Background


The 'kittiwake project' conducted in Brittany (France) is a long-term study based on individually marked birds (mostly of known age). The initial motivation was to take advantage of the local context (see below) to address questions about the relationships between individual behavior and population dynamics, more precisely the dynamics of subdivided populations. The species is not of conservation concern, but the Brittany "population" is relatively small. Kittiwakes aren't harvested in France. Conservation or management issues weren't the initial motivation. However, the species (breeding in dense colonies, on vertical cliffs), and the relatively small Brittany "population" formed favorable conditions for studies requiring detailed data on individual behavior and reproductive "trajectory" (history). These favorable conditions permitted investigators to achieve a very high level of precision in data collection and to address questions relevant to evolutionary ecology, behavioral ecology, wildlife ecology and conservation.

The local geological configuration makes observation of birds and nests relatively easy, and access to nests as well (marking birds requires some degree of identification with a spider though...Field work). A few years of "experimentation" with different types of plastic color bands etc. have been necessary to assess the feasibility of such a study. Importantly, a reasonnably high proportion of individuals marked in the study colonies returned in the following years. The conditions were met to conduct a long term capture-mark-recapture study of a long-lived species. The majority of the data were collected in the Nature Reserve of Goulien Cap Sizun ( Société pour l'Etude et la Protection de la Nature en Bretagne; Conseil Général du Finistère)


This project was initiated in 1979 by Jean-Yves Monnat (Université de Bretagne Occidentale ). The work of the young French population biology group reflects the topics that were dominant at that time in studies of populations of marked animals (1986). These studies laid a strong emphasis on population dynamics and regulation mechanisms. Early reports and the research proposal submitted to the French Natural History Museum of Paris concerning a project based on individually marked kittiwakes in Brittany are consistent with this. The main objective was to understand the demographic mechanisms underlying contrasting local dynamics of colonies and subcolonies in the study area. Indeed, some colonies were declining rapidly and numbers in some others were increasing rapidly. Recruitment and mortality only could not account for such local dynamics. Movement of individuals among (sub)colonies was involved, as well as different degrees of "attractivity" of the different (sub)colonies, differencial recruitment of young and experienced breeders (dispersers).

Etienne Danchin ( Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris) joint the project at an early stage and addressed behavioral mechanisms underlying the dynamics of (sub)colonies. Later, other researchers addressed behavioral tactics associated with recruitment and behavioral ontogeny (Bernard Cadiou, Société pour l'Etude et la Protection de la Nature en Bretagne), or the role of ectoparasitism in the dynamics of (sub)colonies ( Tierry Boulinier, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris). Individual decisions in terms of habitat choice, habitat selection and its relationship with the dynamics of subdivided populations became the main focus of the study.

This research program relies on an unusually high field effort: the main objective is to identify the main components of individual history at every stage of life, including prebreeding stages. Importantly, the breeding status (activity and success), the breeding site and if possible the mate of every individual known to be alive and present in the study area are recorded. This effort resulted in a very high recapture probability in the main study area. As the project got progressively richer in terms of biological hypotheses addressed, the question of characterization of individual "trajectories" (histories) emerged. The corresponding questions are relevant to several theoretical frameworks, including life history theory, the evolution of reproductive effort and optimization theory, or habitat selection and its relationship with long-term reproductive tactics. The very high recapture probability permitted use of analytical approaches to estimation of fitness components seldom used with other data from wild animal populations. This opened a new perspective for the analysis of individual variation in life history traits. Current research also concerns mate selection and sexual selection ( Fabrice Helfenstein).


Some publications...

