共查询到20条相似文献,搜索用时 551 毫秒
1.
Kai Lindström 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》1998,42(2):101-106
This study tested experimentally whether clutch size and the cost of care affect filial cannibalism in the sand goby, Pomatoschistus minutus. Evolutionary models of filial cannibalism suggest that egg eating has evolved as a way for the male parent to prolong his
breeding season. These models assume that eggs function as an alternative energy source for the constrained parent. I manipulated
clutch size by allowing males to mate with either one or two females, representing a small and a large clutch, respectively.
The addition of a small male shore crab, a common egg predator, increased the cost of care. I quantified fat reserves as a
measure of the condition of guarding males. Males who did not build nests had lower fat reserves than males who built nests,
suggesting that males with low energy reserves do not start breeding. Males with small clutches lost their nest to the crab
more often than males with large clutches. Neither filial cannibalism nor the amount of eggs eaten were affected by the treatments.
Males who consumed eggs had a higher fat percentage than males who did not eat eggs. The result that males with small clutches
lost their nests to the crabs supports the idea that eggs are defended only if the benefit from continued care will outweigh
the cost and that males therefore are sensitive to the trade-off between present and future reproductive success.
Received: 15 May 1997 / Accepted after revision: 15 November 1997 相似文献
2.
In crested penguins (Eudyptes spp.), second-laid eggs typically hatch before first eggs. Amongst a variety of factors that have been considered as mechanisms underlying this reversal, has been the idea that crested penguins can adjust the degree of hatching asynchrony by manipulating egg positions (i.e. placing the smaller first egg in the supposedly thermally disadvantaged anterior position) during incubation (termed Preferential Incubation Hypothesis). We tested this in the Snares crested penguin (Eudyptes robustus) and the closely related, but synchronously-hatching, yellow-eyed penguin (Megadyptes antipodes). Snares crested penguins were more likely to place their first eggs, which are smaller than second eggs, in the anterior incubation position than were yellow-eyed penguins, which have a clutch of two similar-sized eggs. But when yellow-eyed penguins, a non-brood reducing species, were provided with an artificial size-dimorphic clutch, they also placed smaller eggs more frequently in the anterior position, suggesting that a general preference exists among penguins to place smaller eggs in the anterior position. Egg temperatures of small first eggs of Snares crested penguins were higher in the anterior than in the posterior position. Large first eggs in lesser size-dimorphic clutches experienced high temperature differences in relation to position, while small first eggs in greater size-dimorphic clutches were incubated at similar temperatures. In yellow-eyed penguins, large eggs within clutches generally had higher egg temperatures than small eggs. Incubation periods of second eggs declined with increasing egg size. Egg-size variation, rather than egg positioning behaviour, influenced hatching patterns in Snares crested penguins. In lesser size-dimorphic clutches, second eggs were more likely to hatch first while in greater size-dimorphic clutches, small first eggs were more likely to hatch at the same time or before the second eggs. This was similar in yellow-eyed penguins, where second eggs hatched earlier in clutches with large first eggs. Our data contradicts the Preferential Incubation Hypothesis and we conclude that this hypothesis is unlikely to explain the reversed hatching asynchrony in crested penguins.Communicated by C. Brown 相似文献
3.
Vedder O Magrath MJ Niehoff DL van der Velde M Komdeur J 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2012,66(4):603-612
Although functional explanations for female engagement in extra-pair copulation have been studied extensively in birds, little
is known about how extra-pair paternity is linked to other fundamental aspects of avian reproduction. However, recent studies
indicate that the occurrence of extra-pair offspring may generally decline with laying order, possibly because stimulation
by eggs induces incubation, which may suppress female motivation to acquire extra-pair paternity. Here we tested whether experimental
inhibition of incubation during the laying phase, induced by the temporary removal of eggs, resulted in increased extra-pair
paternity, in concert with a later cessation of laying, in blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus). As expected, experimental females showed a more gradual increase in nocturnal incubation duration over the laying phase
and produced larger clutches than controls. Moreover, incubation duration on the night after the first egg was laid predicted
how extra-pair paternity declined with laying order, with less incubation being associated with more extra-pair offspring
among the earliest eggs in the clutch. However, incubation duration on this first night was unrelated to our experimental
treatment and independent of final clutch size. Consequently, the observed decline in extra-pair paternity with laying order
was unaffected by our manipulation and larger clutches included proportionally fewer extra-pair offspring. We suggest that
female physiological state prior to laying, associated with incubation at the onset of laying, determines motivation to acquire
extra-pair paternity independent of final clutch size. This decline in proportion of extra-pair offspring with clutch size
may be a general pattern within bird species. 相似文献
4.
