Nestling feeding, nest success, and notes of parental care in the Clay-colored Thrush (Turdus grayi): the role of females and males

2018 ◽  
Vol 130 (2) ◽  
pp. 437-444
Author(s):  
Natalie Viviana Sánchez ◽  
Luis Esteban Vargas-Castro ◽  
Gilbert Barrantes
Keyword(s):  
Parental Care ◽  
Nest Success ◽  
Nestling Feeding

The role of hormones

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Frederik Nijhout ◽  
Emily Laub
Keyword(s):  
Phenotypic Plasticity ◽  
Social Behavior ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Juvenile Hormone ◽  
Reproductive Behavior ◽  
Hormonal Control ◽  
Plastic Trait

Many behaviors of insects are stimulated, modified, or modulated by hormones. The principal hormones involved are the same as the ones that control moulting, metamorphosis, and other aspects of development, principally ecdysone and juvenile hormone. In addition, a small handful of neurosecretory hormones are involved in the control of specific behaviors. Because behavior is a plastic trait, this chapter begins by outlining the biology and hormonal control of phenotypic plasticity in insects, and how the hormonal control of behavior fits in with other aspects of the control of phenotypic plasticity. The rest of the chapter is organized around the diversity of behaviors that are known to be controlled by or affected by hormones. These include eclosion and moulting behavior, the synthesis and release of pheromones, migration, parental care, dominance, reproductive behavior, and social behavior.

PARENTAL BEHAVIOR IN THE DERMAPTERA WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO FORFICULA AURICULARIA (DERMAPTERA: FORFICULIDAE)

1976 ◽  
Vol 108 (6) ◽  
pp. 609-619 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Lamb
Keyword(s):  
Parental Care ◽  
Special Reference ◽  
Parental Behavior ◽  
Forficula Auricularia

AbstractNew observations on parental behavior of the earwig, Forficula auricularia L., are reported and the literature on the parental behavior in the Dermaptera is summarized. The construction of the nest, care of the eggs and nymphs, and the duration of parental care are described. The control of parental behavior and the role of the male in nest establishment are also considered.

scholarly journals The evolution of sexual dimorphism in parasitic cuckoos: sexual selection or coevolution?

2007 ◽  
Vol 274 (1617) ◽  
pp. 1553-1560 ◽  
Author(s):  
O Krüger ◽  
N.B Davies ◽  
M.D Sorenson
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Sexual Dimorphism ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Brood Parasitism ◽  
Selection Pressure ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Exceptional Case ◽  
Evolutionary Pathways ◽  
Common Situation

Sexual dimorphism is ubiquitous in animals and can result from selection pressure on one or both sexes. Sexual selection has become the predominant explanation for the evolution of sexual dimorphism, with strong selection on size-related mating success in males being the most common situation. The cuckoos (family Cuculidae) provide an exceptional case in which both sexes of many species are freed from the burden of parental care but where coevolution between parasitic cuckoos and their hosts also results in intense selection. Here, we show that size and plumage differences between the sexes in parasitic cuckoos are more likely the result of coevolution than sexual selection. While both sexes changed in size as brood parasitism evolved, we find no evidence for selection on males to become larger. Rather, our analysis indicates stronger selection on parasitic females to become smaller, resulting in a shift from dimorphism with larger females in cuckoos with parental care to dimorphism with larger males in parasitic species. In addition, the evolution of brood parasitism was associated with more cryptic plumage in both sexes, but especially in females, a result that contrasts with the strong plumage dimorphism seen in some other parasitic birds. Examination of the three independent origins of brood parasitism suggests that different parasitic cuckoo lineages followed divergent evolutionary pathways to successful brood parasitism. These results argue for the powerful role of parasite–host coevolution in shaping cuckoo life histories in general and sexual dimorphism in particular.

Nesting snakes (Tropidonophis mairii, Colubridae) selectively oviposit in sites that provide evidence of previous successful hatching

2005 ◽  
Vol 83 (8) ◽  
pp. 1134-1137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory P Brown ◽  
Richard Shine
Keyword(s):  
Parental Care ◽  
Site Selection ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Oviposition Site ◽  
Oviposition Site Selection ◽  
Egg Predator ◽  
Nesting Sites ◽  
In Captivity ◽  
Tropical Australia

In oviparous species without parental care, nesting females must select an oviposition site that provides incubation conditions favourable to the developing eggs. Abiotic cues (e.g., temperature, moisture) are well known to influence oviposition-site selection, but the potential role of biotic cues (e.g., the presence of eggshells from previous successfully hatched clutches or the scent of egg predators) has rarely been examined in this respect. To test whether nesting females use such cues, we collected gravid keelback snakes (Tropidonophis mairii (Gray, 1841), Colubridae) in tropical Australia and gave them a choice of potential nesting sites in captivity. Females selectively oviposited in sites containing empty eggshells rather than in control sites but did not avoid the scent of a sympatric egg predator (the slatey-grey snake, Stegonotus cucullatus (Duméril, Bibron and Duméril, 1854)); indeed, eggshells of this taxon were as effective as keelback eggs in attracting oviposition. Our study adds to growing evidence that nesting females assess and respond to a diverse array of biotic as well as abiotic cues that predict the probability of successful incubation for their eggs.

