Female winter foraging is also
critical to puffin pair breeding success
Date: April 7, 2017
Source: University of Oxford
Puffin pairs that follow similar
migration routes breed more successfully the following season, a new Oxford
University study has found.
Many long-lived birds, such as
swans, albatrosses or indeed, puffins, are known for their long-lived
monogamous, 'soulmate' pairings. Scientists have long understood that in these
species, reproductive performance is influenced by pair bond strength and
longevity, with long-established pairs usually better at rearing offspring.
However, in species like puffins which have to migrate to distant wintering
grounds during the non-breeding season, very little is known about how mates
maintain their pair-bond and behave. Do they keep in contact to maintain their
relationship? Or do they go their own way and abandon their mate until the
following spring?
The new study which features in
the April 7th 2017 edition of Marine Ecology Progress Series, focused on
whether puffin pairs stayed in contact during the winter months or instead
headed off and migrated independently, prioritising their individual health and
wellbeing, and whether this had any effect on the pairs' subsequent breeding
success.
Over the course of six years, the
team from Oxford's Department of Zoology, in collaboration with the London
Institute of Zoology, used miniature tracking devices called geolocators to
track the migratory movements and behaviour of 12 pairs of Atlantic Puffins,
breeding on Skomer Island, Pembrokeshire. They assessed if and how much pairs'
migratory strategies were related to their future breeding performance and
fitness.
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