Oecologia

, Volume 106, Issue 2, pp 153–165 | Cite as

Pre-incubation feeding activities and energy budgets of Snow Geese: can food on the breeding grounds influence fecundity?

Ecophysiology

Abstract

The potential contribution of early spring feeding conditions in the Arctic to clutch size variation was examined in a population of Lesser Snow Geese Anser caerulescens caerulescens. Behavioural observations were combined with energetic analyses of food material to derive an estimate of the energy budgets of pre-laying and laying females. Food intake of females between arrival on the breeding grounds and incubation was considerable; estimated energy gains in this period were in the same magnitude as the cost of one or several eggs. The pre-laying period spent on the breeding grounds can thus be energetically beneficial rather than costly. Accumulation of resources for reproduction in Snow Geese is a continual process including the breeding grounds, and nutrient limitation after arrival in the Arctic cannot sufficiently explain the environmental component of clutch size variation. The timing of migration and follicle development is such that clutch size decisions are sometimes made during the late stages of migration and some-times after arrival. In the latter case food conditions on the breeding grounds may greatly influence clutch size; in the former case they may still influence readjustments of clutch size after the initial decision. The universal negative correlation between clutch size and laying date in Snow Geese can be explained by negative fitness consequences of late hatching, which outweigh the benefits of delayed laying and further nutrient accumulation. Food shortage on the breeding grounds may sometimes be a secondary factor contributing to seasonal clutch size decline.

