T. Kurt Kyser

Tropical Winter Habitat Limits Reproductive Success on the Temperate Breeding Grounds in a Migratory Bird

Identifying the factors that control population dynamics in migratory animals has been constrained by our inability to track individuals throughout the annual cycle. Using stable carbon isotopes, we show that the reproductive success of a long‐distance migratory bird is influenced by the quality of habitat located thousands of kilometres away on tropical wintering grounds. For male American redstarts (Setophaga ruticilla), winter habitat quality influenced arrival date on the breeding grounds, which in turn affected key variables associated with reproduction, including the number of young fledged. Based on a winter‐habitat model, females occupying high‐quality winter habitat were predicted to produce more than two additional young and to fledge offspring up to a month earlier compared with females wintering in poor‐quality habitat. Differences of this magnitude are highly important considering redstarts are single brooded, lay clutches of only three to five eggs and spend only two‐and‐a‐half months on the breeding grounds. Results from this study indicate the importance of understanding how periods of the annual cycle interact for migratory animals. Continued loss of tropical wintering habitat could have negative effects on migratory populations in the following breeding season, minimizing density‐dependent effects on the breeding grounds and leading to further population declines. If conservation efforts are to be successful, strategies must incorporate measures to protect all the habitats used during the entire annual cycle of migratory animals.

Carry‐over effects in a Pacific seabird: stable isotope evidence that pre‐breeding diet quality influences reproductive success

1. Understanding the interactions between different periods of the annual cycle in migratory animals has been constrained by our inability to track individuals across seasons. In seabirds, virtually nothing is known about how diet quality during the non-breeding period, away from the breeding grounds, might influence subsequent reproductive success. 2. We used stable nitrogen (delta(15)N) and carbon (delta(13)C) isotopes to evaluate the effects of non-breeding diet quality on the timing of breeding and egg size in a population of Cassins auklets (Ptychoramphus aleuticus) breeding on Triangle Island, British Columbia. Adult feathers are grown during two different periods of the annual cycle, which allowed us to estimate diet quality from the previous fall (October-November) and pre-breeding (February-March) period. 3. We found that the estimated proportion of energetically superior copepods (Neocalanus spp.) in the pre-breeding diet tended to be higher in females that bred earlier and laid larger eggs, whereas energetically poor juvenile rockfish (Sebastes spp.) were dominant in the pre-breeding diets of females that bred later and laid smaller eggs. We detected no effect of fall diet quality on breeding date or egg size, and no effect of pre-breeding diet quality on breeding date in males. 4. Pre-breeding diet quality was not related to body condition measured 1-2 days after laying, which suggests that females may need to attain a threshold condition before they initiate breeding and successfully rear young. 5. Our results suggest that changes in climatic conditions during the pre-breeding period may have severe consequences for reproductive success by influencing breeding date and egg size. Our work emphasizes the importance of determining how events are linked throughout the annual cycle for understanding the fitness and population dynamics of migratory animals.

Non-breeding season events influence sexual selection in a long-distance migratory bird

The study of sexual selection has traditionally focused on events and behaviours immediately surrounding copulation. In this study, we examine whether carry-over effects from the non-breeding season can influence the process of sexual selection in a long-distance migratory bird, the American redstart (Setophaga ruticilla). Previous work on American redstarts demonstrated that overwintering in a high-quality habitat influences spring departure dates from the wintering grounds, advances arrival dates on the breeding grounds and increases apparent reproductive success. We show that the mixed-mating strategy of American redstarts compounds the benefits of overwintering in high-quality winter habitats. Males arriving to breed in Canada from high-quality winter habitats arrive earlier than males from poor-quality habitats, resulting in a lower probability of paternity loss, a higher probability of achieving polygyny and ultimately higher realized reproductive success. Such results suggest that the process of sexual selection may be influenced by events interacting throughout the annual cycle.

