Red knot birds with adventurous personalities can adapt to climate change

Red knots, hefty migratory birds, spend the winter in the Wadden Sea, but such places are under strain. Due to human factors including sea level rise, tourism, and gas mining, the Wadden Sea is changing. Scientist Selin Ersoy, an ecologist at the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), investigated how individual red knots’ “personalities” varied and influenced their food-finding behaviors. People who travel quickly and take the chance to forage in various locations eat a variety of foods. This may greatly increase the red knot population’s overall resistance to environmental change. Red knots may mimic the food-gathering habits of their daring classmates, who thrive in unfamiliar environments. Ersoy observed that “differences in character seem to be a crucial factor for the resilience of the overall group.” Her research establishes for the first time a link between experimentally observed behavior and genuine real-life behavioral tactics used in the Wadden Sea mudflats. At Groningen University last week, Selin Ersoy successfully defended her doctoral thesis.

Animals also have personalities

All ages and genders of red knot exhibit behavioral characteristics. The majority of these don’t alter much over time; however, people vary. In a strange situation, some people are more intrepid and exhibit more exploring behaviors than others. Others are less adventurous and rarely venture out into strange environments. Few studies have looked at the ecological and evolutionary effects of these “personalities,” therefore it is unclear how much of an impact they have.

Selin Ersoy has created a novel method for determining the personality differences between unique red knots as part of her PhD research. She was interested in how individual differences emerge as well as if behavior in experimental settings may be generalized to a wider and more complicated natural setting.

“We discovered that red knots presumably build their personalities through the experiences that they have as they are growing up,” says Ersoy of his innovative methodology, which enabled studying animal psychology in the wild. “Adults continue with exploratory behaviors after reaching adulthood.” “They appear to be human character types.”

Explorers consume better food

Even more, Ersoy and her coworkers were able to foresee a variety of additional behaviors in the field. For instance, foraging strategies and diet selection in the wild are predicted by variations in the explorative personality type (i.e., slow vs. quick explorer). While slow explorers rely on tactile foraging and consume hard-shelled species like cockles, fast explorers employ more visual foraging and eat soft prey like shrimp or worms. This is a novel explanation for differences in foraging niche specialization within populations.

The variance in mobility across the environment and over time is related to exploratory behavior as well. Ersoy: “We were astounded to observe how quick and slow explorers moved in distinctly different ways at night compared to how they did during the day.” Even the arrival times of these various people differ.”Explorers who travel quickly reach the Wadden Sea after slower explorers.” Where they are currently staying is where Ersoy and her friends intend to study next. Perhaps in the Arctic, red knots spend more time raising their young.

The group as a whole gains

“We discovered noticeable differences in feeding and movement characteristics between slow and fast exploring red knots.”This means that quick explorers might offer new foraging possibilities and information to entire populations, Ersoy explains. “Red knot are under pressure from human effects on their coastal wintering habitats, which is directly tied to the availability of food; therefore, these new chances are crucial.” “Rapid explorations can make it easier for everyone to adapt to environmental change.”

The gap between the genuine Wadden Sea and the controlled trials is closed

Understanding the mechanisms underlying behavior in the wild is the aim of studying behavior in experimental settings. The work by Selin Ersoy bridges a significant gap between the experimental study of wild animals in controlled surroundings and the behavior that is observed in the wild.

“It’s the initial step.” “We must conduct comparable personality studies on many species of animals and natural environments,” Ersoy argues. “We want to determine if personalities function similarly across species and contexts.”

tracking guillemot behavior with teeny transmitters

During the summer, ultra-compact radio transmitters are attached to the backs of birds to be tracked by researchers like Selin Ersoy. They don’t bother birds at all. These transmitters transmit distinctive signals. Antennas dispersed around the Wadden Sea pick these up.

Reverse GPS

A brand-new system named WATLAS uses so-called “reverse GPS,” in which birds are temporarily equipped with tiny transmitters that send out a signal of their own. Fixed receiving stations in and near the Wadden Sea pick up that signal. The position of the animal with the transmitter is computed with an accuracy of a few meters, second by second, due to the minute variations in the timing of the arrival of the signal at different receivers.

With the use of WATLAS, scientists may precisely observe a migratory bird, like the red knot, as it moves back and forth with low and high tides in search of food. Researchers can now observe interactions between various species from the comfort of their office chairs because numerous birds can be equipped with the comparatively affordable transmitters at once.