Date of Award
4-6-2018
Document Type
Honors Thesis
Department
Mathematics
First Advisor
Shandelle M. Henson
Abstract
Protection Island, Washington hosts a large colony of Glaucous-winged gulls (Larus glaucescens). These birds are known to exhibit every-other-day egg-laying synchrony in dense areas of the colony in response to egg cannibalism, which is the main source of egg loss. Here we present an equilibrium analysis of a discrete-time animal behavior model for egg laying. We use Jury Conditions to find the stability criteria for the equilibrium as a function of the colony density and show that a 2-cycle bifurcation occurs when the equilibrium loses stability. The 2-cycle pattern in egg laying becomes increasingly synchronous as the colony density increases. We also show that egg-laying synchrony benefits the colony by allowing more eggs to survive cannibalism.
Recommended Citation
Gallos, Dorothea and Gallos, Christiane, "A Note on the Onset of Synchronous Egg Laying in a Seabird Behavior Model" (2018). Honors Theses. 174.
https://dx.doi.org/10.32597/honors/174/
https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/honors/174
Subject Area
Glaucous-winged gull; Sea birds--Eggs; Sea birds--Behavior; Protection Island (Wash.)
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
DOI
https://dx.doi.org/10.32597/honors/174/
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