eprintid: 10205488
rev_number: 6
eprint_status: archive
userid: 699
dir: disk0/10/20/54/88
datestamp: 2025-03-03 11:08:51
lastmod: 2025-03-03 11:08:51
status_changed: 2025-03-03 11:08:51
type: article
metadata_visibility: show
sword_depositor: 699
creators_name: Coste, Joshua
creators_name: Votier, Stephen C
creators_name: Dunn, Ruth E
creators_name: Freeman, Robin
creators_name: Nicoll, Malcolm A
creators_name: Carr, Peter
creators_name: Wood, Hannah
creators_name: Trevail, Alice M
title: Homing navigation is optimized to diurnal constraints in a tropical seabird, the red-footed booby
ispublished: pub
divisions: UCL
divisions: B02
divisions: C08
divisions: D09
divisions: F99
keywords: Diurnal constraint, GPS tracking, hidden Markov model, homing, Indian Ocean, navigation behaviour, red-footed booby, Sula sula rubripes, Sulidae, Suliformes
note: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. The images
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abstract: When navigating homewards, central-place foragers can use landmarks and sun angle to adjust their
return movement behaviour. However, for tropical oceanic species foraging from low-lying atolls, the
effectiveness of their homing journeys on their time returns remains unclear. Thus, in this study, the
navigation behaviour of red-footed boobies, Sula sula rubripes, in the Chagos Archipelago, central Indian
Ocean, was investigated. Using GPS tracking data from 207 breeding adults across four colonies, the
homing duration, bearing and trajectory straightness during central-place foraging were explored to
elucidate the navigational constraints and temporal dynamics. Return distances and orientations were
modelled in relation to the time of day and distance to the colony to assess whether birds adjust their
homing behaviour to return before dusk. We found that red-footed boobies navigated efficiently back to
their colony on fast, straight and direct flights and adjusted their homing behaviour to arrive at the
colony around dusk: the closer to the evening twilight they start their homing journey, the shorter, faster
and more direct their routes become. These findings provide a comprehensive understanding of seabird
navigation in tropical environments, as well as insights into the adaptive mechanism underlying successful
navigation over expansive oceanic territories.
date: 2025-04
date_type: published
publisher: Elsevier BV
official_url: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2025.123116
oa_status: green
full_text_type: pub
language: eng
primo: open
primo_central: open_green
verified: verified_manual
elements_id: 2365239
doi: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2025.123116
lyricists_name: Nicoll, Malcolm
lyricists_id: MNICO77
actors_name: Nicoll, Malcolm
actors_id: MNICO77
actors_role: owner
full_text_status: public
publication: Animal Behaviour
volume: 222
article_number: 123116
citation:        Coste, Joshua;    Votier, Stephen C;    Dunn, Ruth E;    Freeman, Robin;    Nicoll, Malcolm A;    Carr, Peter;    Wood, Hannah;           Coste, Joshua;  Votier, Stephen C;  Dunn, Ruth E;  Freeman, Robin;  Nicoll, Malcolm A;  Carr, Peter;  Wood, Hannah;  Trevail, Alice M;   - view fewer <#>    (2025)    Homing navigation is optimized to diurnal constraints in a tropical seabird, the red-footed booby.                   Animal Behaviour , 222     , Article 123116.  10.1016/j.anbehav.2025.123116 <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2025.123116>.       Green open access   
 
document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10205488/1/Coste_2025.pdf