Song Rate Correlates With Paternal Care and Survival in Willow Tits: Advertisement of Male Quality?

Behaviour ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 134 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 891-904 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seppo O. Rytkonen ◽  
Markku I. Orell ◽  
Kari T. Koivula ◽  
P. Petteri Welling
Keyword(s):  
Parental Care ◽  
Paternal Care ◽  
Nest Defence ◽  
Male Quality ◽  
Willow Tit ◽  
Feeding Effort ◽  
Dawn Song ◽  
Female Survival ◽  
Predator Model ◽  
Nestling Feeding

AbstractDawn song in birds may advertise male quality in terms of parental care and/or survival. Males who sing most may also be the best parents, and eager singing may also reflect good chances of a male's or his mate's survival. These relationships were studied in the willow tit Parus montanus, a species with a simple and relatively non-variant song. Song output was expressed as the proportion of time a male spent singing at dawn. Later in the breeding season, two aspects of parental care, nest defence and feeding effort, were measured in the same males. High song output was associated with more intense nest defence behaviour (eager singers attacked the predator model more often and approached closer to it) and high nestling feeding effort. However, reproductive success was not associated with song output, although males with high song rates tended to be more likely to produce recruits. Males who survived to the next year had higher song intensity than males who did not survive, while female survival was not correlated with song output of her mate. The results suggest that dawn song in the willow tit advertises male quality. Some aspects of honest advertisement and female choice are discussed.

scholarly journals Extra-pair mating opportunities mediate parenting and mating effort trade-offs in a songbird

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 421-431 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Lv ◽  
Zhengwang Zhang ◽  
Frank Groenewoud ◽  
Sjouke A Kingma ◽  
Jianqiang Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Parental Care ◽  
Paternal Care ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Central China ◽  
Male Quality ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Pair Mating ◽  
Mating Opportunities ◽  
Extra Pair Mating

Abstract In socially monogamous species with bi-parental care, males may face a trade-off between providing parental care and pursuing extra-pair matings. The “parenting-mating trade-off” hypothesis predicts that high-quality males—who have greater potential to gain extra-pair matings, for example, larger males usually win the competition for extra-pair mating—should reduce parental care and spend more time looking for extra-pair matings. However, the trade-off between parenting and mating efforts may be complicated by variation in the availability of extra-pair mating opportunities. By using field data of hair-crested drongos (Dicrurus hottentottus), a species exhibiting bi-parental incubation behavior, collected in central China from 2010 to 2017, we tested whether the potential negative relationship between male quality and paternal care was dependent on the number of nearby fertile females. We found that male drongos mainly seek extra-pair matings during the incubation period and high-quality individuals (males with longer tarsi) are more likely to sire extra-pair offspring. In agreement with the “parenting-mating trade-off” hypothesis, high-quality males incubated less by recessing longer between incubation bouts. However, this was only the case when sufficient fertile females nearby for extra-pair mating opportunities. Females compensated for reduced male care, but this was independent of male quality. This suggests that the reduction in care by high-quality males might be a direct response to extra-pair mating opportunities rather than facilitated by differential allocation of females. Our results indicate that individual quality and available mating opportunities may shape the optimal trade-off between parental care and seeking additional matings for males.

Costs of parasite resistance for female survival and parental care in a freshwater isopod

Oikos ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 114 (2) ◽  
pp. 322-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiina Hasu ◽  
E. Tellervo Valtonen ◽  
Jukka Jokela
Keyword(s):  
Parental Care ◽  
Parasite Resistance ◽  
Female Survival

Show me you care: female mate choice based on egg attendance rather than male or territorial traits

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 1054-1064 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anyelet Valencia-Aguilar ◽  
Kelly R Zamudio ◽  
Célio F B Haddad ◽  
Steve M Bogdanowicz ◽  
Cynthia P A Prado
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Paternal Care ◽  
Genetic Relatedness ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Male Reproductive Success ◽  
Offspring Survival ◽  
Territory Quality ◽  
Female Mate

Abstract Female mate choice is often based on male traits, including signals or behaviors, and/or the quality of a male’s territory. In species with obligate paternal care, where care directly affects offspring survival, females may also base their mate choices on the quality of a sire’s care. Here, we quantified male reproductive success in a natural population of the glass frog Hyalinobatrachium cappellei, a species with male parental care, to determine the influence of territory quality, male traits, and paternal care behaviors on female mate choice. We found that attending males have a higher chance of gaining new clutches than nonattending males. Our results indicate that females do not select males based only on body condition, calling persistence, or territory traits. Instead, our findings support the hypothesis that females choose males based on care status. Indeed, males already attending a clutch were 70% more likely to obtain another clutch, and the time to acquire an additional clutch was significantly shorter. We also found that males adjust their parental care effort in response to genetic relatedness by caring only for their own offspring; however, remaining close to unrelated clutches serves as a strategy to attract females and increase chances of successful mating. Thus, males that establish territories that already contain clutches benefit from the signal eggs provide to females.