Csaba Moskát Erik C. Rosendaal Myra Boers Anikó Zölei Miklós Bán Jan Komdeur 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2011,65(5):1045-1053
Hosts of the common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus), an avian brood parasite, develop antiparasite defense mechanisms to increase their reproductive success. Ejection of the
parasite egg and desertion of the parasitized nest are the most typical adaptations in response to brood parasitism, but nest
desertion may also occur in response to partial clutch reduction, independently from parasitism. Some great reed warblers
(Acrocephalus arundinaceus) showed both mechanisms in the same incidence of cuckoo parasitism: in 18% of successful ejections of the parasite eggs,
they deserted their nests. We studied if such cases of post-ejection nest-desertion are caused by brood parasitism or reduced
clutch value. We experimentally parasitized clutches consisting of five or three host eggs with two painted conspecific eggs
to mimic parasitic eggs, as multiple parasitism is frequent in the area. Although hosts ejected these parasitic eggs in both
clutch categories (100% and 67% for the larger and smaller inital clutch sizes, respectively), we found that after manipulation,
post-ejection nest-desertion frequently occurred at small (3-egg) clutches (40%), but rarely at large (5-egg) clutches (17%).
The same phenomenon also occurred when unparasitized 3-egg clutches were reduced by two eggs, but not when 5-egg clutches
were reduced in the same way. A logistic regression model revealed that only initial clutch size affected nest desertion of
parasitized nests in our experiments. Therefore, we conclude that post-ejection nest-desertion is not a second antiparasite
mechanism, which might serve as a redundant antiparasite defense, but a reaction to typically small and further decreased
clutch size. 相似文献
5.
Reproduction in birds requires the input of time and energy during discrete breeding phases leading to investment trade-offs
between laying date, clutch size, body mass, and incubation constancy. We investigated costs during incubation by experimentally
enlarging 25 clutches of white-tailed ptarmigan Lagopus leucurus. The experiment was conducted in 2 years, one with harsh weather that forced a natural delay in reproduction. When forced
to delay egg-laying, females began incubation with poorer body condition and foraged more during incubation. Rates of mass
loss during incubation were not affected by clutch enlargement, and did not differ between harsh and benign years; however,
females that were heavier at the start of incubation lost more mass than lighter females. Clutch-enlarged females had reduced
nest attendance compared to control birds in both years and incubation periods increased by up to 2 days relative to controls.
In the harsh year, there was a trend for clutch-enlarged females to have lower nest success, but there was no effect on overwinter
survival. Different behavioral responses by females in the 2 years showed that incubation costs may depend on other factors
such as female quality, food supply, or weather conditions. Incubation is a dynamic period during which birds may adjust energy
balances by varying body condition and food intake.
Received: 28 March 2000 / Received in revised form: 18 August 2000 / Accepted: 2 July 2000 相似文献
6.
Walter D. Koenig Eric L. Walters Joseph Haydock 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2009,63(11):1659-1665
In cooperatively breeding acorn woodpeckers (Melanerpes formicivorus), helper males have a large positive effect on fledging success in good acorn crop years but only a small positive effect
in poor acorn crop years, while helper females exhibit the opposite pattern. Based on these findings, we tested the “concealed
helper effects” hypothesis, which proposes that laying females reduce investment in eggs (with respect to their size, number,
or quality) in a way that confounds helper effects and results in an absence of a relationship between helpers and breeding
success. Results generally failed to support the hypothesis. Mean egg size was positively related to temperatures during the
10 days prior to egg-laying and negatively related to the food supply as indexed by the prior fall’s acorn crop, but there
were no significant differences vis-à-vis helpers except for interactions with the acorn crop that only partly corresponded
to those predicted. With respect to clutch size, females laid larger clutches when assisted by female helpers, opposite the
pattern predicted. Although our results suggest that egg size is adjusted to particular ecological circumstances, we conclude
that neither egg nor clutch size is adjusted in a way that confounds the apparent effects of helpers, as proposed by the concealed
helper effects hypothesis. 相似文献
7.
