Effects of predator call playbacks on reproductive success and extrapair paternity in blue tits

Repeatable behavioural traits (‘personality’) have been shown to covary with fitness, but it remains poorly understood how such behaviour–fitness relationships come about. We applied a multivariate approach to reveal the mechanistic pathways by which variation in exploratory and aggressive behaviour is translated into variation in reproductive success in a natural population of blue tits, Cyanistes caeruleus . Using path analysis, we demonstrate a key role for provisioning behaviour in mediating the link between personality and reproductive success (number of fledged offspring). Aggressive males fed their nestlings at lower rates than less aggressive individuals. At the same time, their low parental investment was associated with increased female effort, thereby positively affecting fledgling production. Whereas male exploratory behaviour was unrelated to provisioning behaviour and reproductive success, fast-exploring females fed their offspring at higher rates and initiated breeding earlier, thus increasing reproductive success. Our findings provide strong support for specific mechanistic pathways linking components of behavioural syndromes to reproductive success. Importantly, relationships between behavioural phenotypes and reproductive success were obscured when considering simple bivariate relationships, underlining the importance of adopting multivariate views and statistical tools as path analysis to the study of behavioural evolution.

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Do glucocorticoids predict fitness? Linking environmental conditions, corticosterone and reproductive success in the blue tit, Cyanistes caeruleus

Royal Society Open Science ◽

10.1098/rsos.170875 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 4 (10) ◽

pp. 170875 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

L. J. Henderson ◽

N. P. Evans ◽

B. J. Heidinger ◽

K. A. Herborn ◽

K. E. Arnold

Keyword(s):

Reproductive Success ◽

Environmental Conditions ◽

Empirical Studies ◽

Blue Tit ◽

Cyanistes Caeruleus ◽

Free Living ◽

Brood Rearing ◽

Fledging Success ◽

Harsh Conditions ◽

Blue Tits

Glucocorticoids, including corticosterone (CORT), have been suggested to provide a physiological link between ecological conditions and fitness. Specifically, CORT, which is elevated in response to harsh conditions, is predicted to be correlated with reduced fitness. Yet, empirical studies show that CORT can be non-significantly, positively and negatively linked with fitness. Divergent environmental conditions between years or study systems may influence whether CORT is linked to fitness. To test this, we monitored free-living blue tits ( Cyanistes caeruleus ) during breeding over 3 years. We quantified foraging conditions during brood rearing, and examined whether they were correlated with parental baseline CORT and reproductive success. We then tested whether CORT predicted fitness. Elevated parental CORT was associated with lower temperatures, greater rainfall and lower territory-scale oak density. Whereas asynchrony with the caterpillar food peak was correlated with reduced nestling mass and fledging success, but not parental CORT. Only low temperatures were associated with both reduced nestling mass and elevated parental CORT. Despite this, parents with elevated CORT had lighter offspring in all years. Contrarily, in 2009 parental CORT was positively correlated with the number fledged. The absence of a direct link between the foraging conditions that reduce nestling quality and elevate parental CORT suggests that parental CORT may provide a holistic measure of conditions where parents are working harder to meet the demands of developing young. As the positive correlation between parental CORT and fledging success differed between years, this suggests that contrasting conditions between years can influence correlations between parental CORT and fitness. Ultimately, as CORT concentrations are intrinsically variable and linked to the prevalent conditions, studies that incorporate environmental harshness will improve our understanding of evolutionary endocrinology.

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Male parental care, female reproductive success, and extrapair paternity

Behavioral Ecology ◽

10.1093/beheco/11.2.161 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 161-168 ◽

Cited By ~ 122

Author(s):

A. P. Moller

Keyword(s):

Reproductive Success ◽

Parental Care ◽

Female Reproductive Success ◽

Extrapair Paternity

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Early birds are sexy: male age, dawn song and extrapair paternity in blue tits, Cyanistes (formerly Parus) caeruleus

Animal Behaviour ◽

10.1016/j.anbehav.2005.10.022 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 72 (3) ◽

pp. 531-538 ◽

Cited By ~ 115

Author(s):

Angelika Poesel ◽

Hansjoerg P. Kunc ◽

Katharina Foerster ◽

Arild Johnsen ◽

Bart Kempenaers

Keyword(s):

Parus Caeruleus ◽

Extrapair Paternity ◽

Male Age ◽

Dawn Song ◽

Blue Tits

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Extrapair Paternity Increases Variability in Male Reproductive Success in the Chestnut-Sided Warbler (Dendroica pensylvanica), A Socially Monogamous Songbird

