Male Parental Care and Extrapair Copulations in the Indigo Bunting

The Auk ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 105 (1) ◽  
pp. 149-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
David F. Westneat
Keyword(s):  
Parental Care ◽  
Breeding Season ◽  
Brood Size ◽  
Current Theory ◽  
Mating Effort ◽  
Parental Effort ◽  
Young Males ◽  
Passerina Cyanea ◽  
Male Care ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Levels of parental care by male Indigo Buntings (Passerina cyanea) were predicted to be lower and the tendency to pursue extrapair matings greater when (1) the opportunity of additional matings (extrapair copulations) was high, (2) the male was cuckolded, and (3) the clutch or brood size was small. Observations of male care revealed that approximately 10% of all males fed nestlings at least once, whereas more than 30% fed fledglings. Males in their first breeding season were never seen feeding young. Males made more trips off their territories when females were fertilizable on nearby territories, but other measures of parental care (feeding young and time spent within 10 m of nest) were not affected. Cuckolded males (known through genetic analyses of parents and offspring) tended to feed young less often, but forayed off their territories significantly less than apparently uncuckolded males. Finally, males with small clutches or broods gave slightly, but not significantly, less care than males with large clutches or broods. These results suggest that the relationship between mating effort and parental effort is complicated by the presence of extrapair copulations as a type of mating effort, and that factors not included in current theory on parental care might influence a male's parental care.

Energy Expenditure in Reproductive Effort of Male and Female Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)

The Auk ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 105 (3) ◽  
pp. 553-564 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dianne H. Brunton
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Energy Expenditure ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Breeding Season ◽  
Reproductive Effort ◽  
Mating Effort ◽  
Parental Effort ◽  
Nest Failure ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Charadrius Vociferus

Abstract The reproductive investment strategies of the sexes during the breeding season are detailed for Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus), a monogamous plover. I measured the energy investments of the sexes in reproductive, mating, and parental effort. As predicted, males expend more mating effort than females; however, the sexes expend equal amounts of parental effort. Total energy expenditure in reproductive effort (mating and parental effort) during a successful nesting attempt was also equal for the sexes. However, early parental effort expenditures by females, early mating effort expenditures by males, and high rates of nest failure combine to result in female reproductive energy expenditures being significantly higher over the breeding season. This suggests that energy expenditure alone is not adequate for accurate comparisons of the relative investments of the sexes. Studies investigating male and female investments need to consider the degree and pattern of nest failures along with patterns of energy expenditure. The advantages to male and female Killdeer of sharing parental care is demonstrated using adult removal experiments. In general, a deserted parent expends more energy in parental effort than a bi-parental parent and has significantly lower reproductive success. However, males are able to hatch chicks, whereas females lose or abandon their nests within a few days of mate removal. Thus, monogamy in Killdeer appears to result from high nest failure rates, the necessity of two parents for any reproductive success, and the generalizable nature of Killdeer parental care.

scholarly journals Tri-axial accelerometry shows differences in energy expenditure and parental effort throughout the breeding season in long-lived raptors

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pascual LÓPEZ-LÓPEZ ◽  
Arturo M PERONA ◽  
Olga EGEA-CASAS ◽  
Jon ETXEBARRIA MORANT ◽  
Vicente URIOS
Keyword(s):  
Energy Expenditure ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Breeding Season ◽  
Video Recording ◽  
Experimental Manipulation ◽  
Biparental Care ◽  
Breeding Ecology ◽  
Parental Effort ◽  
Ecological Data ◽  
Movement Trajectories

Abstract Cutting-edge technologies are extremely useful to develop new workflows in studying ecological data, particularly to understand animal behaviour and movement trajectories at the individual level. Although parental care is a well-studied phenomenon, most studies have been focused on direct observational or video recording data, as well as experimental manipulation. Therefore, what happens out of our sight still remains unknown. Using high-frequency GPS/GSM dataloggers and tri-axial accelerometers we monitored 25 Bonelli’s eagles (Aquila fasciata) during the breeding season to understand parental activities from a broader perspective. We used recursive data, measured as number of visits and residence time, to reveal nest attendance patterns of biparental care with role specialization between sexes. Accelerometry data interpreted as the Overall Dynamic Body Acceleration, a proxy of energy expenditure, showed strong differences in parental effort throughout the breeding season and between sexes. Thereby, males increased substantially their energetic requirements, due to the increased workload, while females spent most of the time on the nest. Furthermore, during critical phases of the breeding season, a low percentage of suitable hunting spots in eagles’ territories led them to increase their ranging behaviour in order to find food, with important consequences in energy consumption and mortality risk. Our results highlight the crucial role of males in raptor species exhibiting biparental care. Finally, we exemplify how biologging technologies are an adequate and objective method to study parental care in raptors as well as to get deeper insight into breeding ecology of birds in general.