Interval between reproductive events is an important factor for iteroparous animals because it determines the number of clutches
throughout life. This study examined whether female size, clutch size, shell size and prenuptial molting affected the clutch
interval in the hermit crab Pagurus nigrivittatus. Precopulatory guarding pairs of P. nigrivittatus were sampled in the field and kept in the laboratory until the female extruded eggs. The clutch interval of each female was
assessed as one of two types of relatively “short” and “long” intervals by checking whether the guarded female had eggs and/or
egg cases from the preceding brood or not when the guarding pair was collected. The clutch interval was longer in females
with prenuptial molting than those without molting and these females usually grew larger at the prenuptial molt. This suggests
that female P. nigrivittatus with a long interval might allocate energy into growth at the expense of the number of clutches during the current reproductive
season. The allocation to growth is theoretically predicted to decrease with female size. Gastropod shell size is also known
to affect the reproductive activity in hermit crabs. However, female size did not significantly affect the clutch interval
in P. nigrivittatus, and the effect of gastropod shell size on clutch interval was not consistent with previous empirical studies. These results
may be caused by differences in the gastropod species of shell occupied by the females of P. nigrivittatus. 相似文献
8.
Sperm economy and limitation in spiny lobsters 总被引:5,自引:0,他引:5
Sperm limitation, when female fertilisation success is constrained by the supply of sperm, is generally perceived to be an
uncommon feature of reproduction in species which directly transfer gametes during copulation. Male size, previous copulations,
and the balance of expected reproductive return and future mating opportunity may, however, limit the amount of sperm males
transfer to females. We used laboratory experiments where mate size could be manipulated and its consequences on spermatophore
size and clutch size determined, to show that in two genera of spiny lobsters (Crustacea: Palinuridae) male reproductive output
limits the size of clutches brooded by females. In Panulirus argus from the Florida Keys, we show that while male size affects spermatophore area, males also vary the amount of ejaculate positively
with female size. Furthermore, the area of the spermatophore has a greater influence than female size on subsequent clutch
weight. In Jasus edwardsii from New Zealand, female size, male size and mate order all affect clutch weight. In both species, clutches fertilised by
small males in the laboratory are significantly smaller than clutches fertilised by large males. These results suggest that
to ensure they receive sufficient sperm, females should either mate several times prior to oviposition, mate as early as possible
in the reproductive season, or choose large, preferably unmated males as partners and thus compete with other females for
preferred males. Sperm-limited female fecundity has the potential to limit the egg production of fished populations where
large males are typically rare.
Received: 18 May 1998 / Received in revised form: 20 November 1998 / Accepted: 30 November 1998 相似文献
9.
M. Itzkowitz M. J. Draud J. L. Barnes M. Haley 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》1998,42(3):149-155
Male beaugregory damselfish (Stegastes leucostictus) spent more time courting larger females in both two-choice and single presentations. Female size was significantly correlated
with gonad weight. We also verified that female fecundity was extremely variable within a natural population. We found that
male reproductive success was highly correlated with both clutch size and clutch number. However, clutch size was not significantly
correlated with clutch number, indicating that males that received larger clutches did not receive more egg clutches. Furthermore,
there was no difference between the number of offspring produced by males that mated with the largest females and by males
that mated with the most females. Thus, although males preferred larger females, males produced similar numbers of offspring
by mating with large females or mating with many females.
Received: 7 March 1997 / Accepted after revision: 1 November 1997 相似文献
10.
