Natal dispersal based on past and present environmental phenology in the pied flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca)

摘要

Natal dispersal allows individuals to reach suitablebreeding sites. The effect of present plant phenologyas a cue for dispersal into areas with favourable stages ofdevelopment has been well established across avian andmammalian taxa. However, the effect of past experience isless understood. We studied the effect of past and presentphenology of the environment on the direction and distanceof natal dispersal in a passerine bird, the pied flycatcher(Ficedula hypoleuca). We monitored spring settlement oflocal recruits in six nest box plots along a 10-km stretch ofa south-north gradient of plant and caterpillar food development.We found that males used both past experience ofcaterpillar phenology from early life and actual plant phenologyduring the recruitment season as independent cuesfor breeding settlement. Males that had experienced a mismatchwith the caterpillar food peak as a nestling, and/orthose that arrived late in the spring in the recruitment year,moved north of their natal site, whereas males that hadexperienced a better match with the caterpillars as a nestling,and/or those that migrated earlier in the spring, settledat a similar site or more to the south. In females, no such effects were found, suggesting that the usage of phenologicalcues is sex specific. In summary, tracking environmentalphenology by natal dispersal may represent an effectivemechanism for settling in new favourable areas, and maythus potentially cause rapid change of a species’ geographicalbreeding range in response to climate change.