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Experimental evidence for interference competition in oystercatchers, haematopus ostralegus I. captive birds
- Source :
- Behavioral Ecology, 21, 1251-1260. Oxford University Press, Behavioral Ecology, 21(6), 1251-1260. Oxford University Press, Rutten, A L, Oosterbeek, J, van der Meer, J, Verhulst, S & Ens, B J 2010, ' Experimental evidence for interference competition in oystercatchers, haematopus ostralegus I. captive birds. ', Behavioral Ecology, vol. 21, pp. 1251-1260 . https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arq129, Behavioral Ecology 21 (2010) 6, Behavioral Ecology, 21(6), 1251-1260
- Publication Year :
- 2010
-
Abstract
- Interference competition, the immediately reversible decrease in per capita foraging success with increasing forager density, has important implications for the distribution of foragers. Theoretical models predict the strength of interference at different prey densities for birds differing in dominance. Observational studies have been used to validate the theoretical predictions, but there is reason to believe that these nonexperimental studies suffer from confounding factors. We therefore manipulated forager density of oystercatchers Haematopus ostralegus foraging on live cockles Cerastoderma edule (low density: 1 bird per 50 m-super-2 and high density: 2 birds per 50 m-super-2) in a unique experimental facility closely mimicking natural feeding conditions. In the high-density situation, the intake rate was on average reduced by 36% compared with the interference-free intake rate. However, this effect depended on status with intake rate of subordinates being more strongly reduced than intake rate of dominants ( - 45% vs. - 25%). We could not investigate all possible mechanisms, but we observed that birds actively avoided each other, possibly to avoid kleptoparasitism. Our experiment shows that the decline in intake rate with increasing density of conspecifics is at least partly due to direct interactions between birds and possibly also to indirect interactions via prey depression but not to an unidentified confounding factor that covaries with intake rate and bird density, as may have been the case in nonexperimental field studies. Copyright 2010, Oxford University Press.
- Subjects :
- FOOD-INTAKE
deangelis functional-response
mytilus-edulis
intraspecific competition
cockle
interference
foraging behavior
MODELING INTERFERENCE
Cerastoderma edule
dominance
Landscape Centre
DIGESTIVE BOTTLENECK
Wageningen Environmental Research
FORAGING BEHAVIOR
deriving population parameters
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
digestive bottleneck
INDIVIDUAL VARIATIONS
experiment
ideal free distribution
Alterra - Centrum Landschap
oystercatcher
DEANGELIS FUNCTIONAL-RESPONSE
food-intake
modeling interference
Wageningen Marine Research
density dependence
Haematopus ostralegus
IDEAL FREE DISTRIBUTION
MYTILUS-EDULIS
DERIVING POPULATION PARAMETERS
individual variations
Animal Science and Zoology
redshank tringa-totanus
REDSHANK TRINGA-TOTANUS
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 10452249
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Behavioral Ecology, 21, 1251-1260. Oxford University Press, Behavioral Ecology, 21(6), 1251-1260. Oxford University Press, Rutten, A L, Oosterbeek, J, van der Meer, J, Verhulst, S & Ens, B J 2010, ' Experimental evidence for interference competition in oystercatchers, haematopus ostralegus I. captive birds. ', Behavioral Ecology, vol. 21, pp. 1251-1260 . https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arq129, Behavioral Ecology 21 (2010) 6, Behavioral Ecology, 21(6), 1251-1260
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....38f3640785b54bec6ed8051e276c4625