We recorded behaviour of kestrels (Falco tinnunculus) in western Finland during the courtship (1988–1992), incubation (1989–1991), early nestling (age of young 1–2 weeks, 1989–1992) and late nestling stages (3–4 weeks, 1989–1991) to examine determinants of their parental effort (PE). In males, PE was estimated as the hunting effort (the proportion of budget time spent in flight-hunting) and in females as the food provisioning rate (number of prey items delivered to the nest per hour). The following predictions derived from the parental investment theory were examined. (1) Parents rearing large clutches and broods should invest more in breeding than do parents rearing small clutches and broods. The hunting effort of parents did not increase with clutch or brood size, but males tending large broods had a higher prey delivery rate than males tending small broods (Figs 1–2). (2) PE of parents should increase in the course of the breeding season. In males, this was true only between the incubation and early nestling phases (Fig. 3). (3) The early pairs should invest more in breeding than late ones. This tended to be true during the early (for males) and late nestling phases (for females) (Fig. 4). (4) There should be a negative correlation between PE of mates within pairs, but no evidence for such adjustment was found (Fig. 5). (5) Females mated with bright-coloured attractive males should show higher PE than females mated with dull-coloured males but our results were inconsistent with this prediction. We conclude that PE decisions of kestrels are mainly based on cost-benefit estimates of residual reproductive value, rather than on current investment indicators, like clutch or brood size. This might be beneficial in environments with highly variable survival prospects of offspring caused by pronounced among-year variation in abundance of the main food (microtine rodents). The results also show that hypotheses explaining variation in PE in the short term are not necessarily valid for long-term PE, e.g. tending clutches or broods, which also reflects the demands of female and young. 相似文献
11.
Females of Elasmucha grisea defend their eggs and small nymphs against invertebrate predators. Females sometimes guard their clutches side by side on the same birch leaf. We studied benefits of this joint guarding both in the field and in the laboratory. We found that adjacent females had significantly larger clutches than solitary females. In the laboratory, we studied the effectiveness of joint versus single defence against ant (Formica uralensis) predators. We established female pairs from initially singly guarding females by cutting off pieces of leaves with egg clutches and pasting them beside another female guarding her clutch. In the control group the females with their clutches were similarly cut off but these clutches were placed on another leaf without any female. The birch twigs where females guarded their clutches were placed in cages in close proximity to laboratory ant nests. In the experimental treatment, two females guarded their clutches together and at the same nest there was another birch twig without a female. In the control treatment two twigs with one female on each were placed close to another ant nest. Two females defended their clutches significantly more successfully, losing fewer eggs than did the single females. This primitive form of female sociality in parent bugs resembles colonial nesting in birds, where communal defence is also important. However, to our knowledge this is the first experiment where the benefit of joint guarding has been tested directly by manipulating the size of the breeding group rather than by measuring the risk of predation in groups of different size. 相似文献
12.
Miran Kim Robert W. Furness Ruedi G. Nager 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2010,64(7):1087-1097
Hatching asynchrony is widespread amongst animals, but no consensus has yet emerged as to why asynchronous hatching has evolved.
It is generally thought to have adaptive benefits during the raising of dependent young. However, here, we considered an alternative
view of hatching asynchrony in birds as a consequence of factors acting at the onset of incubation. We recorded parental nest
attendance behaviour during laying using continuous records of nest temperature in herring gulls, Larus argentatus. We tested whether nest attendance during laying was related to individual factors (clutch size and diet) and whether it
had consequences on fitness outcomes (hatching spread, incubation period, hatching success and chick survival). Low nest attendance
was associated with small clutch size, and independent of clutch size, pairs on a more marine diet had lower nest attendance
than pairs on a lower trophic level terrestrial diet, possibly due to higher foraging effort for marine food. Broods hatched
more asynchronous where pairs had a lower nest attendance during laying or took longer to complete a clutch and where the
last egg took longer to hatch. Low nest attendance was also related to shorter incubation periods, possibly representing a
strategy of birds in poor condition to reduce the demand of incubation by reducing the length of incubation. We found that
low nest attendance during laying and increasing hatching asynchrony had detrimental effects on hatching success for small
eggs laid early in the laying sequence. Increasing hatching asynchrony also had a detrimental effect on the survival of the
youngest sibling. In our study population, hatching asynchrony was influenced by a more complex set of factors than simply
onset of incubation and appears to be constrained by circumstances at the onset of incubation rather than to be an adaptive
strategy. Thus, factors acting both during offspring rearing and at the onset of incubation need to be considered for a better
understanding of hatching asynchrony. 相似文献
13.