Natal dispersal driven by environmental conditions interacting across the annual cycle of a migratory songbird

Natal dispersal, the process through which immature individuals permanently depart their natal area in search of new sites, is integral to the ecology and evolution of animals. Insights about the underlying causes of natal dispersal arise mainly from research on species whose short dispersal distances or restricted distributions make them relatively easy to track. However, for small migratory animals, the causes of natal dispersal remain poorly understood because individuals are nearly impossible to track by using conventional mark–recapture approaches. Using stable-hydrogen isotope ratios in feathers of American redstarts (Setophaga ruticilla) captured as immature birds and again as adults, we show that habitat use during the first tropical nonbreeding season appears to interact with latitudinal gradients in spring phenology on the temperate breeding grounds to influence the distance traveled on the initial spring migration and the direction of natal dispersal. In contrast, adult redstarts showed considerable site fidelity between breeding seasons, indicating that environmental conditions did not affect dispersal patterns after the first breeding attempt. Our findings suggest that habitat occupancy during the first nonbreeding season helps determine the latitude at which this species of Neotropical–Nearctic migratory bird breeds throughout its life and emphasize the need to understand how events throughout the annual cycle interact to shape fundamental biological processes.

Herbivory in a spider through exploitation of an ant–plant mutualism

Spiders are thought to be strict predators. We describe a novel exception: Bagheera kiplingi, a Neotropical jumping spider (Salticidae) that exploits a well-studied ant-plant mutualism, is predominantly herbivorous. From behavioral field observations and stable-isotope analyses, we show that the main diet of this host-specific spider comprises specialized leaf tips (Beltian food bodies; Figure 1A) from Vachellia spp. ant-acacias (formerly Acacia spp.), structures traded for protection in the plants coevolved mutualism with Pseudomyrmex spp. ants that inhabit its hollow thorns. This is the first report of a spider that feeds primarily and deliberately on plants.

Evolving mineralogy of cheilostome bryozoans

Abstract Cheilostomes dominate bryozoan faunas today and are the only order of bryozoans to have evolved aragonitic, calcitic, and bimineralic skeletons. New XRD analyses of 177 recent species and 34 Cretaceous–Eocene species are combined with published data to probe the mineralogical evolution of cheilostomes. This is undertaken with particular reference to the effects of the late Paleogene transition from calcite to aragonite seas believed to have been driven by the increasing Mg/Ca ratio in seawater. Aragonite was absent from all of the Cretaceous and Paleocene cheilostomes analyzed, even though most came from deposits preserving aragonitic mollusk shells, but was detected in four distantly related cheilostomes from the middle Eocene (Lutetian). Examples of cheilostomes preserved as partial molds, however, suggests that bimineralic species with aragonitic outer skeletal layers may have originated as early as the Maastrichtian. A strong latitudinal gradient was evident in cheilostome mineralogy, with the proportion of aragonitic and bimineralic recent species increasing towards the tropics. Unfortunately, relatively few low-latitude bryozoans have been described from the Cretaceous and Cenozoic fossil record, where aragonitic species are likely to be most numerous and may have their oldest occurrences. A combined database of cheilostome mineralogy shows aragonite to be widely distributed across Cheilostomata, occurring in numerous genera and families belonging to the three most diverse subgroups (Flustrina, Umbonulomorpha, and Lepraliomorpha) as well as one genus of Malacostegina. In spite of the lack of a robust phylogeny for cheilostomes, it is clear that aragonite has evolved independently on multiple occasions, the earliest acquisitions antedating the onset of aragonite seas, although apparently accelerating after this transition.

Geographic Variation of Strontium and Hydrogen Isotopes in Avian Tissue: Implications for Tracking Migration and Dispersal

Background Isotopes can provide unique solutions to fundamental problems related to the ecology and evolution of migration and dispersal because prior movements of individuals can theoretically be tracked from tissues collected from a single capture. However, there is still remarkably little information available about how and why isotopes vary in wild animal tissues, especially over large spatial scales. Methodology/Principal Findings Here, we describe variation in both stable-hydrogen (δDF) and strontium (87Sr/86SrF) isotopic compositions in the feathers of a migratory songbird, the Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor), across 18 sampling sites in North America and then examine potential mechanisms driving this variation. We found that δDF was correlated with latitude of the sampling site, whereas 87Sr/86SrF was correlated with longitude. δDF was related to δD of meteoric waters where molting occurred and 87Sr/86SrF was influenced primarily by the geology in the area where feathers were grown. Using simulation models, we then assessed the utility of combining both markers to estimate the origin of individuals. Using 13 geographic regions, we found that the number of individuals correctly assigned to their site of origin increased from less than 40% using either δD or 87Sr/86Sr alone to 74% using both isotopes. Conclusions/Significance Our results suggest that these isotopes have the potential to provide predictable and complementary markers for estimating long-distance animal movements. Combining isotopes influenced by different global-scale processes may allow researchers to link the population dynamics of animals across large geographic ranges.