  1. Monnat, J.Y. and Danchin, E. 1986. Demography and social behaviour in a species breeding colonially: the kittiwake.Abstracts of the XIXø Congressus Internationalis Ornithologicus. Ottawa. 544
  2. Danchin, E. 1987. The behaviour associated with the occupation of breeding site in the kittiwake gull Rissa tridactyla: the social status of landing birds. Animal Behaviour, 35, pp. 81-93
  3. Danchin, E. 1987. Contexte social et comportements reproducteurs dans les colonies de mouette tridactyle Rissa tridactyla. Alauda 55: 93-111
  4. Danchin, E. 1998. Rôle des facteurs comportementaux dans les mécanismes de régulation des populations d'oiseaux coloniaux: cas de la Mouette tridactyle (Rissa tridactyla). Role of behavioural processes in the mechanisms of regulation of populations of colonial birds: case of the Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla). Thèse de Doctorat d'Etat es sciences; Université P. et M. Curie, Paris.
  5. Danchin, E. 1988. Social interactions in kittiwake colonies: social facilitation and/or favourable social environment.Animal Behaviour 36: 443-451
  6. Danchin, E. 1988. Densité des nids dans les colonies de mouettes tridactyles en déclin ou prospères ; relations avec les paramètres de reproduction.Alauda 56: 391-400
  7. Monnat, J.Y., Danchin, E., and Rodriguez Estrella, R. 1991. Evaluation de la qualité du milieu dans le cadre de la prospection et du recrutement : le squatterisme chez la mouette tridactyle. Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences, Paris, Série III 311: 391-396
  8. Danchin, E., Cadiou, B., Monnat, J.Y., and Rodrigez Estrella, R. 1991. Recruitment in long-lived birds: conceptual framework and behavioural mechanisms. Proceedings of the International Ornithological Congress 20: 1641-1656
  9. Danhin, E. 1991. Age des colonies de Mouettes tridactyles Rissa tridactyla, et infestation parasitaire par des tiques Ixodes uriae. Alauda 59: 31-33
  10. Danchin, E. 1991. Social displays of the kittiwake Rissa tridactyla.Bird Behaviour 9: 69-80
  11. Danchin, E. and Nelson, J.B. 1991. Behavioral adaptations to cliff nesting in the kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla): convergences with the gannet (Sula bassana) and the black noddy (Anous tenuirostris).Colonial Waterbirds 14: 103-107
    12. .
  12. Danchin, E. and Monnat, J.Y. 1992. Population dynamics modelling of two neighbouring kittiwake Rissa tridactyla colonies. Ardea 80: 171-180
  13. Danchin, E. 1992. The incidence of the tick parasite Ixodes uriae in kittiwake Rissa tridactyla colonies in relation to the age of the colony, and a mechanism of infecting new colonies.Ibis 134: 134-141
  14. Cadiou, B. 1993. L'accession à la reproduction: un processus social d'ontogénèse. Cas de la Mouette tridactyle (Rissa tridactyla). Thèse de l'Université de Rennes, Rennes, France
  15. Cadiou, B., Danchin, E., Monnat, J.Y. and Boulinier, T. 1993. Régulation par le recrutement, la fidélité et la non-reproduction chez un oiseau colonial, la mouette tridactyle (Rissa tridactyla).Revue d'Ecologie (Terre et Vie) 48: 163-174
  16. Danchin, E., Cadiou, B. and Boulinier, T. 1993. La régulation des populations de Mouettes tridactyles. La Recherche 256: 893-896
  17. Cadiou, B., Monnat, J.Y. and Danchin, E. 1994. Prospecting in the Kittiwake, Rissa tridactyla: different behavioural patterns and the role of squatting in recruitment. Animal Behaviour 47: 847-856
  18. Boulinier, T. 1995. Sélection de l'habitat de reproduction, facteurs environnementaux et fonctionnement des populations d'oiseaux coloniaux: Cas des interactions hôte-parasite entre la Mouette tridactyle Rissa tridactyla et la tique Ixodes uriae. Thèse de l'Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris
  19. Cadiou, B. and Monnat, J.Y. 1996. Parental attendance and squatting in the Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla during the rearing period. Bird Study 43: 164-171
  20. Boulinier, T. and Danchin, E. Population trends in kittiwake Rissa tridactyla colonies in relation to tick infestation.Ibis 138: 326-334
  21. Boulinier, T. and Lemel, J.Y. 1996. Spatial and temporal variations of factors affecting breeding habitat quality in colonial birds: some consequences for dispersal and habitat selection. Acta Oecologica 17: 531-552
  22. Boulinier, T., Danchin, E., Monnat, J. Y., Doutrelant, C. and Cadiou, B. 1996. Timing of prospecting and the value of information in a colonial breeding bird.Journal of Avian Biology 27: 252-256
  23. Boulinier, T., Sorci, G., Monnat, J.Y. and Danchin, E. 1997. Parent-offspring regression suggests heritable susceptibility to ectoparasites in a natural population of kittiwake Rissa tridactyla. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 10: 77-85
  24. Cam, E. 1997. Reproduction intermittente et corrélations phénotypiques entre composantes de la fitness. Cas de la mouette tridactyle (Rissa tridactyla). Thèse de doctorat de l'Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France.
  25. Cam, E., Hines, J.E., Monnat, J.Y., Nichols, J.D. and Danchin, E. 1998. Are adult nonbreeders prudent parents? The Kittiwake model. Ecology 79: 2917-2930
  26. Danchin, E., Boulinier, T., and Massot, M. 1998. Habitat sélection based on conspecific reproductive success: implications for the evolution of coloniality. Ecology 79: 2415-2428
  27. Cadiou, B. 1999. Attendance of breeders and prospectors reflects the quality of colonies in the Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla. Ibis 141: 321-326
  28. Cam, E. and Monnat, J.Y. 2000. Apparent inferiority in first-time breeders in the kittiwake: the role of heterogeneity among age-classes. Journal of animal Ecology 69: 380-394
  29. Cam, E. and Monnat, J.Y. 2000. Stratification based on reproductive success reveals contrasting patterns of age-related variation in demographic parameters in the kittiwake. Oikos 90: 560-574
  30. Cam, E., W.A. link, Cooch, E.G. Monnat, J.Y, Danchin, E. 2002. Individual covariation between life-history traits: seeing the trees despite the forest. American Naturalist 159: 96-105
  31. Cam, E., Cadiou, B. Hines, J., Monnat, JY. 2002. Influence of behavioral tactics on recruitment and reproductive trajectory in the Kittiwake. Journal of Applied Statistics, in presse
  32. Link, W.A., Cooch. E.G., Cam. E. 2002. Model-based estimation of individual fitness. Journal of Applied Statistics, in presse
  33. Danchin, E and Cam, E. 2002. Can nonbreeding be a cost of breeding dispersal. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 51: 153-163
  34. Link, W.A., Cam, E., and Nichols, J.D. Of BUGS and birds. 2002. Markov chain Monte Carlo for hierarchical modeling in wildlife research. Journal of Wildlife Management 66: 277-291

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