| Behavioural buffering is a mechanism by which animals will invest reserve "loafing" time to increase allocation to important activities when demands for these activities increase. The objective of my thesis was to investigate time-budget flexibility in adult Arctic Terns (Sterna paradisaea) and determine if loafing time acted as a behavioural buffer for this species. I found that Arctic Tern time-budgets can vary in relation to changes in chick age and weather (wind, fog, and rainfall), that these variations may be different depending on the sex of the parent, and that loafing may only act as a buffer in certain conditions.;I conclude that behavioural buffering with loafing time may only occur for rapid, unpredictable events which immediately threaten chick survival. Furthermore, I conclude that loafing will not be a good indicator of short term (within a season) fluctuations in marine food availability. Low food availability will not have an instantaneous effect on chick survival, and other mechanisms such as alternate prey selection and transfer of time from brooding to foraging by females may be used to maintain chick provisioning. (Abstract shortened by UMI.). |
