scholarly journals The early maternal environment shapes the parental response to offspring UV ornamentation

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge García-Campa ◽  
Wendt Müller ◽  
Ester Hernández-Correas ◽  
Judith Morales
Keyword(s):  
Egg Laying ◽  
Family Interactions ◽  
Cyanistes Caeruleus ◽  
Yellow Colour ◽  
Probability Of Survival ◽  
Parental Response ◽  
Parental Feeding ◽  
Behavioural Interactions ◽  
Future Reproduction ◽  
Intrinsic Capacity

AbstractParents allocate resources to offspring to increase their survival and to maximize their own fitness, while this investment implies costs to their condition and future reproduction. Parents are hence expected to optimally allocate their resources. They should invest equally in all their offspring under good conditions, but when parental capacity is limited, parents should invest in the offspring with the highest probability of survival. Such parental favouritism is facilitated by the fact that offspring have evolved condition-dependent traits to signal their quality to parents. In this study we explore whether the parental response to an offspring quality signal depends on the intrinsic capacity of the parents, here the female. We first manipulated the intrinsic capacity of blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) females through lutein-supplementation during egg laying, and we subsequently blocked the UV/yellow reflectance of breast feathers on half of the nestlings in each brood. We did not find evidence that the female intrinsic capacity shaped parental feeding or sibling competition according to offspring UV/yellow colouration. However, nestling UV/yellow colour affected costly behavioural interactions in the form of prey-testings (when a parent places a prey item into a nestling’s gape but removes it again). In lutein-supplemented nests, fathers but not mothers favoured UV-blocked chicks by testing them less often, supporting previous results. Accordingly, in lutein-supplemented nests, UV-blocked nestlings gained more mass than their siblings, while in control nests we found the opposite effect and UV-blocked nestlings gained less. Our results emphasize that the prenatal environment shaped the role of offspring UV/yellow colour during certain family interactions and are indicative for sex-specific parental care strategies.

 The Early Maternal Environment Shapes the Parental Response to Offspring UV Ornamentation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge García-Campa ◽  
Wendt Müller ◽  
Ester Hernández-Correas ◽  
Judith Morales
Keyword(s):  
Egg Laying ◽  
Family Interactions ◽  
Cyanistes Caeruleus ◽  
Offspring Quality ◽  
Probability Of Survival ◽  
Parental Response ◽  
Parental Feeding ◽  
Future Reproduction ◽  
Intrinsic Capacity

Abstract Parents allocate resources to offspring to increase their survival and to maximize their own fitness, while this investment implies costs to their condition and future reproduction. Parents are hence expected to optimally allocate their resources. They should invest equally in all their offspring under good conditions, but when parental capacity is limited, parents should invest in the offspring with the highest probability of survival. Such parental favouritism is facilitated by the fact that offspring have evolved condition-dependent traits to signal their quality to parents. In this study we explore whether the parental response to an offspring quality signal depends on the intrinsic capacity of the parents, here the female. We first manipulated the intrinsic capacity of blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) females through lutein-supplementation during egg laying, and we subsequently blocked the UV/yellow reflectance of breast feathers on half of the nestlings in each brood. However, we did not find evidence that the female intrinsic capacity shaped parental favouritism for offspring UV/yellow colouration, as there were no differences in parental feeding or sibling competition. However, we found that males were more responsive than females to nestling UV/yellow when rearing capacity was high, as indicated by the prey-testings (when a parent places a prey item into a nestling’s gape but removes it again). Furthermore, when considering a more integrative measure, offspring growth, we did find the expected interaction effect. In control nests, UV-blocked nestlings gained less body mass than their non-UV-blocked siblings, whereas in lutein-supplemented nests UV-blocked nestlings gained more mass than their siblings. Overall, our results emphasize the female’s environment at an early reproduction stage shaped the role of offspring UV/yellow during family interactions illustrating plasticity in parental feeding rules.

