True site fidelity in pollen-feeding butterflies

Priscila Moura, Gilberto Corso, Stephen H Montgomery, Marcio Cardoso

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

12 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract


Site fidelity plays an important role in increasing foraging efficiency, particularly when food resources are reliable. In insects, site fidelity has largely been studied in Hymenopteran species, which consistently return to their nest site after foraging bouts.
In butterflies, evidence of foraging site fidelity is limited but may be present in species with specific foraging specialisations, such as Heliconius, which have a derived foraging behaviour centred around active pollen feeding. Unlike many Hymenoptera, Heliconius are neither eusocial nor nesting species, positioning them as a peculiar case where foraging site fidelity may occur in the absence of any central nest-like structure. However, to date, existing studies do not consider low dispersal as an alternative to site fidelity.
In this study, we use a mark–release–recapture experiment to test whether individuals of two Heliconius species exhibit true site fidelity. We further test this fidelity by measuring flight orientation during a translocation experiment, and by recapturing translocated butterflies to identify whether individuals return to their site of origin.
We found that non-translocated butterflies display extreme stability in site choice, and translocated butterflies consistently return to their site of origin, rapidly orientating towards their home site upon release. This suggests site fidelity in Heliconius is not solely explained by low dispersal, but is a response to the distribution and stability in ecological resources.
We further note that the ability to return to home sites when artificially dispersed suggests a sophisticated ability to navigate to specific spatial goals. Our study provides insights into the ecological drivers of site fidelity, a novel example distinct from nest building or group living, and opens an avenue of new research on navigational mechanisms in insects.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)572-582
Number of pages11
JournalFunctional Ecology
Volume36
Issue number3
Early online date26 Nov 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Mar 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors thank Tarik de Sousa Araújo for making the map in Figure 1, and Ezequias Viana de Moura from Empresa de Pesquisa Agropecuária do Rio Grande do Norte (EMPARN) for facilitating this work. The authors also thank L. E. Gilbert and reviewer 2 for critically reading the manuscript and suggesting substantial improvements. This work was partially supported by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior—Brasil (CAPES)—Finance Code 001 to P.A.M. S.H.M. was supported by a NERC IRF (NE/N014936/1) and ERC Starter Grant (758508). M.Z.C. was supported by a Productivity grant (CNPq; Proc 476617/2011-1 and 306985/2013-6).

Funding Information:
The authors thank Tarik de Sousa Araújo for making the map in Figure 1 , and Ezequias Viana de Moura from Empresa de Pesquisa Agropecuária do Rio Grande do Norte (EMPARN) for facilitating this work. The authors also thank L. E. Gilbert and reviewer 2 for critically reading the manuscript and suggesting substantial improvements. This work was partially supported by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior—Brasil (CAPES)—Finance Code 001 to P.A.M. S.H.M. was supported by a NERC IRF (NE/N014936/1) and ERC Starter Grant (758508). M.Z.C. was supported by a Productivity grant (CNPq; Proc 476617/2011‐1 and 306985/2013‐6).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 British Ecological Society

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