Space partitioning without territoriality in gannets

Ewan D. Wakefield*, Thomas W. Bodey*, Stuart Bearhop*, Jez Blackburn, Kendrew Colhoun, Rachel D. Davies, Ross G. Dwyer, Jonathan A. Green, David Grémillet, Andrew L. Jackson, Mark J. Jessopp, Adam Kane, Rowena H. W. Langston, Amélie Lescroël, Stuart Murray, Mélanie Le Nuz, Samantha C. Patrick, Clara Péron, Louise M. Soanes, Sarah WanlessStephen C. Votier*, Keith C. Hamer*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

260 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Colonial breeding is widespread among animals. Some, such as eusocial insects, may use agonistic behavior to partition available foraging habitat into mutually exclusive territories; others, such as breeding seabirds, do not. We found that northern gannets, satellite-tracked from 12 neighboring colonies, nonetheless forage in largely mutually exclusive areas and that these colony-specific home ranges are determined by density-dependent competition. This segregation may be enhanced by individual-level public information transfer, leading to cultural evolution and divergence among colonies.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)68-70
Number of pages3
JournalScience
Volume341
Issue number6141
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 5 Jul 2013

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General

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