The termination of spring display by male spruce grouse, and commencement of egg laying by females

1991 ◽  
Vol 69 (12) ◽  
pp. 3000-3004
Author(s):  
Daniel M. Keppie
Keyword(s):  
Nesting Success ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Late Spring ◽  
Probability Of Survival ◽  
Female Attraction ◽  
Median Date

Whether the ability of males to attract renesting females (female attraction) adequately explains the termination, or the persistence, of display by male grouse in late spring was evaluated. In 7 of 8 years and (or) locations, advertising display (fluttering) by male spruce grouse (Dendragapus canadensis) at dawn ceased or became sporadic soon (≤9 days) after the median date on which females were estimated to have commenced laying eggs. Early cessation of display is consistent with the proposal that there is little reproductive gain for males in continuing to display if nesting success is high; hence, female nesting chronology drives the pattern of display by males in spring. Male–male interactions and colonizing effort, and the risk of display and the probability of survival to the next year, could also determine the timing of the cessation of display, and these factors are discussed, along with the female-attraction hypothesis.

Eggshell coloration indicates female condition during egg-laying: a field experiment in blue tits

2019 ◽  
Vol 128 (1) ◽  
pp. 181-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Jeanne Holveck ◽  
Romain Guerreiro ◽  
Philippe Perret ◽  
Claire Doutrelant ◽  
Arnaud Grégoire
Keyword(s):  
Paternal Care ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Laying Date ◽  
Structural Function ◽  
Cyanistes Caeruleus ◽  
Ground Colour ◽  
Female Condition ◽  
Female Quality ◽  
Blue Tits

AbstractSeveral selection pressures may explain the evolution of avian eggshell coloration patterns. In cavity-nesting species, there are two main non-exclusive hypotheses. The sexually selected eggshell colour hypothesis proposes that eggshell coloration is a sexually selected signal of female and offspring quality used by males that influences paternal care or future re-mating decisions. The structural function hypothesis proposes that pigments help strengthen the eggshell and are present at higher levels and at the blunt end of the egg when females face calcium shortages. We tested whether eggshell coloration (brown spots on a white ground colour) in blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) could reliably indicate female condition at laying by forcing females to produce two consecutive clutches, thus increasing their reproductive costs. Three measures of eggshell coloration – the area covered by spots as well as white ground UV-chroma and brightness – changed between clutches; the fourth measure, spot distribution, did not. The changes were more dramatic in young and lower-quality females. All the measures varied with female quality (i.e. body condition and/or laying date). Overall, higher-quality females produced more colourful (larger, more concentrated spotted surface area; higher UV-chroma) and less bright (i.e. putatively more pigmented) eggshells, a result that is generally in line with past research. We found a clear empirical link between eggshell coloration and female condition in blue tits, an important step in determining whether eggshell coloration is a sexual signal, but which does not exclude a potential concomitant structural function.

scholarly journals Prey selectivity and parental feeding rates of Blue Tits Cyanistes caeruleus in relation to nestling age

Bird Study ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 236-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vicente García-Navas ◽  
Esperanza S. Ferrer ◽  
Juan José Sanz
Keyword(s):  
Prey Selectivity ◽  
Feeding Rates ◽  
Cyanistes Caeruleus ◽  
Parental Feeding ◽  
Blue Tits

scholarly journals Parental antagonism and parent–offspring co-adaptation interact to shape family life

2012 ◽  
Vol 279 (1744) ◽  
pp. 3981-3988 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joël Meunier ◽  
Mathias Kölliker
Keyword(s):  
Parental Care ◽  
Family Life ◽  
Multiple Paternity ◽  
Maternal Investment ◽  
Family Interactions ◽  
Forficula Auricularia ◽  
Mothers And Fathers ◽  
The Family ◽  
Future Reproduction ◽  
Evolutionary Consequences

The family is an arena for conflicts between offspring, mothers and fathers that need resolving to promote the evolution of parental care and the maintenance of family life. Co-adaptation is known to contribute to the resolution of parent–offspring conflict over parental care by selecting for combinations of offspring demand and parental supply that match to maximize the fitness of family members. However, multiple paternity and differences in the level of care provided by mothers and fathers can generate antagonistic selection on offspring demand (mediated, for example, by genomic imprinting) and possibly hamper co-adaptation. While parent–offspring co-adaptation and parental antagonism are commonly considered two major processes in the evolution of family life, their co-occurrence and the evolutionary consequences of their joint action are poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate the simultaneous and entangled effects of these two processes on outcomes of family interactions, using a series of breeding experiments in the European earwig, Forficula auricularia , an insect species with uniparental female care. As predicted from parental antagonism, we show that paternally inherited effects expressed in offspring influence both maternal care and maternal investment in future reproduction. However, and as expected from the entangled effects of parental antagonism and co-adaptation, these effects critically depended on postnatal interactions with caring females and maternally inherited effects expressed in offspring. Our results demonstrate that parent–offspring co-adaptation and parental antagonism are entangled key drivers in the evolution of family life that cannot be fully understood in isolation.

