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Behavioural variation within a species is usually explained as the consequence of individual variation in physiology. However, new evidence suggests that the arrow of causality may well be in the reverse direction: behaviours such as diet preferences cause the differences in physiological and morphological traits., Recently, diet preferences were proposed to underlie consistent differences in digestive organ mass and movement patterns (patch residence times) in red knots ( Calidris canutus islandica). Red knots are molluscivorous and migrant shorebirds for which the size of the muscular stomach (gizzard) is critical for the food processing rate., In this study, red knots ( C. c. canutus, n = 46) were caught at Banc d'Arguin, an intertidal flat ecosystem in Mauritania, and released with radio-tags after the measurement of gizzard mass. Using a novel tracking system (time-of-arrival), patch residence times were measured over a period of three weeks. Whether or not gizzard mass determined patch residence times was tested experimentally by offering 12 of the 46 tagged red knots soft diets prior to release; this reduced an individual's gizzard mass by 20-60%. To validate whether the observed range of patch residence times would be expected from individual diet preferences, we simulated patch residence times as a function of diet preferences via a simple departure rule., Consistent with previous empirical studies, patch residence times in the field were positively correlated with gizzard mass. The slope of this correlation, as well as the observed range of patch residence times, was in accordance with the simulated values. The 12 birds with reduced gizzard masses did not decrease patch residence times in response to the reduction in gizzard mass., These findings suggest that diet preferences can indeed cause the observed among-individual variation in gizzard mass and patch residence times. We discuss how early diet experiences can have cascading effects on the individual expression of both behavioural and physiomorphic traits. This emphasizes that to understand the ecological consequences of individual differences, knowledge of the environment during development is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses a study which examined the decline in the food stocks of Afro-Siberian Red Knots in the western Dutch Wadden Sea. Particular focus is given to the boundaries of the western Dutch Wadden Sea, which was surveyed from 1996-2005. Between July and early September, annual sampling of intertidal macrozoobenthic prey were performed. An optimal diet model was used in this study to predict the intake rate of Red Knots. Results of the study showed that there were changes in the extent of intertidal mudflats that fulfilled the minimum intake needs of Red Knots. From 1996-2005, the study found an 86% drop in suitable foraging area. It also found a decline in the proportion of Red Knots without primary moult.

Assuming that animals respond optimally to environmental changes, both behavior and physiology should be useful indicators of the way that animals perceive the quality of their environment. For verification, we examined foraging time and gizzard size of the red knot (Calidris canutus), a long-distance migrant shorebird that ingests hard-shelled mollusk prey whole and therefore readily faces digestive constraints. Nevertheless, even when digestively bottlenecked, knots can still enhance their daily energy intake by flexibly increasing the size of their digestive system, notably the gizzard, and/or by feeding longer per day. Whether such adjustments are actually necessary depends on the quality (condition) of their food, i.e., the ratio of flesh to shell mass. Hence, gizzard mass and daily foraging time in knots may be reliable indicators of the quality of their invertebrate prey. This idea is explored by using field data on radio-marked knots during late summer in the Dutch Wadden Sea. Their gizzards were measured using ultrasonography and the knots' movements and working hours were monitored using handheld receivers and automated radio-tracking systems. Indeed, gizzard mass alone predicted annual variation in food quality satisfactorily; however, adding estimates for daily foraging time significantly improved the predictions. We discuss and conceptualize how knots may trade off digestive organ size against foraging time upon arrival in the Wadden Sea, given the quality and quantity of the food on offer, and why these findings are relevant in the context of conservation of migration systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1. When prey occur at high densities, energy assimilation rates are generally constrained by rates of digestion rather than by rates of collection (i.e. search and handle). As predators usually select patches containing high prey densities, rates of digestion will play an important role in the foraging ecology of a species.2. The red knotCalidris canutusshows tremendous inter- and intra-individual variation in maximum rates of digestion due to variation in the size of the processing machinery (gizzard and intestine), which makes it a suitable species to study the effects of digestive processing rate on foraging decisions.3. Here we report on patch use, prey choice, and daily foraging times as a function of gizzard size in free-ranging, radio-marked, red knots. As knots crush their bulky bivalve prey in their gizzard, the size of this organ, which we measured using ultrasonography, determines digestive processing rate.4. Using the digestive rate model, we a priori modelled patch use, prey choice, and daily foraging times as a function of gizzard mass. Focusing on two contrasting patches, birds with small gizzards were expected to feed on high-quality (soft-bodied) prey found in low densities in the one patch, while birds with large gizzards were expected to feed on low-quality (hard-shelled) prey found in high densities in the other patch. Assuming that red knots aim to balance their energy budget on a daily basis, we expected daily foraging time to decline with gizzard mass.5. Observed patch and prey choices were in quantitative agreement with these theoretical predictions. Observed daily foraging times were only in qualitative agreement: they declined with gizzard mass but less steeply than predicted.6. We discuss that red knots might be aiming for a slightly positive energy budget in order to (i) refuel their stores depleted during migration, and (ii) to insure against unpredictability in supply and demand during winter. Red knots arriving from their breeding grounds with small gizzards are only able to realize this aim when densities of soft-bodied prey are high, which is the case in late July and early August. Rapidly declining soft-bodied prey densities throughout late summer pose a major penalty for individuals arriving late at their wintering grounds.7. The long daily foraging periods required by knots with small gizzards are only feasible through‘tide-extension’. In our study area, birds can and do raise the daily low tide period from 12 h to almost 17 h by moving along with the tide in an easterly direction, subsequently flying back to their starting point at the high tide roost.Journal of Animal Ecology(2005) doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2656.2004.00904.x [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]