scholarly journals Parental control: ecology drives plasticity in parental response to offspring signals

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shana Caro ◽  
Adara C Velasco ◽  
Tjomme van Mastrigt ◽  
Kees van Oers ◽  
Ashleigh S Griffin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Availability ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Parus Major ◽  
Food Distribution ◽  
Offspring Quality ◽  
Information Availability ◽  
Parental Response ◽  
Signalling Systems

Different bird species have completely different parent-offspring interactions. When food is plentiful, the chicks that are begging the loudest are fed the most. When food is scarce, bird species instead feed the largest offspring. While this variation could be due to parents responding to signalling differently based on food availability, it could equally be due to offspring adjusting their behaviour, or to variation in information availability. We tested between these competing explanations experimentally, by manipulating food availability in a population of wild great tits, Parus major, while standardising offspring behaviour and size. We found that when food was more plentiful, parents were: (1) more likely to preferentially feed the chicks that were begging the most; and (2) less likely to preferentially feed larger chicks. In addition, we consistently found these same patterns, in a meta-analysis across 57 bird species. Overall, our results suggest that parents have more control over food distribution than offspring do, and that they flexibly adjust how they respond to both offspring signals and cues of offspring quality in response to food availability. Consequently, depending upon environmental conditions, predictably different signalling systems are favoured.

scholarly journals Sex differences in parental response to offspring begging are associated with pair bond strength across birds

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shana M Caro ◽  
Karleen Wu ◽  
Hans A Hofmann
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Bond Strength ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Pair Bond ◽  
Strongly Correlated ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Burden Of Care ◽  
Parental Response ◽  
Pair Bonds

Mothers, fathers, and offspring regularly clash over how much care offspring receive. Offspring beg to solicit for more resources--but how much begging is rewarded can depend on who is listening. While both parents benefit from provisioning offspring, each would benefit from their partner shouldering more of the burden of care, leading to sexual conflict. Additionally, if the costs and benefits of provisioning differ by sex, parent-offspring conflict should vary by sex. How these evolutionary conflicts influence sex differences in parent-offspring communication is unknown. To determine whether the sexes differ in their response to offspring signals, we conducted a meta-analysis on 30 bird species, comparing responsiveness to social and physiological traits affecting conflict. We found that a species' typical pair bond strength predicts whether males or females respond more to offspring begging. In species with stable and/or monogamous bonds, and thus lower sexual and paternal-offspring conflict, males' provisioning effort is more strongly correlated with offspring begging than females'. The opposite holds for species with weak pair bonds: females respond more to begging, perhaps compensating for males' lower responsiveness. These results demonstrate that sex differences in parental care can arise via sex differences in parent-offspring communication, driven by evolutionary conflicts.

HEALTH-STATE VARIABLES AND ENZYMATIC BIOMARKERS AS SURVIVAL PREDICTORS IN NESTLING GREAT TITS (PARUS MAJOR): EFFECTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS

The Auk ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 125 (4) ◽  
pp. 943-952 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. C. NORTE ◽  
J. A. RAMOS ◽  
P. M. ARAÚJO ◽  
J. P. SOUSA ◽  
B. C. SHELDON
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Parus Major ◽  
Health State ◽  
State Variables ◽  
Survival Predictors

Effects of ectoparasites on breeding success of great tits (Parus major) and pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca) in an air pollution gradient

1994 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
pp. 624-635 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tapio Eeva ◽  
Esa Lehikoinen ◽  
Jorma Nurmi
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Metals ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Breeding Success ◽  
Detrimental Effect ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Parus Major ◽  
Ficedula Hypoleuca ◽  
Nest Size ◽  
Minor Importance ◽  
Ceratophyllus Gallinae

Numbers of ectoparasitic blow fly (Protocalliphora azurea) larvae (Diptera: Calliphoridae), adult and larval hen fleas, Ceratophyllus gallinae (Siphonaptera: Ceratophyllidae), and other nest-dwelling insects were counted from the nests of the great tit, Parus major, and the pied flycatcher, Ficedula hypoleuca, in southwestern Finland around a factory complex emitting large quantities of sulphuric oxides and heavy metals. Protocalliphora azurea larvae were more frequently found in the nests of P. major than in those of F. hypoleuca. The prevalence of P. azurea larvae tended to be lower in polluted areas. The number of P. azurea larvae correlated positively with nest size and brood size of P. major. This may be caused by difficulties in sanitation of large and crowded nests. The numbers of fleas and their larvae were negatively affected by moisture in the nests. Nests of F. hypoleuca contained more adult fleas in polluted areas. This may indicate reduced resistance of birds exposed to heavy metals, but other possibilities are also discussed. We found a detrimental effect of P. azurea larvae on the growth of P. major nestlings, and an effect of fleas on mortality of F. hypoleuca nestlings, but these effects were not enhanced by air pollution. We conclude that the ectoparasites studied, at densities observed in our study area, are of minor importance in determining the breeding success of these two bird species.

Food supplementation and abundance estimation in the white-footed mouse

2006 ◽  
Vol 84 (8) ◽  
pp. 1210-1215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pei-Jen L. Shaner
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Food Availability ◽  
Robust Design ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Design Model ◽  
Food Supplementation ◽  
Abundance Estimates ◽  
Abundance Indices ◽  
Consumer Population ◽  
White Footed Mouse

Food availability often drives consumer population dynamics. However, food availability may also influence capture probability, which if not accounted for may create bias in estimating consumer abundance and confound the effects of food availability on consumer population dynamics. This study compared two commonly used abundance indices (minimum number alive (MNA) and number of animals captured per night per grid) with an abundance estimator based on robust design model as applied to the white-footed mouse ( Peromyscus leucopus (Rafinesque, 1818)) in food supplementation experiments. MNA consistently generated abundance estimates similar to the robust design model, regardless of food supplementation. The number of animals captured per night per grid, however, consistently generated lower abundance estimates compared with MNA and the robust design model. Nevertheless, the correlations between abundance estimates from MNA, number of animals captured, and robust design model were not influenced by food supplementation. This study demonstrated that food supplementation is not likely to create bias among these different measures of abundance. Therefore, there is a great potential for conducting meta-analysis of food supplementation effect on consumer population dynamics (particularly in small mammals) across studies using different abundance indices and estimators.

