Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

My research focuses on the biology of seabirds - those birds that come to land only to breed and otherwise remain offshore. Seabirds live a long time, have long-term monogamous pair bonds, and usually nest in colonies, making them an ideal subject for biological studies concerned about mate choice and how populations are naturally (and un-naturally) regulated. My previous work confirmed a link between climate variability and survival at one island during 1990-2007. My proposed study aims to expand this with work on four bird species at four remote Pacific Islands during 2008-2012. Survival estimates, relationships between survival and climate, and inter-island differences in survival will be evaluated. The results will have profound implications for our understanding of links between seabirds, biological processes in the ocean, and climate. We are also investigating sexual selection (the evolutionary force related to mating that explains colourful, bizarre and often costly adornments displayed) and monogamy and how these relate to populations. Unraveling the evolutionary mechanisms of sexual selection has provided one of the most controversial and interesting problems in biology. Our previous research showed the first evidence for mutual sexual selection and for mating preferences by one bird species for adornments naturally occurring in another species, showed ornaments being favoured by mate choice and simultaneously acting as signals of dominance, and revealed an ornament with a secondary sensory (touch) function. My proposed future research will address questions about the function of elaborate ornaments and displays and population consequences of sexual selection. Our group will be looking at how adornments and preferences change as individuals age, how this affects lifetime reproductive success and whether both preferences and adornments vary among isolated populations. Altogether, our work will demonstrate how varying climate and predation, combined with sexually-selected reproductive decisions, all determine population change. Taken together, the results will contribute to a better understanding of seabird biology with broad implications for conservation and management of marine wildlife.