scholarly journals Nest Building is an Indicator of Parental Quality in the Monogamous Neotropical Buff-Breasted Wren (Thryothorus Leucotis)

The Auk ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 122 (4) ◽  
pp. 1169-1181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon A. Gill ◽  
Bridget J. M. Stutchbury
Keyword(s):  
Mate Preferences ◽  
Nest Building ◽  
Nest Construction ◽  
Dual Roles ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Nestling Provisioning ◽  
Feeding Effort ◽  
Nestling Feeding ◽  
Thryothorus Leucotis ◽  
Parental Ability

Abstract In species with long-term partnerships, optimal mate preferences may differ from actual mate choice, and pair displays that advertise individual quality may be expected. We examined the relationship between nest-building and nestling-provisioning effort in Neotropical Buff-breasted Wrens (Thryothorus leucotis) to determine whether male or female expenditure during nest construction was used as an indicator of subsequent parental ability. Buff-breasted Wrens build two nest types: breeding nests used for raising offspring, and “dormitory“ nests built year-round and used by pairs for roosting overnight. The building effort of males was greater than that of their mates for dormitory nests, whereas male and female effort were similar during breeding-nest construction and nestling provisioning. Despite large within-sex variation in building and provisioning efforts, male and female effort within pairs were significantly positively correlated for construction of both nest types and for nestling feeding. Effort expended by males during dormitory-nest construction was positively correlated with nestling-provisioning effort, whereas female building effort was not. No relationship existed between effort in breeding-nest construction and nestling provisioning in either sex. These results suggest that effort in dormitory-nest construction was an indicator of male Buff- breasted Wren parental ability. Females that survived to the year following observation built dormitory nests at a lower rate than those that disappeared, which suggests that nest building may be costly and that by building more than females, males may increase the survival prospects of their partners. Dormitory-nest building by males may play dual roles throughout the year, indicating parental ability and investment in the partnership. La Construcción de Nidos es un Indicador de la Calidad de los Padres en la Especie Neotropical Monógama Thryothorus leucotis

scholarly journals Male-only care and cuckoldry in black coucals: does parenting hamper sex life?

2019 ◽  
Vol 286 (1900) ◽  
pp. 20182789 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ignas Safari ◽  
Wolfgang Goymann ◽  
Hanna Kokko
Keyword(s):  
Parental Care ◽  
Paternal Care ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Life Care ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Mating Opportunities ◽  
Siring Success ◽  
Theoretical Considerations ◽  
Operational Sex Ratios ◽  
Do So

Providing parental care often reduces additional mating opportunities. Paternal care becomes easier to understand if trade-offs between mating and caring remain mild. The black coucalCentropus grilliicombines male-only parental care with 50% of all broods containing young sired by another male. To understand how much caring for offspring reduces a male's chance to sire additional young in other males' nests, we matched the production of extra-pair young in each nest with the periods during which potential extra-pair sires were either caring for offspring themselves or when they had no own offspring to care for. We found that males which cared for a clutch were not fully excluded from the pool of competitors for siring young in other males' nests. Instead, the relative siring success showed a temporary dip. Males were approximately 17% less likely to sire young in other males' nests while they were incubating, about 48% less likely to do so while feeding nestlings, followed by 26% when feeding fledglings, compared to the success of males that currently did not care for offspring. These results suggest that real-life care situations by males may involve trade-off structures that differ from, and are less strict than those frequently employed in theoretical considerations of operational sex ratios, sex roles and parenting decisions.

Intensity of nest defence is not related to degree of paternity in the willow tit Parus montanus

2007 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 273-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seppo Rytkönen ◽  
Laura Kvist ◽  
Riikka Mikkonen ◽  
Markku Orell
Keyword(s):  
Nest Defence ◽  
Parus Montanus ◽  
Willow Tit

scholarly journals Prolactin and the regulation of parental care and helping behavior in cooperatively breeding white-browed sparrow weaver societies

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindsay A Walker ◽  
Linda Tschirren ◽  
Jennifer E York ◽  
Peter J Sharp ◽  
Simone L Meddle ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Parental Care ◽  
Cooperative Breeding ◽  
Natural Variation ◽  
Underlying Mechanism ◽  
Helping Behavior ◽  
Fine Scale ◽  
Physiological Mechanisms ◽  
Nestling Provisioning ◽  
Cooperatively Breeding ◽  
Nestling Feeding