Key words

Clutch size Feeding ecology Energy budgets Pre-breeding period Anser caerulescens caerulescens 
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Alisauskas RT, Ankney CD (1994) Costs and rates of egg formation in Ruddy Ducks. Condor 96: 11–18Google Scholar
  2. Altmann J (1974) Observational studies of behavior: sampling methods. Behavior 49: 227–266Google Scholar
  3. Ankney CD (1982) Annual cycle of body weight in Lesser Snow Geese. Wildl Soc Bull 10: 60–64Google Scholar
  4. Ankney CD (1984) Nutrient reserve dynamics of breeding and molting Brant. Auk 101: 361–370Google Scholar
  5. Ankney CD, MacInnes CD (1978) Nutrient reserves and reproductive performance of female lesser snow geese. Auk 95: 459–471Google Scholar
  6. Astheimer LB, Grau CR (1990) A comparison of yolk growth rates in seabird eggs. Ibis 132: 380–394Google Scholar
  7. Barry TW (1962) Effect of late season on Atlantic Brant reproduction. J Wildl Manage 26: 19–26Google Scholar
  8. Bromley RG, Jarvis RL (1993) The energetics of migration and reproduction of Dusky Canada Geese. Condor 95: 193–210Google Scholar
  9. Budeau DAJ, Ratti T, Ely CR (1991) Energy dynamics, foraging ecology, and behavior of pre-nesting Greater White-fronted Geese. J Wildl Manage 55: 556–563Google Scholar
  10. Burton BA, Hudson RJ, Bragg DD (1979) Efficiency of utilization of Bulrush rhizomes by Lesser Snow Geese. J Wildl Manage 43: 728–735Google Scholar
  11. Cooch EG, Lank DB, Rockwell RF, Cooke F (1989) Long term decline in fecundity in a snow goose population: evidence for density dependence? J Anim Ecol 58: 711–726Google Scholar
  12. Cooch FG (1958) The breeding biology and management of the Blue Goose. PhD thesis, Cornell University, IthacaGoogle Scholar
  13. Cooke F, Findlay CS, Rockwell RF (1984) Recruitment and the timing of reproduction in Lesser Snow Geese. Auk 101: 451–458Google Scholar
  14. Cooke F, Findlay CS, Rockwell RF, Smith JA (1985) Life history studies of the lesser snow goose. III. The selective value of plumage polymorphism: net fecundity. Evolution 39: 165–177Google Scholar
  15. Cooke F, Rockwell RF, Lank DB (1995) The Snow Geese of La Pérouse Bay. Oxford University Press, OxfordGoogle Scholar
  16. Drent RH, Daan S (1980) The prudent parent: energetic adjustments in avian breeding. Ardea 68: 225–252Google Scholar
  17. Drent RH, Prins HHT (1987) The herbivore as prisoner of its food supply. In: Andel J, Prins HHT, Snaydon RW (eds). Disturbance in grasslands. Junk, DordrechtGoogle Scholar
  18. Drobney RD (1980) Reproductive bioenergetics of Wood Ducks. Auk 97:480–490Google Scholar
  19. Ebbinge BS, St Joseph A, Prokosch P, Spaans B (1982) The importance of spring staging areas for Arctic-breeding geese, wintering in western Europe. Aquila 89: 249–258Google Scholar
  20. Ely CR, Raveling DG (1984) Breeding biology of Pacific Whitefronted Geese. J Wildl Manage 48: 823–837Google Scholar
  21. Gauthier G (1993) Feeding ecology of nesting Greater Snow Geese. J Wildl Manage 57: 216–223Google Scholar
  22. Gauthier G, Tardif J (1991) Female feeding and male vigilance during nesting in Greater Snow Geese. Condor 93: 701–711Google Scholar
  23. Gauthier G, Bédard J, Bédard Y (1984) Comparison of daily energy expenditure of Greater Snow Geese between two habitats. Can J Zool 62: 1304–1307Google Scholar
  24. Gilbert AB (1971) The female reproductive effort. In: Bell DJ, Freeman BM (eds) Physiology and biochemistry of the domestic fowl, vol 3. Academic Press, LondonGoogle Scholar
  25. Grau CR (1976) Ring structure of avian egg yolk. Poult Sci 55: 1418–1422Google Scholar
  26. Hamann J (1983) Intraseasonal clutch size reduction in lesser snow geese. MSc thesis, Queen's University, KingstonGoogle Scholar
  27. Hamann J, Cooke F (1989) Intra-seasonal decline in clutch size in lesser snow geese. Oecologia 79: 83–90Google Scholar
  28. Hamann J, Andrews B, Cooke F (1986) The role of follicular atresia in inter- and intra-seasonal clutch size variation in lesser snow geese (Anser caerulescens caerulescens). J Anim Ecol 55: 481–489Google Scholar
  29. Harvey JM (1971) Factors affecting blue goose nesting success. Can J Zool 49: 223–234Google Scholar
  30. Hatchwell BJ, Pellatt J (1990) Intraspecific variation in egg composition and yolk formation in the common guillemot (Uria aalge). J Zool 220: 279–286Google Scholar
  31. Hüppop O (1988) Aktivität und Energieumsatz bei Vögeln: Methoden und Ergebnisse. Seevögel 9: 95–106Google Scholar
  32. Iacobelli A, Jefferies RL (1991) Inverse salinity gradients in coastal marshes and the death of stands of willow: the effects of grubbing by geese. J Ecol 79: 61–73Google Scholar
