Dispersal in Kentish plovers (Charadrius alexandrinus): Adult females perform furthest movements

Abstract

Dispersal is an important behavioural process that plays a significant role in, among others, speciation, population viability, and individual fitness. Despite progress in avian dispersal research, there are still many knowledge gaps. For example, it is of interest to study how movement propensity (i.e., nomadic vs. philopatric) relates to age- and/or sex-specific patterns of dispersal. Here, we investigated the role of sex and life-stage on natal (i.e., displacement between birth site and first breeding site) and breeding dispersal (i.e., displacement between sequential breeding sites) in the Kentish plover (Charadrius alexandrinus). This small and inconspicuous wader is characterised by flexible mating behaviour that includes monogamy, and serial polygyandry. Using a continent-wide dataset of ringing and re-encounter data throughout the species range in Europe, we found that adult females generally dispersed further than adult males between seasons, but we detected no sex-difference in natal dispersal distances and no general difference between natal and breeding dispersal distances. Furthermore, females were the main group exhibiting long-distance breeding dispersal, which we defined as breeding movements greater than [≥]108 km (i.e., upper 10% percentile of our dataset). Our work detected two females breeding in the Mediterranean before dispersing and breeding at the North Sea in the subsequent year, distances of 1,290 and 1,704 km, respectively - this represents the longest known breeding dispersal within the genus Charadrius. The long-distance dispersal records we identified are consistent with low genetic differentiation between mainland populations shown in previous work. The dispersive nature of the Kentish plover is likely attributed to its breeding behaviour: polyandrous females exhibit extensive mate searching and habitat prospecting. We recommend that the dispersal traits of Kentish plover be incorporated into the species conservation and management planning to more accurately inform models of population connectivity and metapopulation dynamics.