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Ecological correlates of duckling adoption among white-winged scoters Melanitta fusca: strategy, epiphenomenon, or combination?

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Abstract

Young waterfowl can frequently join foster females shortly after hatch, resulting in post-hatch brood amalgamation. Much uncertainty remains about physiological or ecological factors that motivate adoption including potential costs and benefits to fostered offspring as well as to females that either lose or accept young. Several hypotheses have been put forth to explain adoption. In this paper, we examine the salvage strategy (SSH) and accidental-mixing (AMH) hypotheses. According to the SSH, females abandon or lose their young due to substantial energetic constraints from incubation and brood rearing. The AMH posits that adoption results from local ecological conditions on breeding areas (i.e., adverse weather conditions, high brood densities) which act to separate offspring and mothers. We used multistate modeling to estimate relationships between probabilities of adoption by white-winged scoter (Melanitta fusca) ducklings from natal to foster females and a set of hypothesized ecological covariates. Results showed that most adoption occurred within 6 days of hatch; additionally, likelihood of adoption was positively related to inclement weather and negatively related to hatch date, size, and condition of natal females, and duckling condition. We conclude that adoption in this population is consistent with both the salvage strategy and accidental-mixing hypotheses. Ultimately, we suggest that adoption in our study population was foremost an outcome of intense gull predation but also of local environmental conditions.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Jason Traylor, Hollie Remenda, and Redberry Lake World Biosphere Reserve for their field assistance. We are grateful for financial support provided by the Institute for Wetland and Waterfowl Research, Ducks Unlimited Canada, Environment Canada, University of Saskatchewan, and the Remenda Family. We also thank Charles Brown, Bob Clark, Dana Kellett, Pat Weatherhead, and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on previous versions of the manuscript. This study complied with current laws in Canada.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Saskatchewan, 112 Science Place, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, S7N 5E2, Canada

    Joshua J. Traylor & Ray T. Alisauskas

  2. Environment Canada, Prairie and Northern Wildlife Research Centre, 115 Perimeter Road, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, S7N 0X4, Canada

    Ray T. Alisauskas

  3. Ducks Unlimited Canada, #200 10720–178 Street, Edmonton, Alberta, T5S 1J3, Canada

    F. Patrick Kehoe

Authors
  1. Joshua J. Traylor
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  2. Ray T. Alisauskas
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  3. F. Patrick Kehoe
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Correspondence to Joshua J. Traylor.

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Communicated by C. Brown

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Traylor, J.J., Alisauskas, R.T. & Kehoe, F.P. Ecological correlates of duckling adoption among white-winged scoters Melanitta fusca: strategy, epiphenomenon, or combination?. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 62, 1085–1097 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-007-0536-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-007-0536-6

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