Changing gull diet in a changing world: A 150‐year stable isotope (δ13C, δ15N) record from feathers collected in the Pacific Northwest of North America

The worlds oceans have undergone significant ecological changes following European colonial expansion and associated industrialization. Seabirds are useful indicators of marine food web structure and can be used to track multidecadal environmental change, potentially reflecting long-term human impacts. We used stable isotope (δ(13)C, δ(15)N) analysis of feathers from glaucous-winged gulls (Larus glaucescens) in a heavily disturbed region of the northeast Pacific to ask whether diets of this generalist forager changed in response to shifts in food availability over 150 years, and whether any detected change might explain long-term trends in gull abundance. Sampled feathers came from birds collected between 1860 and 2009 at nesting colonies in the Salish Sea, a transboundary marine system adjacent to Washington, USA and British Columbia, Canada. To determine whether temporal trends in stable isotope ratios might simply reflect changes to baseline environmental values, we also analysed muscle tissue from forage fishes collected in the same region over a multidecadal timeframe. Values of δ(13)C and δ(15)N declined since 1860 in both subadult and adult gulls (δ(13)C, ~ 2-6‰; δ(15)N, ~4-5‰), indicating that their diet has become less marine over time, and that birds now feed at a lower trophic level than previously. Conversely, forage fish δ(13)C and δ(15)N values showed no trends, supporting our conclusion that gull feather values were indicative of declines in marine food availability rather than of baseline environmental change. Gradual declines in feather isotope values are consistent with trends predicted had gulls consumed less fish over time, but were equivocal with respect to whether gulls had switched to a more garbage-based diet, or one comprising marine invertebrates. Nevertheless, our results suggest a long-term decrease in diet quality linked to declining fish abundance or other anthropogenic influences, and may help to explain regional population declines in this species and other piscivores.

Variability in the growth patterns of the cornified claw sheath among vertebrates: implications for using biogeochemistry to study animal movement

We review the role of biogeochemical signatures, such as stable isotopes and trace elements, in the cornified claw tissue as a means of studying movement and foraging behaviour of vertebrates because this approach is noninvasive and can capture contemporary and historic signatures. Because biogeochemical techniques are still relatively new in studies of animal movement, we are only beginning to understand how the growth patterns of the cornified claw sheath may affect our ability to interpret the biogeochemical signals in these tissues. To move towards resolving this, we review the morphology of the epidermal cornified claw sheath in several taxa that illustrate substantial variation in growth patterns both between taxa and between individual distinct claw regions. For instance, in mammalian claws, deposition of keratinizing cells from the epidermis is nonlinear because the claw tip is composed of old and new cornified epidermal cells, whereas the cornified blade horn covering the claw’s lateral walls is ...

Migratory Connectivity and Rate of Population Decline in a Vulnerable Songbird

Abstract It has been hypothesized that populations that are strongly connected between two periods of the year (i.e., individuals that breed in similar locations and also spend the nonbreeding season in similar locations) will be most vulnerable to population perturbations. Using stable-hydrogen isotopes in feathers and data from the North American Breeding Bird Survey, we examined this hypothesis for a vulnerable songbird, the Cerulean Warbler (Dendroica cerulea). Cerulean Warblers exhibit a parallel migration system, whereby western breeding populations are generally connected to southwestern wintering sites and eastern breeding populations are generally connected to northeastern wintering sites. As predicted, breeding populations that exhibited the strongest degree of migratory connectivity with a specific wintering region were also those populations that experienced the most severe declines over the past 40 years. Our results suggest that the strength of migratory connectivity should be an important factor when making resource-allocation decisions for the management and conservation of migratory species.