Population dynamics in a long-lived seabird: I. Impact of breeding activity on survival and breeding probability in unbanded king penguins

• Published in: The Journal of animal ecology Vol. 76; no. 6; pp. 1149 - 1160
• Main Authors: BOHEC, CÉLINE LE, GAUTHIER-CLERC, MICHEL, GRÉMILLET, DAVID, PRADEL, ROGER, BÉCHET, ARNAUD, GENDNER, JEAN-PAUL, MAHO, YVON LE
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Oxford, UK : Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.11.2007; British Ecological Society; Blackwell Publishing Ltd; Blackwell; Wiley
• Subjects: Animal and plant ecology; Animal breeding; Animal ecology; Animal populations; Animal reproduction; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Animals; Antarctic Regions; Antarctica; Aptenodytes patagonicus; Aquatic birds; Aviculture; Biological and medical sciences; Birds; Breeding; Breeding - methods; Breeding success; courtship; Demecology; Demography; Ecological modeling; Ecosystems; Environmental Sciences; Female; females; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects; Heterogeneity; heterogeneity hypothesis; Human ecology; Hypotheses; intermittent breeding; Life History; Life history studies; Male; males; methods; Mortality; multistate mark-recapture models; Parametric models; Penguins; phenotypic correlation; physiology; Population Dynamics; Probability; prudent parent hypothesis; Reproduction; Reproduction - physiology; Reproductive success; Sea birds; seabirds; Sex Characteristics; Spheniscidae; Spheniscidae - physiology; Survival; survival rate; Time Factors; Transition probabilities; transponder tags; Transponders; Antarctic Regions; Antarctica; Transponder; transponder tags; Parent; Aptenodytes patagonicus; Longevity; Marine environment; Heterogeneity; Vertebrata; Reproduction; prudent parent hypothesis; intermittent breeding; Population dynamics; Models; Survival probability; Aves; heterogeneity hypothesis; multistate markrecapture models
• ISSN: 0021-8790; 1365-2656
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2656.2007.01268.x

1. Understanding the trade-off between current reproductive effort, future survival and future breeding attempts is crucial for demographic analyses and life history studies. 2. We investigated this trade-off in a population of king penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) marked individually with transponders using multistate capture-recapture models. 3. This colonial seabird species has a low annual proportion of non-breeders (13%), despite a breeding cycle which lasts over 1 year. To draw inferences about the consequences of non-breeding, we tested for an effect of reproductive activity on survival and on the probability of subsequent breeding. 4. We found that birds non-breeding in year t show the same survival rate as breeders (two-states analysis: breeding and non-breeding). However, breeders had a lower probability of breeding again the following year. This negative phenotypic correlation suggests the existence of reproductive costs affecting future breeding probability, but it might also be strengthened by late arrival for courtship in year t. 5. A three-state analysis including breeding success revealed that failed breeders in year t have a lower probability to reproduce successfully in year t + 1 than non-breeders in year t, providing some evidence for the existence of reproductive costs. Moreover, successful breeders showed higher survival probability. This positive phenotypic correlation between current reproduction and subsequent survival supports the hypothesis of an heterogeneity in individual quality. 6. Males breeding in year t had a lower probability to breed again in year t + 1 than females, suggesting higher reproductive costs for this sex. Such additional costs might be due to higher male parental investment in the final phase of chick-rearing, which also delays the arrival of males in year t + 1, and decreases their breeding probability. 7. Our study is the first to explore the breeding biology and the demography of penguins without the disturbance of flipper-bands.