Prospecting in a solitary breeder: chick production elicits territorial intrusions in common loons |
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| Authors: | Piper, Walter H. Walcott, Charles Mager, John N., III Perala, Margaret Tischler, Keren B. Harrington, Erin Turcotte, Amy J. Schwabenlander, Marc Banfield, Nathan |
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| Affiliation: | a Department of Biological Sciences, Chapman University, Orange, CA 92866, USA b Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Seeley Mudd Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA c Great Lakes Aquarium, 353 Harbor Drive, Duluth, MN 55802, USA d Department of Biological Sciences, Michigan Technological University, 1400 Townsend Drive, Dow 740, Houghton, MI 49931, USA e School of Natural Resources and Environment, Dana Building, University of Michigan, 430 East University, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA f Frito-Lay, Inc., Research Specialist, 4295 Tenderfoot Road, Rhinelander, WI 54501, USA g Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, University of Minnesota, 1333 Gortner Avenue, St Paul, MN 55108, USA h Rainbow Circle, Montgomery City, MO 63361, USA |
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| Abstract: | In many species, young animals learn about various breedingpatches in one year and use what they have learned to settlein a promising patch the next. Common loons (Gavia immer) seemgood candidates for such prospecting as prebreeders and displacedbreeders intrude frequently into breeding territories defendedby monogamous pairs yet engage in no extrapair copulations.We tested 3 hypotheses for prospecting in loons. The permanentattributes hypothesis gained little support as we found no consistentdifferences in quality between territories and no physical orbiotic trait that predicted reproductive success in a territory.We found some support for the conspecific attraction hypothesisas intruders were attracted to conspecifics in a lake in theshort term; however, intrusions were not more frequent in territoriesthat had experienced regular use by a pair the previous yearthan in territories that had previously been vacant. Instead,the increase in intrusion rate after a year of chick productionsupported the habitat-copying hypothesis, which states thatfloaters use the presence of chicks as a cue to target territoriesfor future attempts at territorial takeover. Despite this systemof prospecting, founding of new territories was common. Onestriking finding was the tendency of territorial breeders toconceal chicks from flying intruders, perhaps to avoid futureterritorial takeover. |
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| Keywords: | common loon floater habitat copying prospecting territory. |
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