scholarly journals Sexual selection favours male parental care, when females can choose

2011 ◽  
Vol 279 (1734) ◽  
pp. 1784-1790 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne H. Alonzo
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Female Choice ◽  
Mating Success ◽  
Current Theory ◽  
Sharp Contrast ◽  
Recent Theory ◽  
Extra Pair Paternity ◽  
Female Promiscuity ◽  
Male Care

Explaining the evolution of male care has proved difficult. Recent theory predicts that female promiscuity and sexual selection on males inherently disfavour male care. In sharp contrast to these expectations, male-only care is often found in species with high extra-pair paternity and striking variation in mating success, where current theory predicts female-only care. Using a model that examines the coevolution of male care, female care and female choice; I show that inter-sexual selection can drive the evolution of male care when females are able to bias mating or paternity towards parental males. Surprisingly, female choice for parental males allows male care to evolve despite low relatedness between the male and the offspring in his care. These results imply that predicting how sexual selection affects parental care evolution will require further understanding of why females, in many species, either do not prefer or cannot favour males that provide care.

scholarly journals Effect of mate size on maternal reproductive effort in the convict cichlid Amatitlania siquia

2012 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashley R. Robart
Keyword(s):  
Parental Care ◽  
Standard Length ◽  
Reproductive Investment ◽  
Differential Allocation ◽  
Mate Quality ◽  
Convict Cichlids ◽  
Male Care ◽  
Female Investment ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Amatitlania Siquia

Abstract The differential allocation hypothesis predicts individuals will increase their reproductive investment when mated to a high quality partner. In many species of fish with biparental care females prefer large males due to the males’ greater ability to raise more offspring to independence. I examined the relationship between mate quality, parental care and number of offspring in a natural population of convict cichlids Amatitlania siquia. The frequency of frontal displays by females was positively correlated with male standard length. Additionally, as males increased in length relative to their mate, females increased the frequency of chases towards predators, while males decreased the number of displays towards brood predators. This trade-off in parental effort within a pair due to mate quality is a key prediction of differential allocation. The number of offspring was correlated with male, but not female, standard length. These results support the differential allocation hypothesis in that females offered more parental care to offspring of a larger male, while their mates decreased the amount of care they provided. Additionally, females benefited in terms of number of offspring by pairing with higher quality mates. Increased female investment may provide an incentive to ensure male care and maintain pair bonding, which could lead to greater reproductive success through increased offspring survival.

Increase of Parental Effort with Brood Size in a Nidifugous Bird

The Auk ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 104 (4) ◽  
pp. 688-693 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Schindler ◽  
Jürg Lamprecht
Keyword(s):  
Parental Care ◽  
Brood Size ◽  
Detailed Examination ◽  
Feeding Time ◽  
Parental Effort ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Altricial Birds ◽  
Precocial Birds ◽  
Positive Correlations ◽  
Anser Indicus

Abstract Positive correlations of brood size with some parental activities [vigilance (in females), approaching young (in males and females), and attack (in males)] and a negative correlation of female feeding time with brood size were found in a sample of 23 semicaptive Bar-headed Goose (Anser indicus) families. Detailed examination of these correlations suggests that some components of parental care in geese represent "shared parental investment" (Lazarus and Inglis 1978, 1986). The benefits of parental care are divided among the offspring, so that in precocial birds, as in altricial birds, clutch size may be adapted to selection pressures that act after the young hatch.

scholarly journals Sperm competition games when males invest in paternal care

2017 ◽  
Vol 284 (1860) ◽  
pp. 20171266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gustavo S. Requena ◽  
Suzanne H. Alonzo
Keyword(s):  
Sperm Competition ◽  
Mating Systems ◽  
Paternal Care ◽  
Offspring Survival ◽  
Parental Effort ◽  
Integrative Framework ◽  
Female Promiscuity ◽  
Male Care ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Relationship

Sperm competition games investigate how males partition limited resources between pre- and post-copulatory competition. Although extensive research has explored how various aspects of mating systems affect this allocation, male allocation between mating, fertilization and parental effort has not previously been considered. Yet, paternal care can be energetically expensive and males are generally predicted to adjust their parental effort in response to expected paternity. Here, we incorporate parental effort into sperm competition games, particularly exploring how the relationship between paternal care and offspring survival affects sperm competition and the relationship between paternity and paternal care. Our results support existing expectations that (i) fertilization effort should increase with female promiscuity and (ii) paternal care should increase with expected paternity. However, our analyses also reveal that the cost of male care can drive the strength of these patterns. When paternal behaviour is energetically costly, increased allocation to parental effort constrains allocation to fertilization effort. As paternal care becomes less costly, the association between paternity and paternal care weakens and may even be absent. By explicitly considering variation in sperm competition and the cost of male care, our model provides an integrative framework for predicting the interaction between paternal care and patterns of paternity.

