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 Wanless
  • Stephen C. Votier*, Keith C. Hamer*
*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

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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