Breeding success, nestling diet and parental care in the White-backed WoodpeckerDendrocopos leucotos

1997 ◽  
Vol 138 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olav Hogstad ◽  
Ingvar Stenberg
Birds ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-126
Author(s):  
Marek Panek

Predators can modify their diet and demography in response to changes in food availability and habitat quality. I tested the prediction that some species can change their predation pattern, between specialist type and generalist type, depending on the complexity of habitat structure. It was hypothesized that their dietary response is stronger in diversified habitats than in simplified ones, but the opposite tendency occurs in the case of reproductive response. The nestling diet and breeding success of the Eurasian Buzzard Buteo buteo, the abundance of its main prey (the common vole Microtus arvalis), and that of the most important alternative prey group (passerines) were estimated over ten years in two types of agricultural habitat in western Poland, i.e., in the diversified habitat of small fields and the simplified habitat of large fields. The vole abundance was higher in large fields, but the abundance of passerines was greater in small fields. The frequency of voles in the Eurasian Buzzard nestling diet was higher in large fields than in small fields and increased with the abundance of this prey in crop fields. However, no difference in the relationship between the vole frequency in the diet of Eurasian Buzzards and the abundance of voles was found between the two habitat types. The breeding success of Eurasian Buzzards was dependent on the vole abundance, but this relationship did not differ between the two field types. It seems that the pattern of dietary and reproductive response of Eurasian Buzzards depends on the actual availability of individual prey species, which can be modified by habitat quality, rather than on relative prey abundance.


Behaviour ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 139 (5) ◽  
pp. 677-693 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Moreno ◽  
Marta Arenas ◽  
Sara Sánchez ◽  
José Veiga

AbstractThe males' trade-off between caring for the offspring or investing in attracting additional mates is well established in the theory of mating systems. The reproductive consequences for males of alternative strategies adopted by them in response to these conflicting demands should depend on several ecological and social factors that may strongly vary among years. This variation, however, has been rarely addressed in field studies despite it being essential to understand the evolution of parental care in facultatively polygynous species. In the present paper, we examine the reproductive consequences of paternal vs. territorial strategies in the polygynous spotless starling (Sturnus unicolor) during four consecutive breeding seasons (1996-1999) in which the number of male defending nest boxes and several population variables such as nestling starvation rates, nest predation rates and fledgling production varied markedly. In 1996 we manipulated the propensity of males to feed their offspring by means of androgens and antiadrogens, and examined the consequences of male behaviour on reproductive success during the subsequent four breeding seasons. Males implanted in1996 with the antiandrogen cyproterone acetate (Cy-males) fed more frequently than males implanted with testosterone (T-males) or control males (C-males) both during the season in which they were implanted and in the next season. The number of nest boxes defended influenced total breeding success mainly in the years when male feeding frequency was less important for breeding success per nest. A lower proportion of Cy-males than T- or C-males still held at least a nest box in 1999, three years after they were implanted. As a result, the number of fledglings produced over the four years studied was smaller for Cy-males than for T- or C-males. These results suggest that the oscillating selective forces acting on breeding male starlings seem to operate more frequently against the development of parental care strategies, while the polygynous strategy seems to be favoured under a wide array of ecological conditions. Although increased density of potential breeders may constrain territorial expansion and polygyny, the high cost of losing a minimum breeding site may select for the maintenance of aggressive behaviour and low parental investment.


2018 ◽  
Vol 159 (3) ◽  
pp. 667-673 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aya Goldshtein ◽  
Shai Markman ◽  
Yossi Leshem ◽  
Maya Puchinsky ◽  
Motti Charter

Author(s):  
David W. Macdonald ◽  
Chris Newman

Excluded from the pursuit predator niche by better-adapted early felids and canids, the musteloids exploited other hunting strategies as grasslands proliferated in the Oligocene. Unconstrained by specialised running limbs, lineages evolved to excavate prey (badgers) and enter burrows (polecats). Others took to tree-climbing (martens, procynoids) and even swimming (otters). While some species specialised in rodent hunting (weasels) others became more generalist omnivores. In-turn the dispersion of these food types dictated socio-spatial geometries, allowing insectivorous, piscivorous and frugivorous species to congregate with varying degrees of social cohesion, often unified within subterranean burrows – a basis to group-living distinct from the pack-hunting felids and canids. Induced ovulation and delayed implantation feature in the mating systems of several species, evolved to ensure breeding success amongst low-density, solitary ancestors. Group-living musteloids exhibit degrees of reproductive suppression, allo-parental care and other cooperative behaviours, thus this contrarian superfamily provides unique insights into the basis of carnivore societies.


2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 189
Author(s):  
Annette L. Fayet ◽  
Masaki Shirai ◽  
Sakiko Matsumoto ◽  
Aimee Van Tatenhove ◽  
Ken Yoda ◽  
...  

2017 ◽  
Vol 284 (1854) ◽  
pp. 20170397 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tina Cornioley ◽  
Stéphanie Jenouvrier ◽  
Luca Börger ◽  
Henri Weimerskirch ◽  
Arpat Ozgul

One of the predicted consequences of climate change is a shift in body mass distributions within animal populations. Yet body mass, an important component of the physiological state of an organism, can affect key life-history traits and consequently population dynamics. Over the past decades, the wandering albatross—a pelagic seabird providing bi-parental care with marked sexual size dimorphism—has exhibited an increase in average body mass and breeding success in parallel with experiencing increasing wind speeds. To assess the impact of these changes, we examined how body mass affects five key life-history traits at the individual level: adult survival, breeding probability, breeding success, chick mass and juvenile survival. We found that male mass impacted all traits examined except breeding probability, whereas female mass affected none. Adult male survival increased with increasing mass. Increasing adult male mass increased breeding success and mass of sons but not of daughters. Juvenile male survival increased with their chick mass. These results suggest that a higher investment in sons by fathers can increase their inclusive fitness, which is not the case for daughters. Our study highlights sex-specific differences in the effect of body mass on the life history of a monogamous species with bi-parental care.


2001 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Moss ◽  
James Oswald ◽  
David Baines

1995 ◽  
Vol 5 (12) ◽  
pp. 1689-1695 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Thoms ◽  
Peter Donahue ◽  
Doug Hunter ◽  
Naeem Jan

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