scholarly journals The environmental predictors of spatio-temporal variation in the breeding phenology of a passerine bird

2019 ◽  
Vol 286 (1908) ◽  
pp. 20190952 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack D. Shutt ◽  
Irene Benedicto Cabello ◽  
Katharine Keogan ◽  
David I. Leech ◽  
Jelmer M. Samplonius ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Passerine Bird ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Laying Date ◽  
Reproductive Phenology ◽  
Breeding Phenology ◽  
Environmental Predictors ◽  
Cyanistes Caeruleus ◽  
Night Time ◽  
Lay Date ◽  
Nest Initiation

Establishing the cues or constraints that influence avian timing of breeding is the key to accurate prediction of future phenology. This study aims to identify the aspects of the environment that predict the timing of two measures of breeding phenology (nest initiation and egg laying date) in an insectivorous woodland passerine, the blue tit ( Cyanistes caeruleus ). We analyse data collected from a 220 km, 40-site transect over 3 years and consider spring temperatures, tree leafing phenology, invertebrate availability and photoperiod as predictors of breeding phenology. We find that mean night-time temperature in early spring is the strongest predictor of both nest initiation and lay date and suggest this finding is most consistent with temperature acting as a constraint on breeding activity. Birch budburst phenology significantly predicts lay date additionally to temperature, either as a direct cue or indirectly via a correlated variable. We use cross-validation to show that our model accurately predicts lay date in two further years and find that similar variables predict lay date well across the UK national nest record scheme. This work refines our understanding of the principal factors influencing the timing of tit reproductive phenology and suggests that temperature may have both a direct and indirect effect.

Sibling competition in Blue Tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) is stronger in homozygous broods

The Auk ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 136 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Morales ◽  
Iván Acevedo ◽  
Annie Machordom
Keyword(s):  
Mate Selection ◽  
Brood Size ◽  
Decision Rules ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Sibling Competition ◽  
Family Interactions ◽  
Sibling Conflict ◽  
Cyanistes Caeruleus ◽  
Behavioral Parameter ◽  
Affected Parent

Abstract Heterozygosity affects mate selection and can modulate interactions among family members and their fitness-related decisions. We studied whether nestling heterozygosity affected parent–offspring interactions and sib–sib competition in the Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) while controlling for the degree of relatedness among nestlings. Demanding environmental conditions might make the detection of heterozygosity-fitness correlations easier. Thus, we also investigated whether the decision rules of family members according to offspring heterozygosity were affected by brood size, as a proxy of the strength of sibling conflict. We found that chick individual heterozygosity was positively although weakly associated with individual body mass. Mean brood heterozygosity did not predict fledging success, but broods that fledged more chicks showed a higher number of less common alleles. Interestingly, fathers, but not mothers, favored heterozygous broods with many nestlings, that is, heterozygous broods with higher potential for sibling conflict. Moreover, the lower the mean brood heterozygosity the stronger the begging intensity when parents were absent, regardless of brood size. Finally, the degree of relatedness among nestlings was not associated with any behavioral parameter, supporting a more prominent role for heterozygosity in shaping intra-family interactions. Our findings suggest that offspring heterozygosity determines sex-specific rules of parental care and that genetic diversity is associated with lower sibling competition.

scholarly journals No relationship between female emergence time from the roosting place and extrapair paternity

2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 650-659 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lotte Schlicht ◽  
Mihai Valcu ◽  
Peter Loës ◽  
Alexander Girg ◽  
Bart Kempenaers
Keyword(s):  
Bird Species ◽  
Parus Major ◽  
Early Morning ◽  
Potential Effect ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Emergence Time ◽  
Cyanistes Caeruleus ◽  
Extrapair Paternity ◽  
Nest Box ◽  
Breeding Seasons

