Jones, Teri
(2020)
Individual variation in sociality and social foraging strategies in the Australasian gannet (Morus serrator).
PhD thesis, University of Liverpool.
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Abstract
Animals in groups experience both costs and benefits from social associations. For instance, sociality may increase competition and the risk of disease exposure, while conversely providing benefits of increased predator protection, foraging efficiency and access to sources of social information. Colonial species live in a particularly complex social environment, presenting significant opportunity for intraspecific social interactions. Indeed access to social information, particularly in terms of social foraging, has frequently been proposed as an important factor driving coloniality. Both colonial breeding and foraging aggregations are characteristic traits among seabird species, making them an ideal system to study aspects of social foraging in relation to colonial living. However, due to the vast size of many seabird colonies and the long distance covered during foraging, it has previously been difficult to examine the scale of such foraging aggregations, and the individual factors that drive social behaviours. By simultaneously tracking 85% of the breeding population of a colony of Australasian gannets (Morus serrator), this thesis aims to quantify the importance of sociality across multiple contexts associated with foraging. I demonstrate that individuals associate at the colony at a frequency greater than expected by chance, and that this coordination at the colony provides foraging information, as co-departing individuals share more similar initial foraging locations. Using multi-layer social network analysis, I further demonstrate that individuals vary consistently in their sociality across foraging states (colony departure, commuting, foraging and colony return), but show individual flexibility in their social associations. This work also highlights the context-dependent nature of social foraging decisions, as the use of social foraging behaviour differed with habitat choice. Lastly, I examine social foraging decisions during commuting (following) and foraging (patch joining) in the context of a producer-scrounger foraging game. I provide evidence that use of exploitative foraging strategies varies with time and space during foraging, which are expected to relate to foraging motivation and scrounging opportunity. Overall, this thesis makes the first individual level quantification of social associations during foraging in a colonial seabird, highlighting both its importance to this population and its opportunistic nature.
| Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) |
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| Divisions: | Faculty of Science and Engineering > School of Environmental Sciences |
| Depositing User: | Symplectic Admin |
| Date Deposited: | 17 Aug 2020 10:26 |
| Last Modified: | 18 Jan 2023 23:51 |
| DOI: | 10.17638/03087545 |
| Supervisors: |
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| URI: | https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3087545 |
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