Are you shy or are you bold? Is personality along the bold-shy axis linked with foraging behaviour, physiology and reproductive investment in northern fulmars?

The fishing industry is estimated to kill hundreds of thousands of seabirds incidentally each year across the globe as bycatch on either longlines or in nets. On the other hand, many seabird species also benefit from fishery discards which are an easy and predictable food source. Thereby, it is remarkable that not only some species are more likely to approach fishing vessels than others, but in recent years evidence has grown that also within species and populations, individuals may specialise on certain food sources (including fishery discards). Such individual specialisation in foraging behaviour may also be linked to the concept of animal personality (i.e. consistent among-individual differences in behavioural traits such as boldness). In a life-history context, animal personality has been hypothesized to covary with physiology and reproductive investment, as for example bolder individuals are more pro-active and have a higher metabolism. In this context, bolder individuals should show a faster pace-of-life, a higher sensitivity to stress and die younger, affecting their reproductive investment at any given breeding attempt. However, research about the interplay between animal personality, foraging behaviour and reproductive investment are still its infancy in birds in general and seabirds in particular. Northern fulmars (Fulmarus glacialis) are food-generalists that are both beneficiaries of fishery discards as well as victims of bycatch. Their size allows attachment of modern GPS loggers without interfering with the birds' flight behaviour, which makes them ideal for the aims of my project. I will investigate (I) whether personality along the boldness-shyness axis affects the approach of fishing vessels and test (II) whether personality is linked to the birds' physiology (telomere length as an indicator of oxidative damage; haptoglobin and nitric oxide both of which are indicators of inflammation processes and the immune response) and (III) their reproductive investment (i.e. egg mass, hatching mass, growth rates and physiology of chicks). Investigating the link between personality, individual specialisation in foraging behaviour, physiology and reproductive investment will substantially enhance our ecological understanding, and furthermore also add valuable information to quantify the impact of fishery on the northern fulmar and thus improve its conservation.

Keywords:PHYSIOLOGY (ANIMAL), PERSONALITY, SEABIRD, FORAGING BEHAVIOUR

Disciplines:Animal biology, General biology, Veterinary medicine