The Auk ◽

10.2307/4090315 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 121 (3) ◽

pp. 788-795 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Bruce E. Byers ◽

Herman L. Mays, ◽

David F. Westneat

Keyword(s):

Reproductive Success ◽

Male Reproductive Success ◽

Extrapair Paternity ◽

Socially Monogamous ◽

Dendroica Pensylvanica

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Extrapair Paternity Increases Variability in Male Reproductive Success in the Chestnut-Sided Warbler (Dendroica Pensylvanica), A Socially Monogamous Songbird

The Auk ◽

10.1093/auk/121.3.788 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 121 (3) ◽

pp. 788-795

Author(s):

Bruce E. Byers ◽

Herman L. Mays ◽

Ian R. K. Stewart ◽

David F. Westneat

Keyword(s):

Sexual Selection ◽

Reproductive Success ◽

Dna Typing ◽

Bird Species ◽

Male Reproductive Success ◽

Extrapair Paternity ◽

Bird Populations ◽

Monogamous Species ◽

Socially Monogamous ◽

Dendroica Pensylvanica

Abstract A monogamous mating system that includes extrapair fertilization can potentially generate higher variability in male reproductive success than monogamy without extrapair fertilization. That increased variability could provide a correspondingly higher opportunity for sexual selection and, thus, for the origin and persistence of sexual dimorphism in monogamous species. To determine whether extrapair fertilization enhanced the opportunity for sexual selection in a sexually dimorphic, monogamous bird species, we used microsatellite DNA typing to assess the prevalence of extrapair fertilization and its effect on variation in male reproductive success in a population of Chestnut-sided Warblers (Dendroica pensylvanica). We found that the level of extrapair fertilization in our study population was at the upper end of the range reported for bird populations (47% of nestlings had extrapair fathers; 61% of broods contained extrapair offspring). We also discovered that almost all extrapair offspring were sired by paired males resident on nearby territories. In addition, we found that variation in male reproductive success was substantially higher than variation in female reproductive success, and that extrapair fertilizations made a significant contribution to variation in male reproductive success. Together, those findings suggest that extrapair fertilization creates an opportunity for sexual selection on male traits in this population.

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Relationship between Intensity of Blowfly Infestation and Reproductive Success in a Corsican Population of Blue Tits

Journal of Avian Biology ◽

10.2307/3676980 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 28 (3) ◽

pp. 267 ◽

Cited By ~ 33

Author(s):

Sylvie Hurtrez-Bousses ◽

Jacques Blondel ◽

Philippe Perret ◽

Francois Renaud

Keyword(s):

Reproductive Success ◽

Blue Tits

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Analysis of within-individual variation in extrapair paternity in blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) shows low repeatability and little effect of changes in neighborhood

Behavioral Ecology ◽

10.1093/beheco/araa069 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 31 (6) ◽

pp. 1303-1315 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Kristina B Beck ◽

Mihai Valcu ◽

Bart Kempenaers

Keyword(s):

Individual Variation ◽

Social Partner ◽

Phenotypic Traits ◽

Adult Males ◽

Cyanistes Caeruleus ◽

Extrapair Paternity ◽

Individual Level ◽

Alternative Hypotheses ◽

Breeding Seasons ◽

Blue Tits

Abstract Many studies investigated variation in the frequency of extrapair paternity (EPP) among individuals. However, our understanding of within-individual variation in EPP remains limited. Here, we comprehensively investigate variation in EPP at the within-individual level in a population of blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus). Our study is based on parentage data comprising >10 000 genotyped offspring across 11 breeding seasons. First, we examined the repeatability of the occurrence of EPP, the number of extrapair offspring, the number of extrapair partners, and the occurrence of paternity loss using data from males and females that bred in multiple years. Second, we tested whether within-individual changes in EPP between breeding seasons relate to between-year changes in the local social environment. Repeatabilities were generally low but significant for the occurrence and number of extrapair young in females and for whether a male sired extrapair young or not. We found no evidence that the presence of the former social partner or changes in the proportion of familiar individuals or in phenotypic traits of the neighbors influenced changes in levels of EPP in females. However, in adult males, a decrease in the average body size of male neighbors was associated with higher extrapair siring success. If confirmed, this result suggests that the competitive ability of a male relative to its neighbors influences his extrapair mating success. We suggest that alternative hypotheses, including the idea that within-individual changes in EPP are due to “chance events” rather than changes in an individual’s social breeding environment, deserve more consideration.

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