The evolution of communal roosting in birds: origin and secondary losses |
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Authors: | Beauchamp Guy |
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Institution: | Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of
Montréal, CP 5000, St-Hyacinthe,
Québec, J2S 7C6, Canada |
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Abstract: | Three main benefits are thought to underlie communal roostingin birds: a
reduction in thermoregulation demands, a decreasein predation risk, and an
increase in foraging efficiency. Iinvestigated interspecific variation in
communal roosting tendenciesacross categories of several ecological factors
to examine therelevance of each functional hypothesis in the evolutionary
transitionto communal roosting and the secondary reversal to solitary
roostinghabits. The study phylogenetic tree included 30 families and437
species. Evolutionary transitions to communal roosting occurredmore often on
branches with flocking species and with largerspecies but were not associated
with diet, territoriality, geographicalarea, or time of day. The association
with flocking activitiessuggests that increased foraging efficiency, a factor
thoughtto operate through the formation of flocks, may have been akey factor
in the origin of avian communal roosting. However,several transitions to
communal roosting occurred on brancheswith nonflocking species, indicating
that foraging efficiencymay not be the only factor involved in the evolution
of communalroosting. Secondary losses of communal roosting habits occurredon
several branches, with a concomitant loss of flocking behaviorand a tendency
to exhibit territorial behavior and nocturnalforaging. Secondary losses
suggest that communal roosting iscostly to perform and maintain and may be
lost when an asocialselection regime operates. The large number of exceptions
tothe above patterns may force a reevaluation of current functional
hypothesesabout communal roosting in birds. |
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Keywords: | Accipitridae Anatidae birds communal roosting evolutionary reversals flocking phylogeny |
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