  33. Jefferies RL, Jensen A, Abraham KF (1979) Vegetational development and the effect of geese on vegetation at La Pérouse Bay, Manitoba. Can J Bot 57: 1439–1450Google Scholar
  34. Karasov WH (1990) Digestion in birds: chemical and physiological determinants and ecological implications. Stud Avian Biol 13: 391–415Google Scholar
  35. Kerbes RH, Kotanen PM, Jefferies RL (1990) Destruction of wetland habitats by lesser snow geese: a keystone species on the west coast of Hudson Bay. J Appl Ecol 27: 42–258Google Scholar
  36. Kersten M, Piersma T (1987) High levels of energy expenditure in shorebirds: metabolic adaptations to an energetically expensive way of life. Ardea 75: 175–187Google Scholar
  37. Klomp H (1970) The determination of clutch size in birds: a review. Ardea 58: 1–124Google Scholar
  38. Krapu GL, Reinecke KJ (1992) Foraging ecology and nutrition. In: Batt BDJ, Afton AD, Anderson MD, Ankney CD, Johnson DH, Kadlec JA, Krapu GL (eds) Ecology and management of breeding waterfowl. University of Minnesota Press, MinneapolisGoogle Scholar
  39. Lasiewski RC, Dawson WR (1967) A re-examination of the relation between standard metabolic rate and body weight in birds. Condor 69: 13–23Google Scholar
  40. Lefebvre EA, Raveling DG (1967) Distribution of Canada Geese in winter as related to heat loss at varying environmental temperatures. J Wildl Manage 31: 538–546Google Scholar
  41. McLean JA, Tobin G (1987) Animal and human calorimetry. Cambridge University Press, CambridgeGoogle Scholar
  42. Meathrel CE (1991) Variation in eggs and the period of rapid yolk deposition of the silver gull Larus novaehollandiae during a protracted laying season. J Zool 223: 501–508Google Scholar
  43. Murton RK, Westwood NJ (1977) Avian breeding cycles. Clarendon Press, OxfordGoogle Scholar
  44. Newton I (1977) Timing and success of breeding in tundra-nesting geese. In: Stonehouse B, Perrins C (eds) Evolutionary ecology. Macmillan, LondonGoogle Scholar
  45. Owen M, Wells RL, Black JM (1992) Energy budgets of wintering Barnacle Geese: the effects of declining food resources. Ornis Scand 23: 451–458Google Scholar
  46. Prop J, Vulink T (1992) Digestion by barnacle geese in the annual cycle: the interplay between retention time and food quality. Funct Ecol 6: 180–189Google Scholar
  47. Raveling DG (1978) The timing of egg laying by northern geese. Auk 95: 294–303Google Scholar
  48. Ronwer FC (1992) The evolution of reproductive patterns in waterfowl. In: Batt BDJ, Afton AD, Anderson MD, Ankney CD, Johnson DH, Kadlec JA, Krapu GL (eds) Ecology and management of breeding waterfowl. University of Minnesota Press, MinneapolisGoogle Scholar
  49. Romanoff AL, Romanoff AJ (1949) The avian egg. Wiley, New YorkGoogle Scholar
  50. Ryder JP (1970) A possible factor in the evolution of clutch size in Ross' Goose. Wilson Bull 82: 5–13Google Scholar
  51. Ryder JP (1972) Biology of nesting Ross's Geese. Ardea 60: 185–215Google Scholar
  52. Schubert CA, Cooke F (1993) Egg-laying intervals in the Lesser Snow Goose. Wilson Bull 105: 414–426Google Scholar
  53. Sotherland PR, Rahn H (1987) On the composition of bird eggs. Condor 89: 48–65Google Scholar
  54. Spaans B, Stock M, St Joseph A, Bergmann H-H, Ebbinge BS (1993) Breeding biology of dark-bellied brent geese Branta b. bernicla in Taimyr in 1990 in the absence of Arctic foxes and under favourable weather conditions. Polar Res 12: 117–130Google Scholar
  55. Thomas VG (1983) Spring migration: the prelude to goose reproduction and a review of its implications. In: Boyd H (ed) First Western Hemisphere waterfowl and waterbird symposium. Canadian Wildlife Service, OttawaGoogle Scholar
  56. Thomas VG (1988) Body condition, ovarian hierarchies, and their relation to egg formation in Anseriform and Galliform species. Acta XIX Congressus Internationalis Ornithologici. Ottawa, Canada, pp 353–363Google Scholar
  57. Tyler S (1979) Time sampling: a matter of convention. Anim Behav 27: 801–810Google Scholar
  58. Williams TD, Cooch EG, Jefferies RL, Cooke F (1993a) Environmental degradation, food limitation and reproductive output: juvenile survival in lesser snow geese. J Anim Ecol 62: 766–777Google Scholar
  59. Williams TD, Lank DB, Cooke F, Rockwell RF (1993b) Fitness consequences of egg-size variation in the lesser snow goose. Oecologia 96: 331–338Google Scholar
  60. Wooley JB, Owen RB (1978) Energy costs of activity and daily energy expenditure in the Black Duck. J Wildl Manage 42: 739–745Google Scholar
  61. Wypkema RCP, Ankney CD (1979) Nutrient reserve dynamics of lesser snow geese staging at James Bay, Ontario. Can J Zool 57: 213–219Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag 1996

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Department of BiologyQueen's UniversityKingstonCanada

Personalised recommendations