Parental-care responses by yellow warblers (Dendroica petechia) to simultaneous manipulations of food abundance and brood size

1998 ◽  
Vol 76 (5) ◽  
pp. 916-924 ◽  
Author(s):  
G A Lozano ◽  
R E Lemon
Keyword(s):  
Parental Care ◽  
Brood Size ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Food Abundance ◽  
Biparental Care ◽  
Parental Effort ◽  
Dendroica Petechia ◽  
Supplemental Food ◽  
Yellow Warblers ◽  
Partial Compensation

Theoretical models view biparental care as a state of equilibrium that can be maintained only when the amount of parental care provided by one parent depends on the amount provided by its mate. According to these models, biparental care results when a decrease in the contribution of one parent is partially, but not completely, compensated for by an increase in the contribution of the other parent. Furthermore, this equilibrium state can only be stable if any other external factor affects male and female effort equally. We used yellow warblers (Dendroica petechia) to examine whether changes in brood size and food abundance affect the parental contributions of the sexes equally. Supplemental food did not affect parental care by either sex, but brood size did. Both males and females provided more to larger broods, and in large broods only, their provisioning rates increased with nestling age. Parental effort per nestling was similar in the two sexes, being higher for smaller broods and increasing with nestling age. Based on brood biomass, parental effort was greater for smaller broods, and decreased with nestling age in females only. Therefore, in agreement with current models of the maintenance of biparental care, the effects of brood size and nestling age on parental care did not differ significantly between the sexes. Nonetheless, data from other species and theory indicate that the costs and benefits of providing parental care differ between the sexes, so it is unlikely that biparental care can be maintained solely by a partial compensation response.

The Relationship Between Individual Differences in Male Song Frequency and Parental Care in Blackcaps

Behaviour ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 126 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Dittami ◽  
Maria Hoi-Leitner ◽  
Heidrun Nechtelberger
Keyword(s):  
Parental Care ◽  
Breeding Season ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Parental Behavior ◽  
Alarm Call ◽  
Feeding Rates ◽  
Fitness Benefits ◽  
Song Frequency ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractSong rates in male blackcaps were examined over the course of the breeding season and compared with various aspects of mating and later parental behavior in individual birds. Song rates decreased steadily over the breeding season although relative individual rates remained constant. Early territory holders sang more and mated faster than late-comers. Song frequency was positively related to alarm call frequency during nesting but negatively related to male incubation and offspring feeding rates. Surprisingly, under the conditions studied, higher song rates were indicative of higher nesting success. This demonstrates the potential role of song frequency in the advertisement of territorial quality. There may well be either environmentally dependent differences in parental care as adaptations to temperature, food or predation pressure or simply a trade-off for males between singing and parental care, where early arriving males derive greater fitness benefits from singing, while late arriving males benefit more from engaging in parental care.

Defence as Parental Care in Tawny Owls (Strix Aluco)

Behaviour ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 102 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 213-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kjell Wallin
Keyword(s):  
Parental Care ◽  
Body Mass ◽  
Breeding Season ◽  
Brood Size ◽  
Lower Probability ◽  
Female Age ◽  
Strix Aluco ◽  
Expected Gain ◽  
Breeding Failure ◽  
Defence Behaviour

AbstractParental defence was studied during the breeding season with individually marked tawny owls (Strix aluco). Attacking tawny owls pose a serious threat to an intruder because of their dangerous talons. As predicted by theory, parental defence was positively correlated with offspring age and brood size. Pairs with equal numbers of offspring but with different initial clutch sizes showed equal defence levels. The level of defence is therefore determined more by expected gain in number of offspring produced than by cumulative investment. Pairs breeding early in the season defended more strongly than those breeding later on. This was partly explained by a seasonal decrease in brood size, but the trend also persisted within each brood size. One possible explanation is that the probability of breeding failure increase as the breeding season progresses, making a risky defence less worthwhile for late-breeding pairs. The level of defence was positively correlated with the female's body mass. Defence behaviour did not change significantly with female age. Females in pairs that defended their offspring had a lower probability of breeding the following season than did females in non-defending pairs. Individual females changed their defence behaviour between years in relation to their seasonal start of breeding, suggesting that parental defence is a plastic behaviour.

Natural Variation in a Testosterone-Mediated Trade-off between Mating Effort and Parental Effort

2007 ◽  
Vol 170 (6) ◽  
pp. 864
Author(s):  
McGlothlin ◽  
Jodie M. Jawor ◽  
Ketterson
Keyword(s):  
Natural Variation ◽  
Mating Effort ◽  
Parental Effort ◽  
Trade Off
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