Schjørring S, Gregersen J, Bregnballe T
Department of Zoology, University of Aarhus
Anim Behav. 1999 Mar;57(3):647-654. doi: 10.1006/anbe.1998.0993.
In many species of colonial seabirds, young birds visit colonies in the years before they start breeding. This prospecting behaviour may allow them to obtain information that could enhance their future breeding success. We examined the reproductive consequences of prospecting behaviour in the colonial great cormorant, and found support for this idea. New breeders that had been prospecting actively in the previous year obtained breeding sites of higher quality (i.e. closer to sites where conspecifics had fledged young in the previous year) and had higher breeding success than those that had been less active. Prospecting occurred mostly late in the breeding season, and coincided with the time when the majority of the eggs had hatched but before the chicks started fledging, that is, when breeding success in the colony reflected habitat suitability. These results are thus consistent with the use of conspecific reproductive performance as a cue for the quality of a breeding habitat as expected from the 'performance-based conspecific attraction hypothesis'. Copyright 1999 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.
在许多群居海鸟物种中，幼鸟在开始繁殖前的几年会到访繁殖地。这种探察行为可能使它们获取有助于提高未来繁殖成功率的信息。我们研究了群居的普通鸬鹚探察行为对繁殖的影响，结果支持了这一观点。上一年积极进行探察的新繁殖者获得了质量更高的繁殖地点（即更靠近上一年有同物种幼鸟成功离巢的地点），并且繁殖成功率高于那些活跃度较低的繁殖者。探察行为大多发生在繁殖季节后期，与大多数卵已孵化但幼鸟尚未开始离巢的时间相吻合，也就是说，此时繁殖地的繁殖成功率反映了栖息地的适宜性。因此，这些结果与“基于表现的同物种吸引假说”所预期的利用同物种繁殖表现作为繁殖栖息地质量线索的情况相符。版权所有1999动物行为研究协会。
