title: Space partitioning without territoriality in gannets.
abstract: Colonial breeding is widespread among animals. Some, such as eusocial insects, may use agonistic behavior to partition available foraging habitat into mutually exclusive territories; others, such as breeding seabirds, do not. We found that northern gannets, satellite-tracked from 12 neighboring colonies, nonetheless forage in largely mutually exclusive areas and that these colony-specific home ranges are determined by density-dependent competition. This segregation may be enhanced by individual-level public information transfer, leading to cultural evolution and divergence among colonies.
authors.affiliation: School of Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK. e.d.wakefield@leeds.ac.uk
authors.forename: Ewan D
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Wakefield
authors.forename: Thomas W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Bodey
authors.forename: Stuart
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bearhop
authors.forename: Jez
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Blackburn
authors.forename: Kendrew
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Colhoun
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Davies
authors.forename: Ross G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Dwyer
authors.forename: Jonathan A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Green
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Grémillet
authors.forename: Andrew L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.forename: Mark J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Jessopp
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kane
authors.forename: Rowena H W
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Langston
authors.forename: Amélie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lescroël
authors.forename: Stuart
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Murray
authors.forename: Mélanie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Le Nuz
authors.forename: Samantha C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Patrick
authors.forename: Clara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Péron
authors.forename: Louise M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Soanes
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wanless
authors.forename: Stephen C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Votier
authors.forename: Keith C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Hamer
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001717:Birds / Q000502:physiology*; D001947:Breeding; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D006702:Homing Behavior; D008954:Models, Biological; D013731:Territoriality