Effects of environmental conditions on the egg mass, yolk antioxidant level, eggshell thickness and eggshell spotting patterns of Great Tits (Parus major)

2016 ◽  
Vol 157 (4) ◽  
pp. 995-1006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rita Hargitai ◽  
Márton Herényi ◽  
Gergely Nagy ◽  
Zoltán Nyiri ◽  
Zsuzsanna Eke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Parus Major ◽  
Egg Mass ◽  
Eggshell Thickness

scholarly journals Food availability limits avian reproduction in the city: An experimental study on great tits Parus major

2020 ◽  
Vol 89 (7) ◽  
pp. 1570-1580 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gábor Seress ◽  
Krisztina Sándor ◽  
Karl L. Evans ◽  
András Liker
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Food Availability ◽  
Parus Major ◽  
Avian Reproduction ◽  
The City

Role of Sibling Aggression in Food Distribution to Nestling Cattle Egrets (Bubulcus Ibis)

The Auk ◽  
1986 ◽  
Vol 103 (4) ◽  
pp. 768-776 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bonnie J. Ploger ◽  
Douglas W. Mock
Keyword(s):  
Bird Species ◽  
Food Distribution ◽  
Sibling Aggression ◽  
Bubulcus Ibis ◽  
Main Effect ◽  
Ultimate Cause ◽  
Access To Food

Abstract Sibling aggression occurs in a wide variety of asynchronously hatching bird species. In some, fights among siblings lead inevitably to death, in which case the benefits of winning are clear. In species where sibling aggression is common but usually not fatal, the benefits gained by winning and the methods used to achieve them are less obvious. In a Texas colony of Cattle Egrets (Bubulcus ibis), sibling aggression was frequent but siblicide rare. Parents rarely interfered with fights. Last-hatched chicks lost more fights and received less food than their elder siblings. Fighting limited the losers' immediate access to food and contributed to the senior sib's ability to monopolize boluses. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that monopolizable food can act as both a proximate and ultimate cause of sibling aggression. The main effect of sibling aggression lay in depressing food supplies to last-hatched chicks. First- and second-hatched sibs accrued roughly equal feeding advantages.

scholarly journals Incorporating temporal heterogeneity in environmental conditions into a somatic growth model

2017 ◽  
Vol 74 (3) ◽  
pp. 316-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.C. Dzul ◽  
C.B. Yackulic ◽  
J. Korman ◽  
M.D. Yard ◽  
J.D. Muehlbauer
Keyword(s):  
Food Availability ◽  
Growth Model ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Colorado River ◽  
Growth Models ◽  
Somatic Growth ◽  
Environmental Data ◽  
Fish Growth ◽  
Positive Temperature ◽  
Environmental Controls

Evaluating environmental effects on fish growth can be challenging because environmental conditions may vary at relatively fine temporal scales compared with sampling occasions. Here we develop a Bayesian state-space growth model to evaluate effects of monthly environmental data on growth of fish that are observed less frequently (e.g., from mark–recapture data where time between captures can range from months to years). We assess effects of temperature, turbidity, food availability, flow variability, and trout abundance on subadult humpback chub (Gila cypha) growth in two rivers, the Colorado River (CR) and the Little Colorado River (LCR), and we use out-of-sample prediction to rank competing models. Environmental covariates explained a high proportion of the variation in growth in both rivers; however, the best growth models were river-specific and included either positive temperature and turbidity duration effects (CR) or positive temperature and food availability effects (LCR). Our approach to analyzing environmental controls on growth should be applicable in other systems where environmental data vary over relatively short time scales compared with animal observations.

scholarly journals A laboratory-calibrated model of coho salmon growth with utility for ecological analyses

2018 ◽  
Vol 75 (5) ◽  
pp. 682-690 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher V. Manhard ◽  
Nicholas A. Som ◽  
Russell W. Perry ◽  
John M. Plumb
Keyword(s):  
Food Availability ◽  
Coho Salmon ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Growth Patterns ◽  
Growth Data ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Klamath Basin ◽  
Constructed Ponds ◽  
Dependent Growth

We conducted a meta-analysis of laboratory- and hatchery-based growth data to estimate broadly applicable parameters of mass- and temperature-dependent growth of juvenile coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch). Following studies of other salmonid species, we incorporated the Ratkowsky growth model into an allometric model and fit this model to growth observations from eight studies spanning ten different populations. To account for changes in growth patterns with food availability, we reparameterized the Ratkowsky model to scale several of its parameters relative to ration. The resulting model was robust across a wide range of ration allocations and experimental conditions, accounting for 99% of the variation in final body mass. We fit this model to growth data from coho salmon inhabiting tributaries and constructed ponds in the Klamath Basin by estimating habitat-specific indices of food availability. The model produced evidence that constructed ponds provided higher food availability than natural tributaries. Because of their simplicity (only mass and temperature are required as inputs) and robustness, ration-varying Ratkowsky models have utility as an ecological tool for capturing growth in freshwater fish populations.

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