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Article Dans Une Revue Biology Letters Année : 2015

Mates but not sexes differ in migratory niche in a monogamous penguin species

Résumé

Strong pair bonds generally increase fitness in monogamous organisms, but may also underlie the risk of hampering it when re-pairing fails after the winter season. We investigated whether partners would either maintain contact or offset this risk by exploiting sex-specific favourable niches during winter in a migratory monogamous seabird, the southern rockhopper penguin Eudyptes chrysocome. Using light-based geolocation,we showthat although the spatial distribution of both sexes largely overlapped, pair-wise mates were located on average 595+260 km (and up to 2500 km) apart during winter. Stable isotope data also indicated a marked overlap between sex-specific isotopic niches (d13C and d15N values) but a segregation of the feeding habitats (d13C values) within pairs. Importantly, the tracked females remained longer (12 days) at sea than males, but all re-mated with their previous partners after winter. Our study provides multiple evidence that migratory species maywell demonstrate pair-wise segregation even in the absence of sex-specific winter niches (spatial and isotopic).We suggest that dispersive migration patterns with sex-biased timings may be a sufficient proximal cause for generating such a situation in migratory animals.

Dates et versions

hal-01285504 , version 1 (09-03-2016)

Identifiants

Citer

Jean-Baptiste Thiebot, Charles-André Bost, Nina Dehnhard, Laurent Demongin, Marcel Eens, et al.. Mates but not sexes differ in migratory niche in a monogamous penguin species. Biology Letters, 2015, 11, pp.20150429. ⟨10.1098/rsbl.2015.0429⟩. ⟨hal-01285504⟩
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