How to translate text using browser tools
1 December 2016 Every-Other-Day Clutch-Initiation Synchrony In Ring-Billed Gulls (Larus Delawarensis)
Amanda G. Sandler, Libby C. Megna, James L. Hayward, Shandelle M. Henson, Cynthia M. Tkachuck, Richard D. Tkachuck
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

Fraser Darling suggested that reproductive synchrony enhances reproductive success of colonial seabirds as a result of predator satiation. However, the cost of yearly reproductive synchrony is high for colonial species for which intraspecific predation is the primary cause of egg and chick loss. A few studies indicate that egg-laying synchrony on a daily time scale within the annual breeding pulse may be an adaptive response to intraspecific predation. Here, we report every-other-day clutch-initiation synchrony in densely nesting cohorts of Ring-billed Gulls (Larus delawarensis). This is the second known case of clutch-initiation synchrony on a daily time scale in larids, the first being for Glaucous-winged Gulls (L. glaucescens). In both Ring-billed Gulls and Glaucous-winged Gulls, the degree of clutch-initiation synchrony is inversely related to nearest neighbor distance. Further studies are needed to test whether clutch-initiation synchrony in Ring-billed Gulls is adaptive in the presence of cannibalism, or if it is simply a neutral byproduct of colonial nesting.

Amanda G. Sandler, Libby C. Megna, James L. Hayward, Shandelle M. Henson, Cynthia M. Tkachuck, and Richard D. Tkachuck "Every-Other-Day Clutch-Initiation Synchrony In Ring-Billed Gulls (Larus Delawarensis)," The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 128(4), 760-765, (1 December 2016). https://doi.org/10.1676/15-121.1
Received: 10 July 2015; Accepted: 1 January 2016; Published: 1 December 2016
KEYWORDS
clutch initiation
egg laying
Fraser Darling effect
Larus delawarensis
Ring-billed Gull
synchrony
RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS
Get copyright permission
Back to Top