When breeding diet is restricted, domesticated zebra finches,Taeniopygia guttata, produce male-biased primary and secondary sex ratios, but unexpectedly produce unbiased ratios when food is unrestricted. We investigated the primary sex ratios (at laying) of wild zebra finches in southeastern Australia in response to food supplementation and environmental factors predicted to enhance female breeding condition and to bias the primary sex ratio towards daughters. Molecular sexing of all nestlings in 54 complete broods where every egg hatched, failed to show any significant biases from random. Time of egg laying (month, season) and environmental conditions (rainfall, temperature) did not significantly predict variation in the primary sex ratio, but time of breeding did affect clutch size. Wild zebra finches at our colony did not bias their sex allocation as there were no differences in the primary sex ratio and no differences in the numbers and mass of sons and daughters at the end of parental care (day 35–40 post-hatch). Biases in primary sex ratio of our wild population are probably weak or non-existent possibly due to the unpredictable environment and/or multiple contrary selective forces acting on sex ratios. We also investigated the effects of photoperiod, biases in the adult sex ratio, and parental attractiveness on primary sex ratios of semi-domesticated, laboratory zebra finches. Molecular sexing of three-day old embryos from complete clutches, failed to reveal significant biases from random. In contrast to previous studies, sex of eggs did not correlate with laying order and egg mass declined with order, rather than increased. Domestication may be responsible for these differences. 相似文献
14.
Food and predators affect egg production in song sparrows 总被引:5,自引:0,他引:5
Although the possibility that food and predators may interact in limiting avian populations has long been recognized, there have been few attempts to test this experimentally in the field. We conducted a manipulative food addition experiment on the demography of Song Sparrows (Melospiza melodia) across sites that varied in predator abundance, near Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, over three consecutive breeding seasons. We previously showed that food and predators had interactive effects on annual reproductive success (young fledged per female). Here, we report the effects on egg production. Our results show that food limits the total number of eggs laid over the breeding season ("total egg production") and that interactive food and predator effects, including food effects on nest predation, determine how those eggs are "parceled out" into different nests. Food addition alone significantly affected total egg production, and there was no significant interannual variability in this result. At the same time, both food and predators affected the two determinants of total egg production: "clutch number" (total number of clutches laid) and average clutch size. Both clutch number and size were affected by a food x predator x year interaction. Clutch number was lower at low-predator locations because there was less nest predation and thus less renesting. Food addition also significantly reduced nest predation, but there was significant interannual variation in this effect. This interannual variation was responsible for the food x predator x year interactions because the larger the effect of food on nest predation in a given year, the smaller was the effect of food on clutch number; and the smaller the effect of food on clutch number, the larger was the effect of food on clutch size. Potential predator and year effects on total egg production were thus cancelled out by an inverse relationship between clutch number and clutch size. We suggest that combined food and predator effects on demography could be the norm in both birds and mammals. 相似文献
15.
