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- Title
Every-Other-Day Clutch-Initiation Synchrony In Ring-Billed Gulls ( Larus Delawarensis).
- Authors
Sandler, Amanda G.; Megna, Libby C.; Hayward, James L.; Henson, Shandelle M.; Tkachuck, Cynthia M.; Tkachuck, Richard D.
- Abstract
Fraser Darling suggested that reproductive synchrony enhances reproductive success of colonial seabirds as a result of predator satiation. However, the cost of yearly reproductive synchrony is high for colonial species for which intraspecific predation is the primary cause of egg and chick loss. A few studies indicate that egg-laying synchrony on a daily time scale within the annual breeding pulse may be an adaptive response to intraspecific predation. Here, we report every-other-day clutch-initiation synchrony in densely nesting cohorts of Ring-billed Gulls ( Larus delawarensis). This is the second known case of clutch-initiation synchrony on a daily time scale in larids, the first being for Glaucous-winged Gulls ( L. glaucescens). In both Ring-billed Gulls and Glaucous-winged Gulls, the degree of clutch-initiation synchrony is inversely related to nearest neighbor distance. Further studies are needed to test whether clutch-initiation synchrony in Ring-billed Gulls is adaptive in the presence of cannibalism, or if it is simply a neutral byproduct of colonial nesting.
- Subjects
RING-billed gull; SYNCHRONIC order; COLONIAL birds; EGGS; BREEDING; CANNIBALISM; DARLING, Frank Fraser
- Publication
Wilson Journal of Ornithology, 2016, Vol 128, Issue 4, p760
- ISSN
1559-4491
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1676/15-121.1