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Mate replacement entails a fitness cost for a socially monogamous seabird

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Abstract

Studies of the selective advantages of divorce in socially monogamous bird species have unravelled extensive variation among different lineages with diverse ecologies. We quantified the reproductive correlates of mate retention, mate loss and divorce in a highly philopatric, colonially breeding biparental seabird, the Australasian gannet Morus serrator. Estimates of annual divorce rates varied between 40–43% for M. serrator and were high in comparison with both the closely related Morus bassanus and the range of divorce rates reported across monogamous avian breeding systems. Mate retention across seasons was related to consistently higher reproductive success compared with mate replacement, while divorce per se contributed significantly to lower reproductive output only in one of two breeding seasons. Prior reproductive success was not predictive of mate replacement overall or divorce in particular. These patterns are in accordance with the musical chairs hypothesis of adaptive divorce theory, which operates in systems characterised by asynchronous territorial establishment.

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Acknowledgements

Funding was provided by the Faculty of Science and the University of Auckland Research Committees (to MEH) and by Education New Zealand through an International Doctoral Research Scholarship (to SMHI). We thank the Department of Conservation, landowners and the Cape Kidnappers Reserve for their support; C.D. Millar, D. Raubenheimer, S. Patel, J.L. Matthews, A.F. Little, S.H. Anderson, N. Chong, N. Leuschner, J. Johnson, P. Samaš, V. Ward, D. Dearborn, A. Gager and R. Shaw for their help and anonymous reviewers for helpful comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, 1143, New Zealand

    Stefanie M. H. Ismar, Claire Daniel & Mark E. Hauber

  2. Eco-Vista, Photography and Research, PO Box 8291, Havelock North, 4157, New Zealand

    Brent M. Stephenson

  3. Department of Psychology, Hunter College, City University of New York, New York, NY, 10065, USA

    Mark E. Hauber

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  1. Stefanie M. H. Ismar
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  2. Claire Daniel
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  3. Brent M. Stephenson
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  4. Mark E. Hauber
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Correspondence to Stefanie M. H. Ismar.

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Ismar, S.M.H., Daniel, C., Stephenson, B.M. et al. Mate replacement entails a fitness cost for a socially monogamous seabird. Naturwissenschaften 97, 109–113 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-009-0618-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-009-0618-6

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