In many cooperatively breeding societies non-breeding individuals help to rear the offspring of breeders. The physiological mechanisms that regulate such cooperative helping behavior are poorly understood, but may have been co-opted, during the evolution of cooperative breeding, from pre-existing mechanisms that regulated parental care. Key among these may be a role for prolactin. Here we investigate whether natural variation in circulating prolactin levels predicts both parental and helper contributions to nestling provisioning in cooperatively breeding white-browed sparrow weavers, Plocepasser mahali. In sparrow weaver groups, a single dominant pair monopolize reproduction and non-breeding subordinates help with nestling feeding. We show that: (i) among parents, dominant females feed nestlings at higher rates, make longer provisioning visits and have higher prolactin levels than dominant males; and (ii) among subordinates, engaged in cooperative helping behavior, those within their natal groups feed nestlings at higher rates and have higher prolactin levels than immigrants. Moreover, continuous variation in prolactin levels positively predicts nestling-provisioning rates and mean provisioning visit durations when all bird classes are combined. These relationships are principally driven by differences among bird classes in both circulating prolactin levels and provisioning traits; the more limited within-class variation in prolactin and provisioning traits were not evidently correlated, highlighting a likely role for additional mechanisms in the fine-scale regulation of care. Our findings broadly support the hypothesis that parental care and cooperative helping behavior are regulated by a common underlying mechanism and highlight the need for experimentation to now establish the causality of any role for prolactin.

scholarly journals The Importance Of Pre-Hatching Paternal Care On Offspring Fitness In Burying Beetle, Nicrophorus Vespilloides Herbst.

1970 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-54
Author(s):  
Sharmin Musa
Keyword(s):  
Treatment Group ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Paternal Care ◽  
Male Parent ◽  
Direct Care ◽  
Removal Experiment ◽  
Burying Beetle ◽  
Offspring Fitness ◽  
Nicrophorus Vespilloides ◽  
Positive Effect

A male-removal experiment was performed to determine if the value of male parental care depended on the timing of the help. In the experiment male parent was removed before the carcass was prepared for breeding, after partial carcass preparation, after complete carcass preparation, before direct care for the larvae and males were allowed to disperse naturally after caring for the larvae. It was found that where the male provided complete pre-hatching care or both preand post-hatching care offspring were larger and in better condition. Mass of offspring at eclosion was affected by male removal (F3,1266 = 5.087, p = 0.002) though size of offspring was not affected by the treatment group. Complete prehatching care had a positive effect on development compared to limited care (F3, 1267 = 8.501, p < 0.000) but this effect disappeared if males remained after the larvae hatched. Larval survivorship did not vary among treatments (F3,122 = 0.531, p = 0.662).  

scholarly journals An Examination of Psychological Resilience and Remembered Parental Care among University Students

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 72
Author(s):  
Ozgur Demirci Seyrek ◽  
Ercümend Ersanlı
Keyword(s):  
Parental Care ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Paternal Care ◽  
Personal Information ◽  
Important Variable ◽  
Psychological Resilience ◽  
Resilience Scale ◽  
Strong Positive Relationship ◽  
Significant Difference

In this study, the aim was to examine the relationship between the psychological resilience and remembered parental care of college students in young adulthood and whether this relationship varies according to gender and perceived socio-economic level. A correlational model was used as a research model. For data collection purposes, ‘‘a personal information form,’’ the “Psychological Resilience Scale for Adults” and the “Parental Bonding Instrument” were used by the researchers. The age range of individuals involved in the study ranged from 18 to 26. The research results were tested with SPSS 21. A strong positive relationship was found between remembered mother and remembered father care, while a moderately positive relationship was found between psychological resilience and remembered mother and father care. One of the findings is that there was a significant difference between the care of mothers and of fathers as remembered by male and by female participants. In addition, the study found that there was a statistically significant difference in the level of remembered maternal care, remembered paternal care, and psychological resilience in terms of perceived socioeconomic level. Based on these results, it can be argued that perceived socioeconomic status, which refers to the perception of the presence of means one possesses, had an impact on the individual’s psychological resilience in a direct proportion. In line with the findings, the significant correlation between remembered mother’s care and remembered father’s care can be shown as a long-term contribution to the positive effect on children of the rapport between mother and father. Alongside the fact that the remembered mother’s and father’s care was an important variable in predicting the factors that affected the psychological resilience of undergraduates, it is noted that democratic, caring and warm paternal attitudes are important, rather than the traditional sex-oriented attitudes. Hence, one can argue that it is of importance that fathers and fathers-to-be have increased awareness of their roles in the long-term development of psychologically resilient youngsters, by means of taking on more responsibilities in childrearing.

Good genes and parental care in human evolution

2000 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 611-612 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Marlowe
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Human Evolution ◽  
Paternal Care ◽  
Good Genes ◽  
Male Body ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Female Preferences

Prior to agriculture, human societies were small, with little variation for good genes sexual selection (GGSS) to work on. Across cultures, variation in paternal care makes the benefits of GGSS highly variable. Despite these caveats, female preferences for traits like male body symmetry suggest one reason for female short-term mating is gene shopping.

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