France: assessing the efficiency of a hunting-free reserve
International audience; The Eurasian woodcock Scolopax rusticola is a migratory bird of major importance for hunting, which is susceptible to habitat loss and the stochastic effects of severe winter weather. Conservation issues mostly concerned regulation of hunting, but the efficiency of hunting-free reserves has never been investigated. We studied causes of mortality and survival probabilities of 98 radio-tagged woodcocks in a reserve with no hunting and in an adjoining hunting area in Brittany (France). Predation, mostly by mammalian predators on fields at night, was similar among adults and yearlings, while hunting mortality was more important in yearlings. Overall winter survival proba…
Diurnal timing of nonmigratory movement by birds: the importance of foraging spatial scales
Timing of activity can reveal an organism's efforts to optimize foraging either by minimizing energy loss through passive movement or by maximizing energetic gain through foraging. Here, we assess whether signals of either of these strategies are detectable in the timing of activity of daily, local movements by birds. We compare the similarities of timing of movement activity among species using six temporal variables: start of activity relative to sunrise, end of activity relative to sunset, relative speed at midday, number of movement bouts, bout duration and proportion of active daytime hours. We test for the influence of flight mode and foraging habitat on the timing of movement activit…
Spatial and Temporal Variability in Migration of a Soaring Raptor Across Three Continents
Disentangling individual- and population-level variation in migratory movements is necessary for understanding migration at the species level. However, very few studies have analyzed these patterns across large portions of species' distributions. We compiled a large telemetry dataset on the globally endangered egyptian vulture neophron percnopterus (94 individuals, 188 completed migratory journeys), tracked across similar to 70% of the species' global range, to analyze spatial and temporal variability of migratory movements within and among individuals and populations. We found high migratory connectivity at large spatial scales (i.e., different subpopulations showed little overlap in winte…
Differential survival throughout the full annual cycle of a migratory bird presents a life‐history trade‐off
1. Long‐distance migrations are among the most physically demanding feats animals perform. Understanding the potential costs and benefits of such behaviour is a fundamental question in ecology and evolution. A hypothetical cost of migration should be outweighed by higher productivity and/or higher annual survival, but few studies on migratory species have been able to directly quantify patterns of survival throughout the full annual cycle and across the majority of a species’ range. 2. Here, we use telemetry data from 220 migratory Egyptian vultures Neophron percnopterus, tracked for 3,186 bird months and across approximately 70% of the species’ global distribution, to test for differences …
The energetic cost of humoral immunity in the Collared Dove, Streptopelia decaocto : is the magnitude sufficient to force energy-based trade-offs?
International audience; 1. Energy saving is often suggested as the basis of a resource trade-off between immunocompetence and other fitness-relevant traits. This suggests that the energetic cost of an immune response is significant and sufficient to force trade-offs. To date, few studies have investigated the energetic cost of the humoral component of the immune system in birds and furthermore, existing results are contradictory. 2. We addressed this question through two experiments. In experiment 1, the basal metabolic rate (BMR) of Collared Doves, Streptopelia decaocto , challenged with sheep red blood cells (SRBC) was compared with the BMR of control birds. The energetic cost of immunity…