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European Ornithologist's Union Conference, 2022

European Ornithologist's Union Conference, 2022

Poster presentation of my work investigating influence of personality on movement decisions in the wandering albatross. Thank you to the EOU committee for awarding me 1st prize for this poster.

Natasha Gillies

April 01, 2022
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Transcript

  1. Cont
    Personality mediates responses to wind in the wandering albatross
    Natasha Gillies, Henri Weimerskirch, Jack Thorley, Tommy Clay, Lucía Martín López, Rocio Joo, Mathieu Basille, Samantha Patrick
    Introduction
    [email protected] tash_gillies natashagillies.co.uk
    Personality influences average behaviour, but
    may also covary with behavioural plasticity –
    leading to among-individual variation in the
    flexibility of animals’ behaviour
    Emerging evidence that boldness correlates
    with plasticity
    Less plastic
    More plastic
    Wandering albatrosses are highly sensitive to wind
    conditions in their foraging movements, being more likely to
    take-off and switch behaviours in strong headwinds
    Effects are stronger for males – probably due to larger size
    Responsiveness to winds helps optimise
    the efficiency of their soaring flight
    (taking off is very costly)
    But do all individuals do the same thing?
    Predictions:
    1. Bold birds will be less responsive to wind,
    prioritising explorative behaviour in all
    wind conditions
    2. Shy birds prioritise exploitation of foraging
    patches, but adjust behaviour in response to wind
    conditions
    Do albatrosses of different personalities
    respond differently to changes in wind?
    Behavioural plasticity allows animals to flexibly
    adjust behaviour to different contexts.
    Varies between and within species
    No plasticity Plasticity Variable plasticity
    Boldness also affects foraging – bold animals
    are more explorative and competitive

    View Slide

  2. Cont
    Personality mediates responses to wind in the wandering albatross
    Methods
    We used Hidden Markov Models to assign
    behavioural states to 11 years of GPS data
    collected from 294 individuals
    Used multivariate HMMs to examine interactive
    effect of personality and wind conditions on:
    1. Time-budgets
    2. Probability of switching between behaviour
    [email protected] tash_gillies natashagillies.co.uk
    Boldness
    Boldness is repeatable in wandering albatrosses and
    known to affect foraging behaviours
    Characterised by assaying response to approach of
    human observer
    More responsive
    Less responsive
    Hidden Markov Models
    HMMs characterise behaviour based on step
    length and turning angle of each GPS fix. These
    were applied over entire foraging trips to
    identify behaviour and transitions between
    behavioural states
    We examined how probability of transitioning
    between behaviours varied with wind speed
    and direction and as a function of boldness
    Natasha Gillies, Henri Weimerskirch, Jack Thorley, Tommy Clay, Lucía Martín López, Rocio Joo, Mathieu Basille, Samantha Patrick

    View Slide

  3. Cont
    Personality mediates responses to wind in the wandering albatross
    Bold explorers prioritise travel;
    shy exploiters prioritise search
    Shy birds are more responsive
    Results
    [email protected] tash_gillies
    Bold individuals
    prioritise travel &
    have consistent
    time budget
    regardless of wind
    speed
    Shy were more likely to transition to travel in strong
    winds, bold bird largely insensitive
    Bold birds decreasingly likely to switch to search in
    strong winds, shy birds largely insensitive
    natashagillies.co.uk
    Effects were
    stronger for males,
    but could not be
    attributed to
    personality-specific
    morphology
    Shy birds prioritise
    search, and travel
    only in strong
    headwinds
    Probability of
    switching from
    search to travel with
    increasing
    headwinds (ms-1)
    Probability of
    switching from
    travel to search with
    increasing
    headwinds (ms-1)
    Natasha Gillies, Henri Weimerskirch, Jack Thorley, Tommy Clay, Lucía Martín López, Rocio Joo, Mathieu Basille, Samantha Patrick
    Proportion of time
    spent in behaviour
    for increasing
    headwind (ms-1)
    Body mass (g) against
    boldness for males (purple)
    and females (yellow)

    View Slide

  4. Cont
    Personality mediates responses to wind in the wandering albatross
    Implications
    Wind has profound influences on
    albatross behaviour, but these
    depend on personality.
    Understanding the responses of
    seabirds to environmental
    change may benefit from
    consideration of personality.
    [email protected] tash_gillies natashagillies.co.uk
    Discussion
    We found shy birds were more responsive in their
    behavioural adjustment to winds: prioritising search in weak
    winds, and travel in strong winds. Bold birds prioritised travel
    in all conditions.
    This matches previous findings that shy birds prefer
    exploitative foraging (indicated by search behaviour), bold
    birds prefer explorative foraging (indicated by travel).
    Why does personality matter?
    Shy individuals may value information about
    the environment more highly. Allows them to exhibit
    targeted behaviour and gain consistent rewards but
    requires time & energy investment to acquire information.
    Bold individuals may avoid costs of gaining information by
    acting less responsively, but gain more variable rewards as
    a consequence.
    Our results may reflect differences in the perceived value of
    information according to boldness
    Birds of both personality types converged on
    travel in strong headwinds – optimal for
    movement and therefore low-cost.
    Suggests that when conditions are good,
    perceived costs and benefits of different
    personalities converge on same strategy
    In poor conditions, expect behavioural
    differences among individuals to exacerbate
    Summary
    Natasha Gillies, Henri Weimerskirch, Jack Thorley, Tommy Clay, Lucía Martín López, Rocio Joo, Mathieu Basille, Samantha Patrick

    View Slide