Pre-laying climatic cues can time reproduction to optimally match offspring hatching and ice conditions in an Arctic marine bird.

Oecologia
Oliver P LoveJoël Bêty

Abstract

Individuals breeding in seasonal environments are under strong selection to time reproduction to match offspring demand and the quality of the post-natal environment. Timing requires both the ability to accurately interpret the appropriate environmental cues, and the flexibility to respond to inter-annual variation in these cues. Determining which cues are linked to reproductive timing, what these cues are predicting and understanding the fitness consequences of variation in timing, is therefore of paramount interest to evolutionary and applied ecologists, especially in the face of global climate change. We investigated inter-annual relationships between climatic variation and the timing of reproduction in Canada's largest breeding population of Arctic common eiders (Somateria mollissima) in East Bay, Nunavut. Warmer spring temperatures predicted both earlier mean annual laying dates and the earlier ice-free conditions required by ducklings for post-natal growth. Warmer springs had higher variation in this temperature cue, and the population laying distribution became increasingly positively-skewed in warmer summers, potentially indicating that more low-quality females had the opportunity to commence laying in warmer years. Fem...Continue Reading

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Citations

Jun 21, 2013·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Line S Cordes, Paul M Thompson
Jun 28, 2013·PloS One·Jón Einar JónssonTómas Grétar Gunnarsson
Aug 29, 2014·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Phillip GienappMarcel E Visser
Feb 1, 2013·The Journal of Animal Ecology·David T IlesDavid N Koons
Apr 29, 2015·General and Comparative Endocrinology·Rolanda J SteenwegOliver P Love
Nov 21, 2014·Oecologia·Holly L HenninOliver P Love
May 26, 2018·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Dale F DeNardoRoger Repp
Apr 14, 2017·Royal Society Open Science·Isabeau PratteMark L Mallory
Jul 5, 2017·Scientific Reports·Francisco RamírezSébastien Descamps
Apr 3, 2019·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Kathryn E HarganJules M Blais
Jan 15, 2021·Scientific Reports·Jacintha G B van DijkCatherine Soos
Apr 20, 2021·Royal Society Open Science·Patrick M JagielskiChristina A D Semeniuk

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