Luck and tactics in foraging success: the case of the imperial shag

Wilson, Rory; Holton, Mark; Neate, Andrew; Del’Caño, M; Quintana, F; Yoda, K; Gómez-Laich, A

doi:10.3354/meps13967

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Luck and tactics in foraging success: the case of the imperial shag

Rory Wilson

, Mark Holton

, Andrew Neate, M Del’Caño, F Quintana, K Yoda, A Gómez-Laich

Marine Ecology Progress Series, Volume: 682, Pages: 1 - 12

Swansea University Authors: Rory Wilson , Mark Holton , Andrew Neate

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DOI (Published version): 10.3354/meps13967

Abstract

It has been proposed that predators searching for prey acquire food according to a probabilistic framework, where success is based on ‘luck’ and the odds of success vary with prey abundance. If true, this has major ramifications for variation in the rates of energy acquisition within animal populati...

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Published in:	Marine Ecology Progress Series
ISSN:	0171-8630 1616-1599
Published:	Inter-Research Science Center 2022
Online Access:	Check full text
URI:	https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa58851
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We also noted considerable inter-individual differences in foraging success that far exceeded any differences between empirical and theoretical inter-prey acquisition time distributions. The data were used in a probabilistic foraging model that made explicit the mechanistic link between random prey encounters and food-dependent breeding success. This indicated that our ‘less lucky’ individuals could not provision their brood at rates commensurate with normal growth while the ‘lucky’ birds could do so easily. Given the nature of food encounter in our cormorants, coupled with substantial inter-bird variation in foraging success, we suggest that more successful individuals are particularly choosey about when, how and where to forage, which results in them operating with higher odds of success.</abstract><type>Journal Article</type><journal>Marine Ecology Progress Series</journal><volume>682</volume><journalNumber/><paginationStart>1</paginationStart><paginationEnd>12</paginationEnd><publisher>Inter-Research Science Center</publisher><placeOfPublication/><isbnPrint/><isbnElectronic/><issnPrint>0171-8630</issnPrint><issnElectronic>1616-1599</issnElectronic><keywords>Leucocarbo atriceps; Cormorant; Foraging ecology; Gambling; Probability of food encounter; Tactics</keywords><publishedDay>20</publishedDay><publishedMonth>1</publishedMonth><publishedYear>2022</publishedYear><publishedDate>2022-01-20</publishedDate><doi>10.3354/meps13967</doi><url/><notes/><college>COLLEGE NANME</college><department>Biosciences</department><CollegeCode>COLLEGE CODE</CollegeCode><DepartmentCode>SBI</DepartmentCode><institution>Swansea University</institution><apcterm/><funders>This study was funded by the Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (PICT 2013 − 1229) and by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI (Grant Number JP16H06541 and JP16H01769).</funders><lastEdited>2022-02-11T14:58:48.4633541</lastEdited><Created>2021-11-29T21:03:42.5200775</Created><path><level id="1">Faculty of Science and Engineering</level><level id="2">School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences</level></path><authors><author><firstname>Rory</firstname><surname>Wilson</surname><orcid>0000-0003-3177-0177</orcid><order>1</order></author><author><firstname>Mark</firstname><surname>Holton</surname><orcid>0000-0001-8834-3283</orcid><order>2</order></author><author><firstname>Andrew</firstname><surname>Neate</surname><order>3</order></author><author><firstname>M</firstname><surname>Del’Caño</surname><order>4</order></author><author><firstname>F</firstname><surname>Quintana</surname><order>5</order></author><author><firstname>K</firstname><surname>Yoda</surname><order>6</order></author><author><firstname>A</firstname><surname>Gómez-Laich</surname><order>7</order></author></authors><documents><document><filename>58851__22359__e0a58f41327f4dbebaaf1d78b7e7e83a.pdf</filename><originalFilename>58851.pdf</originalFilename><uploaded>2022-02-11T14:54:48.2396097</uploaded><type>Output</type><contentLength>1600244</contentLength><contentType>application/pdf</contentType><version>Version of Record</version><cronfaStatus>true</cronfaStatus><documentNotes>© The authors 2022. 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spelling	2022-02-11T14:58:48.4633541 v2 58851 2021-11-29 Luck and tactics in foraging success: the case of the imperial shag 017bc6dd155098860945dc6249c4e9bc 0000-0003-3177-0177 Rory Wilson Rory Wilson true false 0e1d89d0cc934a740dcd0a873aed178e 0000-0001-8834-3283 Mark Holton Mark Holton true false 9d42d20aba1cff6eaf507ea6f0134868 Andrew Neate Andrew Neate true false 2021-11-29 SBI It has been proposed that predators searching for prey acquire food according to a probabilistic framework, where success is based on ‘luck’ and the odds of success vary with prey abundance. If true, this has major ramifications for variation in the rates of energy acquisition within animal populations, which is particularly pertinent in offspring provisioning and breeding success because smaller animals (the young) cannot starve for as long as the adults. However, despite much general speculation about rates of food acquisition, no-one has measured whether food encounter is probabilistic in wild animals. We used animal-mounted cameras to document all prey captures by wild Imperial shags Leucocarbo atriceps as they hunted underwater and show that, although they mostly do not have inter-prey acquisition time distributions that accord with a ‘luck-based’ framework assuming a constant probability of finding prey over time, there is no difference in the amount of food predicted captured between models that use the empirical data or theoretical Poisson-based fits of the data. We also noted considerable inter-individual differences in foraging success that far exceeded any differences between empirical and theoretical inter-prey acquisition time distributions. The data were used in a probabilistic foraging model that made explicit the mechanistic link between random prey encounters and food-dependent breeding success. This indicated that our ‘less lucky’ individuals could not provision their brood at rates commensurate with normal growth while the ‘lucky’ birds could do so easily. Given the nature of food encounter in our cormorants, coupled with substantial inter-bird variation in foraging success, we suggest that more successful individuals are particularly choosey about when, how and where to forage, which results in them operating with higher odds of success. Journal Article Marine Ecology Progress Series 682 1 12 Inter-Research Science Center 0171-8630 1616-1599 Leucocarbo atriceps; Cormorant; Foraging ecology; Gambling; Probability of food encounter; Tactics 20 1 2022 2022-01-20 10.3354/meps13967 COLLEGE NANME Biosciences COLLEGE CODE SBI Swansea University This study was funded by the Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (PICT 2013 − 1229) and by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI (Grant Number JP16H06541 and JP16H01769). 2022-02-11T14:58:48.4633541 2021-11-29T21:03:42.5200775 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences Rory Wilson 0000-0003-3177-0177 1 Mark Holton 0000-0001-8834-3283 2 Andrew Neate 3 M Del’Caño 4 F Quintana 5 K Yoda 6 A Gómez-Laich 7 58851__22359__e0a58f41327f4dbebaaf1d78b7e7e83a.pdf 58851.pdf 2022-02-11T14:54:48.2396097 Output 1600244 application/pdf Version of Record true © The authors 2022. Open Access under Creative Commons by Attribution Licence true eng https://www.int-res.com/journals/open-access/
title	Luck and tactics in foraging success: the case of the imperial shag
spellingShingle	Luck and tactics in foraging success: the case of the imperial shag Rory Wilson Mark Holton Andrew Neate
title_short	Luck and tactics in foraging success: the case of the imperial shag
title_full	Luck and tactics in foraging success: the case of the imperial shag
title_fullStr	Luck and tactics in foraging success: the case of the imperial shag
title_full_unstemmed	Luck and tactics in foraging success: the case of the imperial shag
title_sort	Luck and tactics in foraging success: the case of the imperial shag
author_id_str_mv	017bc6dd155098860945dc6249c4e9bc 0e1d89d0cc934a740dcd0a873aed178e 9d42d20aba1cff6eaf507ea6f0134868
author_id_fullname_str_mv	017bc6dd155098860945dc6249c4e9bc_*_Rory Wilson 0e1d89d0cc934a740dcd0a873aed178e__Mark Holton 9d42d20aba1cff6eaf507ea6f0134868_**_Andrew Neate
author	Rory Wilson Mark Holton Andrew Neate
author2	Rory Wilson Mark Holton Andrew Neate M Del’Caño F Quintana K Yoda A Gómez-Laich
format	Journal article
container_title	Marine Ecology Progress Series
container_volume	682
container_start_page	1
publishDate	2022
institution	Swansea University
issn	0171-8630 1616-1599
doi_str_mv	10.3354/meps13967
publisher	Inter-Research Science Center
college_str	Faculty of Science and Engineering
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hierarchy_parent_title	Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str	School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences
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description	It has been proposed that predators searching for prey acquire food according to a probabilistic framework, where success is based on ‘luck’ and the odds of success vary with prey abundance. If true, this has major ramifications for variation in the rates of energy acquisition within animal populations, which is particularly pertinent in offspring provisioning and breeding success because smaller animals (the young) cannot starve for as long as the adults. However, despite much general speculation about rates of food acquisition, no-one has measured whether food encounter is probabilistic in wild animals. We used animal-mounted cameras to document all prey captures by wild Imperial shags Leucocarbo atriceps as they hunted underwater and show that, although they mostly do not have inter-prey acquisition time distributions that accord with a ‘luck-based’ framework assuming a constant probability of finding prey over time, there is no difference in the amount of food predicted captured between models that use the empirical data or theoretical Poisson-based fits of the data. We also noted considerable inter-individual differences in foraging success that far exceeded any differences between empirical and theoretical inter-prey acquisition time distributions. The data were used in a probabilistic foraging model that made explicit the mechanistic link between random prey encounters and food-dependent breeding success. This indicated that our ‘less lucky’ individuals could not provision their brood at rates commensurate with normal growth while the ‘lucky’ birds could do so easily. Given the nature of food encounter in our cormorants, coupled with substantial inter-bird variation in foraging success, we suggest that more successful individuals are particularly choosey about when, how and where to forage, which results in them operating with higher odds of success.
published_date	2022-01-20T04:15:42Z
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score	11.037581

Luck and tactics in foraging success: the case of the imperial shag

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