Data from: Consistency pays: sex differences and fitness consequences of behavioural specialisation in a wide ranging seabird

Specialists and generalists often coexist within a single population, but
the biological drivers of individual strategies are not fully resolved.
When sexes differ in their foraging strategy, this can lead them to
different environmental conditions and stability across their habitat
range. As such, sexual segregation, combined with dominance, may lead to
varying levels of specialization between the sexes. Here, we examine
spatial and temporal niche width (intraindividual variability in aspects
of foraging behaviour) of male and female black-browed albatrosses
(Thalassarche melanophrys), and its consequences for fitness. We show that
females, where maximum foraging range is under fluctuating selection,
exhibit more variable behaviours and appear more generalist than males,
who are under directional selection to forage close to the colony. However
within each sex, successful birds had a much narrower niche width across
most behaviours, suggesting some specialization is adaptive in both sexes.
These results demonstrate that while there are sex differences in niche
width, the fitness benefit of specialization in spatial distribution is
strong in this wide-ranging seabird.