Michael J. L. Magrath Peter Santema Karen M. Bouwman Dušan M. Brinkhuizen Simon C. Griffith Naomi E. Langmore 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2009,63(5):661-672
Reproductive success within populations often varies with the timing of breeding, typically declining over the season. This
variation is usually attributed to seasonal changes in resource availability and/or differences in the quality or experience
of breeders. In colonial species, the timing of breeding may be of particular importance because the costs and benefits of
colonial breeding are likely to vary over the season and also with colony size. In this study, we examine the relationship
between timing of breeding and reproductive performance (clutch size and nest success) both within and between variable sized
colonies (n = 18) of fairy martins, Petrochelidon ariel. In four of these colonies, we also experimentally delayed laying in selected nests to disentangle the effects of laying
date and individual quality/experience on reproductive success. Within colonies, later laying birds produced smaller clutches,
but only in larger colonies. The general seasonal decline in nest success was also more pronounced in larger colonies. Late
laying birds were generally smaller than earlier laying birds, but morphological differences were also related to colony size,
suggesting optimal colony size also varies with phenotype. Experimentally delayed clutches were larger than concurrently produced
non-delayed clutches, but only in larger colonies. Similarly, delayed clutches were more likely to produce fledglings, particularly
later in the season and in larger colonies. We suggest that the reduced performance of late breeding pairs in larger colonies
resulted primarily from inexperienced/low quality birds preferring to settle in larger colonies, possibly exacerbated by an
increase in the costs of coloniality (e.g., resource depletion and ectoparasite infestations) with date and colony size. These
findings highlight the importance of phenotype-related differences in settlement decisions and reproductive performance to
an improved understanding of colonial breeding and variation in colony size. 相似文献
16.
Bruce Lyon 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2007,61(3):455-463
Hosts of avian brood parasites use a variety of defenses based on egg recognition to reduce the costs of parasitism; the most important of which is rejecting the parasitic eggs. Two basic recognition mechanisms are possible: “true recognition”, whereby hosts recognize their own eggs irrespective of their relative frequency in the clutch, and minority recognition (or “recognition by discordancy”), whereby hosts respond to the minority egg type. The mechanism of recognition has been experimentally studied in a handful of species parasitized by interspecific brood parasites, but the mechanism used in defenses against conspecific brood parasitism is unknown. I experimentally determined the mechanism of egg recognition in American coots (Fulica americana), a species with high levels of conspecific brood parasitism, egg recognition, and rejection. I swapped eggs between pairs of nests to alter frequencies of host and “parasite” eggs and then used two criteria for recognition: egg rejection and nonrandom incubation positions in the clutch. Eight of 12 nests (66%) given equal frequencies of host and parasite eggs showed evidence of true recognition. In contrast, only one of eight (12.5%) nests where host eggs were in the minority showed evidence of recognition by discordancy. The nonrandom incubation positions of parasitic eggs indicates that birds sometimes recognize parasitic eggs without rejecting them and provides a means of assessing recognition on a per nest basis in species with large clutches. Adaptive recognition without rejection may also be an important evolutionary stepping stone to the evolution of egg rejection in some taxa. 相似文献
17.
The nesting season of the green turtle, Chelonia mydas on Wan-An Island, Peng-Hu Archipelago, Taiwan extended from early June to early October in both 1992 and 1993. Turtles nested on 9 of the 11 beaches on the island. The average inter-nesting interval was 14.9 d. A close relationship between the first reemergence time and the tidal cycle was found in the present study. The mean straight carapace length of the adult female was 96.6 cm. Female turtles produced from one to nine egg clutches; the average clutch size was 113 eggs. The mean egg size was 46.9 mm in diameter and 22.7 g in weight. The average incubation period was 49.3 d. The sediment characteristics of the beaches on the island are well within the incubation requirements for green turtle nesting. The average hatching success was 70%, but was lower in the artificial nest. The average size for hatchlings was 46.9 mm in straight carapace length and 22.7 g in body weight. The health of the hatchling is influenced by the adult female size, the nesting depth and the precipitation during incubation. 相似文献
18.