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.

Loss of parent in childhood and adult psychiatric disorder: the role of lack of adequate parental care

1986 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 641-659 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tirril Harris ◽  
George W. Brown ◽  
Antonia Bifulco
Keyword(s):  
Psychiatric Disorder ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Statistical Significance ◽  
Sampling Location ◽  
Confounding Factors ◽  
Parental Behaviour ◽  
One Year ◽  
Loss Of Parent ◽  
Loss Of Mother

SynopsisThe inconclusiveness of the literature on the role of loss of parent in influencing psychiatric disorder in adulthood is well known. A number of reasons involving sampling, location and other methodological features, are given to account for these contradictory findings. A study specially designed to cope with these features is then described and basic results are reported. These indicate that, in a sample of women aged 18–65, loss of mother before the age of 17, either by death or by separation of one year or more, was associated with clinical depression in the year of interview. Loss of father by death was in no way associated with current depression, but separation from father showed a trend which, however, did not reach statistical significance. Control for other possible confounding factors did not change this patterning of results; these were further supported when psychiatric episodes earlier in adulthood were examined. Examination of the caregiving arrangements in childhood suggests that it is ‘lack of care’, defined in terms of neglect rather than simply hostile parental behaviour, which accounts for the raised rate of depression. Such ‘lack of care’ is more frequent after loss of mother than after loss of father.

The role of intense nest predation in the decline of Scarlet Robins and Eastern Yellow Robins in remnant woodland near Armidale, New South Wales

2006 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 279 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. J. S. Debus
Keyword(s):  
New England ◽  
Nest Predation ◽  
New South ◽  
Nest Success ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Breeding Population ◽  
Woodland Birds ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Predator Exclusion

A study of open-nesting Eastern Yellow Robins Eopsaltria australis and Scarlet Robins Petroica multicolor, on the New England Tablelands of New South Wales in 2000?02, found low breeding success typical of eucalypt woodland birds. The role of intense nest predation in the loss of birds from woodland fragments was investigated by means of predator-exclusion cages at robin nests, culling of Pied Currawongs Strepera graculina, and monitoring of fledging and recruitment in the robins. Nest-cages significantly improved nest success (86% vs 20%) and fledging rate (1.6 vs 0.3 fledglings per attempt) for both robin species combined (n = 7 caged, 20 uncaged). For both robin species combined, culling of currawongs produced a twofold difference in nest success (33% vs 14%), a higher fledging rate (0.5 vs 0.3 per attempt), and a five-day difference in mean nest survival (18 vs 13 days) (n = 62 nests), although sample sizes for nests in the cull treatment (n = 18) were small and nest predation continued. Although the robin breeding population had not increased one year after the cull, the pool of Yellow Robin recruits in 2001?03, after enhanced fledging success, produced two emigrants to a patch where Yellow Robins had become extinct. Management to assist the conservation of open-nesting woodland birds should address control of currawongs.

The role of social environment on parental care: offspring benefit more from the presence of female than male helpers

2013 ◽  
Vol 83 (2) ◽  
pp. 491-503 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lyanne Brouwer ◽  
Martijn van de Pol ◽  
Andrew Cockburn
Keyword(s):  
Parental Care ◽  
Social Environment

scholarly journals Strategic adjustment of parental care in tree swallows: life-history trade-offs and the role of glucocorticoids

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (12) ◽  
pp. 160740 ◽  
Author(s):  
Çağlar Akçay ◽  
Ádám Z. Lendvai ◽  
Mark Stanback ◽  
Mark Haussmann ◽  
Ignacio T. Moore ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Optimal Strategies ◽  
Plasma Corticosterone ◽  
Tree Swallows ◽  
Feeding Rates ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Strategic Adjustment

Life-history theory predicts that optimal strategies of parental investment will depend on ecological and social factors, such as current brood value and offspring need. Parental care strategies are also likely to be mediated in part by the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis and glucocorticoid hormones. Here, we present an experiment in tree swallows ( Tachycineta bicolor ), a biparental songbird with wide geographical distribution, asking whether parental care is strategically adjusted in response to signals of offspring need and brood value and if so, whether glucocorticoids are involved in these adjustments. Using an automated playback system, we carried out playbacks of nestling begging calls specifically to females in two populations differing in their brood value: a northern population in Ontario, Canada (relatively higher brood value) and a southern population in North Carolina, USA (relatively lower brood value). We quantified female offspring provisioning rates before and during playbacks and plasma corticosterone levels (cort) once during late incubation and once immediately after playbacks. Females in both populations increased feeding rates temporarily during the first 2 h of playback but the increase was not sustained for the entire duration of playback (6 h). Cort levels from samples at the end of the playback did not differ between control females and females that received playbacks. However, females that had higher increases in cort between the incubation and nestling period had greater fledging success. These results suggest that females are able to strategically respond to offspring need, although the role of glucocorticoids in this strategic adjustment remains unclear.

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