Abstract In several bird species, the period around dawn seems important for extrapair behavior. For example, a study on great tits (Parus major) showed that females that emerged earlier from their roosting place during the peak of their fertile period were more likely to have extrapair young in their brood. We investigated the potential effect of female emergence times on extrapair behavior in the blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus). First, we tested the relationship between natural female emergence times from the nest-box and the presence or frequency of extrapair offspring in the brood, using 4 years of data. Females progressively emerged earlier from the nest-box as egg laying approached, with the earliest emergence 2 days before the start of laying. However, we found no relationship between female emergence time and the occurrence of extrapair young in the brood. Secondly, in 2 breeding seasons, we experimentally advanced female emergence times by supplying the roosting females with additional light in the early morning. Although the experiment had inconsistent effects on the occurrence of extrapair young in the brood, we found no evidence that female emergence time during peak fertility is directly linked to extrapair paternity. Interestingly, females exposed to artificial light were more likely to return to breed in the next year.

scholarly journals Sex differences in the response to environmental cues regulating seasonal reproduction in birds

2007 ◽  
Vol 363 (1490) ◽  
pp. 231-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory F Ball ◽  
Ellen D Ketterson
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Reproductive Fitness ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Seasonal Reproduction ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
Time Reproduction ◽  
Fitness Consequences ◽  
Nesting Sites ◽  
Behavioural Interactions ◽  
Males And Females

Although it is axiomatic that males and females differ in relation to many aspects of reproduction related to physiology, morphology and behaviour, relatively little is known about possible sex differences in the response to cues from the environment that control the timing of seasonal breeding. This review concerns the environmental regulation of seasonal reproduction in birds and how this process might differ between males and females. From an evolutionary perspective, the sexes can be expected to differ in the cues they use to time reproduction. Female reproductive fitness typically varies more as a function of fecundity selection, while male reproductive fitness varies more as a function sexual selection. Consequently, variation in the precision of the timing of egg laying is likely to have more serious fitness consequences for females than for males, while variation in the timing of recrudescence of the male testes and accompanying territory establishment and courtship are likely to have more serious fitness consequences for males. From the proximate perspective, sex differences in the control of reproduction could be regulated via the response to photoperiod or in the relative importance and action of supplementary factors (such as temperature, food supply, nesting sites and behavioural interactions) that adjust the timing of reproduction so that it is in step with local conditions. For example, there is clear evidence in several temperate zone avian species that females require both supplementary factors and long photoperiods in order for follicles to develop, while males can attain full gonadal size based on photoperiodic stimulation alone. The neuroendocrine basis of these sex differences is not well understood, though there are many candidate mechanisms in the brain as well as throughout the entire hypothalamo–pituitary–gonadal axis that might be important.

scholarly journals Experimental evidence that UV/yellow colouration functions as a signal of parental quality in the blue tit

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge García-Campa ◽  
Wendt Müller ◽  
Judith Morales
Keyword(s):  
Behavioural Change ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Life History Stage ◽  
Family Interactions ◽  
Blue Tit ◽  
Cyanistes Caeruleus ◽  
Quality Signal ◽  
Parental Quality ◽  
Behavioural Strategies

AbstractIn bi-parental species, reproduction is not only a crucial life-history stage where individuals must take fitness-relevant decisions, but these decisions also need to be adjusted to the behavioural strategies of a partner. Hence, communication is required, which could be facilitated by condition-dependent signals of parental quality. Yet, these traits have (co-)evolved in multiple contexts within the family, as during reproduction different family members may coincide and interact at the site of breeding. In this study we explore whether a condition-dependent trait acts a quality signal and regulates intra-family interactions in a bird species, the blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus). As a family is a complex network where signals could be perceived by multiple receivers, we expected that experimentally blocking the reflectance of an adult’s UV/yellow colouration of breast feathers may affect the behavioural strategies of all family members. We found an increase of parental investment in nests with an UV-blocked adult, as the partner compensated for the perceived lower rearing capacity. As the UV-blocked adult did not change its provisioning behaviour, as was to be expected, their partner must have responded to the (manipulated) signal but not to a behavioural change. However, offspring did not co-adjust their begging intensity to a signal of parental quality. Opposite to adults, we propose that offspring respond to the behaviour but not to the parental signal. Overall, our results show experimentally at the first time that UV/yellow colouration of blue tits acts as a quality signal revealing the rearing capacity to mates.

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