Sex-specific reproductive benefits of early arrival to the breeding colony in a seabird

Abstract

Territorial protandry, or early season male-biased settlement at breeding sites, is a widespread phenomenon in a range of animal breeding systems. While protandry is common across several avian lineages and has been linked with increased reproductive success of earlier breeding males in terrestrial species, the selective advantage of breeding protandry has only rarely been studied in seabirds. We assessed the seasonal changes in the sex ratio at the breeding site and sex-specific correlates of arrival date with reproductive success during 2 breeding seasons of a colonial seabird, the Australasian Gannet (Morus serrator), at Cape Kidnappers, New Zealand. We found no biases in overall sex ratios of adults and fledglings but detected a male sex bias during nest site establishment, and a significantly higher probability of reproductive success for earlier-settling males. In contrast, the reproductive success of females did not correlate with the timing of arrival. Our findings provide an assessment of the sex differences in reproductive correlates of the timing of breeding settlement in gannets and are consistent with selective advantages as suggested by indirect selection hypotheses. This study contributes to our understanding of the fitness benefits of protandry, and its linkages with sex differences in breeding philopatry and mate fidelity, in a long-lived seabird species with obligate and extended biparental care.