<p>Individual behavioural consistency has been identified throughout the animal kingdom and is commonly observed in foraging behaviour. Foraging consistency has been linked to several extrinsic (e.g., prey availability) and intrinsic factors (e.g., age, sex), including animal personality, and can influence fitness. We investigated consistency in the foraging trip characteristics (i.e., location, effort, number of dives, average dive depth) of a pursuit-diving seabird (razorbill, <i>Alca torda</i>) under varying prey availability (2019–2020, 2023), and whether these foraging trip characteristics (2023) or fledging success (2020–2023) are related to animal personality. We measured the spatial consistency of foraging trip locations and the repeatability (<i>R</i>) of foraging trip characteristics of chick-rearing razorbills (bird-borne tracking devices; 2019–2020, 2023), along with personality (docile-aggressive; observer ratings; 2021–2023), fledging success (nest monitoring; 2020–2023) and prey availability (forage fish biomass; 2019–2023) in coastal Newfoundland, Canada. Razorbill foraging locations were only spatially consistent under high prey availability, while dive depth (<i>R</i> = 0.12—0.74) and foraging trip characteristics were not repeatable (<i>R</i> = 0.00—0.25) regardless of prey context. Personality was not related to foraging trip characteristics in one year (2023) or fledging success across years, despite annually varying prey availability. Overall, these results highlight the importance of accounting for varying prey availability when investigating consistency in foraging behaviour, and that individuals with differing personality may have similar reproductive success across varying prey conditions.</p>

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Individual consistency in foraging behaviour is influenced by prey availability in a breeding seabird

  • Matthew J. Legard,
  • Lauren Lescure,
  • Gail K. Davoren

摘要

Individual behavioural consistency has been identified throughout the animal kingdom and is commonly observed in foraging behaviour. Foraging consistency has been linked to several extrinsic (e.g., prey availability) and intrinsic factors (e.g., age, sex), including animal personality, and can influence fitness. We investigated consistency in the foraging trip characteristics (i.e., location, effort, number of dives, average dive depth) of a pursuit-diving seabird (razorbill, Alca torda) under varying prey availability (2019–2020, 2023), and whether these foraging trip characteristics (2023) or fledging success (2020–2023) are related to animal personality. We measured the spatial consistency of foraging trip locations and the repeatability (R) of foraging trip characteristics of chick-rearing razorbills (bird-borne tracking devices; 2019–2020, 2023), along with personality (docile-aggressive; observer ratings; 2021–2023), fledging success (nest monitoring; 2020–2023) and prey availability (forage fish biomass; 2019–2023) in coastal Newfoundland, Canada. Razorbill foraging locations were only spatially consistent under high prey availability, while dive depth (R = 0.12—0.74) and foraging trip characteristics were not repeatable (R = 0.00—0.25) regardless of prey context. Personality was not related to foraging trip characteristics in one year (2023) or fledging success across years, despite annually varying prey availability. Overall, these results highlight the importance of accounting for varying prey availability when investigating consistency in foraging behaviour, and that individuals with differing personality may have similar reproductive success across varying prey conditions.