Nicola Saino Maria Romano Diego Rubolini Manuela Caprioli Roberto Ambrosini Mauro Fasola 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2010,64(11):1813-1821
Parental decisions can determine offspring experience of environmental conditions. Such ‘maternal’ effects act both before and after hatching via, e.g., egg quality or the social milieu predisposed by parents. Resource availability may constrain the expression of adaptive maternal effects, and the specific pattern of allocation of these effects among offspring depending on their sex or birth order can result in different fitness payoffs to parents. Declining egg mass with laying order observed in several bird species may constitute an adaptive strategy of parental favouritism towards early hatching offspring with larger reproductive value but may also result from nutritional constraints on laying effort. A previous study has shown that the small size of the third, last laid (c-)egg in yellow-legged gull (Larus michahellis) clutches depends on food availability and that food-supplemented mothers increase the size of their female but not male c-eggs. Here, we show that increased mass of c-eggs laid by females supplemented with food after clutch initiation depends on increased albumen mass, which, in turn, enhances the size of daughters at hatching. Because asynchronous hatching results in a competitive disadvantage of c-chicks, present results suggest that mothers relieved from nutritional constraints enhance the size of daughters to compensate for their larger susceptibility to hatching last. The study also confirms the role of egg albumen content in determining hatchling size, previously experimentally detected only in one species in the wild. The effect of increased egg mass on offspring size persisted at least until day 8 after hatching, when, however, it did not vary with sex, suggesting intense negative selection on small female c-chicks in control broods. Hence, maternal effects mediated by egg albumen content had persistent effects on offspring size. 相似文献
19.
Past investment in offspring may be important in determining a parent's ability to reproduce in the future and, hence, should affect the relative value of current offspring. However, there have been surprisingly few clear tests of whether animals actually adjust parental care in response to diminished opportunities for future reproduction. We modified the experimental protocol of Sargent and Gross [Behav Ecol Sociobiol (1985) 17:43–45] to examine offspring desertion by mallards ( Anas platyrhynchos), and decoupled the influence of past investment from expected current benefits by controlling for the effect of offspring age on clutch value. Using 9 years of nest mortality data, we accounted for the increasing prospects of egg survival with clutch age by calculating clutch sizes throughout incubation with equivalent expected benefits. Applying this approach, we experimentally reduced 203 clutches at two different incubation stages such that they had equivalent expected benefits but differed in the amount of past investment. Nest desertion rates did not differ between early- and late-incubated clutches that had equivalent expected benefits. Rather, the probability of desertion increased with the severity of the clutch reduction treatment. These results suggest that female mallards adjust parental care according to the expected benefits of current offspring, rather than to diminished prospects for future reproduction due to past investment. We further examined whether females assessed expected benefits on the basis of clutch size alone or clutch size adjusted for the age of the clutch. Using Akaike's Information Criterion, the most parsimonious model to explain the probability of deserting an experimentally reduced clutch included both the proportion of the clutch remaining and clutch age. Thus, female mallards appear to fine-tune their level of parental care not only according to the relative number of offspring in the clutch, but also to the increased prospects for offspring survival as they age. 相似文献
20.
Diego Rubolini Roberto Ambrosini Maria Romano Manuela Caprioli Mauro Fasola Andrea Bonisoli-Alquati Nicola Saino 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2009,63(12):1809-1819
Non-random sex allocation may occur whenever the expected reproductive value of sons and daughters differs, as is the case when the sexes differ in susceptibility to environmental conditions or maternal effects (e.g. egg size and hatch order). Under such circumstances, covariation between egg and clutch characteristics and egg sex may be expected, and this covariation should vary with maternal state or ecological conditions. In this 2-year study (2007–2008), we examined sex allocation in relation to egg and clutch traits in the yellow-legged gull Larus michahellis, a species where male chicks are larger and more susceptible to harsh rearing conditions than female ones. In 2008, eggs were more likely male early in the season in two- but not three-egg clutches, and large eggs were more likely males late in the season. No egg/clutch traits predicted egg sex in 2007. Within-clutch egg mass asymmetry (the difference in egg mass between the first- and last-laid eggs) predicted sex in both years. In 2007, clutches with smaller egg mass variation were more likely to contain males, while in 2008 this relationship held for the last-laid egg and was reversed for the preceding egg(s). Laying order and sex of the previous egg did not predict egg sex, providing no evidence of sex-specific oocyte clustering. Thus, the relationships between egg sex and egg/clutch traits differed among years, suggesting a phenotypically plastic response of females to extrinsic conditions, and involved within-clutch egg mass asymmetry, a trait likely reflecting variation in maternal quality and/or reproductive tactics, which has been largely neglected in previous studies of sex allocation. 相似文献