Effects of female pairing status and timing of breeding on nesting productivity in western meadowlarks (Sturnella neglecta)

1987 ◽  
Vol 65 (12) ◽  
pp. 3093-3101 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. E. Dickinson ◽  
J. B. Falls ◽  
J. Kopachena
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Brood Reduction ◽  
Timing Of Breeding ◽  
Middle Portion ◽  
Initial Attempt ◽  
Nesting Ecology ◽  
Aggressive Interactions ◽  
Asynchronous Hatching ◽  
Sturnella Neglecta

The nesting ecology of western meadowlarks (Sturnella neglecta) in southern Manitoba is strongly influenced by the timing of breeding. Physical characteristics of nests change, apparently in response to seasonally altered thermal demands. The largest eggs and the largest clutches are produced in the middle portion of the breeding season, and nests initiated at that time produce the greatest number of young. Nevertheless, nesting productivity is highest for females that begin nesting earlier in the season and that can therefore renest if their initial attempt fails. Females breeding with already-mated males have, on average, as high a reproductive success as do primary females. Nevertheless, nestlings of secondary females frequently starve if they do not receive a male's parental care. Asynchronous hatching and facultative brood reduction may decrease the total losses incurred through nestling starvation, and may be adaptations that allow successful polygyny in this species. Aggressive interactions between resident and unmated females may protect a primary female's "preferred" status and may affect a male's ability to breed bigamously.

Clutch quality is related to embryonic development duration, hatchling body size and telomere length in the spined toad (Bufo spinosus)

2021 ◽  
Vol 133 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-142
Author(s):  
Marion Cheron ◽  
Frédéric Angelier ◽  
Cécile Ribout ◽  
François Brischoux
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Embryonic Development ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Telomere Length ◽  
Mate Selection ◽  
Hatching Success ◽  
Egg Quality ◽  
Parental Quality ◽  
Complex Interactions ◽  
Development Duration

Abstract Reproductive success is often related to parental quality, a parameter expressed through various traits, such as site selection, mate selection and energetic investment in the eggs or progeny. Owing to the complex interactions between environmental and parental characteristics occurring at various stages of the reproductive event, it is often complicated to tease apart the relative contributions of these different factors to reproductive success. Study systems where these complex interactions are simplified (e.g. absence of parental care) can help us to understand how metrics of parental quality (e.g. gamete and egg quality) influence reproductive success. Using such a study system in a common garden experiment, we investigated the relationships between clutch hatching success (a proxy of clutch quality) and offspring quality in an amphibian species lacking post-oviposition parental care. We found a relationship between clutch quality and embryonic development duration and hatchling phenotype. We found that hatchling telomere length was linked to hatching success. These results suggest that clutch quality is linked to early life traits in larval amphibians and that deciphering the influence of parental traits on the patterns we detected is a promising avenue of research.

Nesting ecology and reproductive success of mixed-grass prairie songbirds

2021 ◽  
Vol 132 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn A. Gaudet ◽  
Eric N. Green ◽  
R. Mark Brigham ◽  
Stephen K. Davis
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Nesting Ecology ◽  
Mixed Grass Prairie ◽  
Mixed Grass

Energy Expenditure in Reproductive Effort of Male and Female Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)

The Auk ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 105 (3) ◽  
pp. 553-564 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dianne H. Brunton
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Energy Expenditure ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Breeding Season ◽  
Reproductive Effort ◽  
Mating Effort ◽  
Parental Effort ◽  
Nest Failure ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Charadrius Vociferus

Abstract The reproductive investment strategies of the sexes during the breeding season are detailed for Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus), a monogamous plover. I measured the energy investments of the sexes in reproductive, mating, and parental effort. As predicted, males expend more mating effort than females; however, the sexes expend equal amounts of parental effort. Total energy expenditure in reproductive effort (mating and parental effort) during a successful nesting attempt was also equal for the sexes. However, early parental effort expenditures by females, early mating effort expenditures by males, and high rates of nest failure combine to result in female reproductive energy expenditures being significantly higher over the breeding season. This suggests that energy expenditure alone is not adequate for accurate comparisons of the relative investments of the sexes. Studies investigating male and female investments need to consider the degree and pattern of nest failures along with patterns of energy expenditure. The advantages to male and female Killdeer of sharing parental care is demonstrated using adult removal experiments. In general, a deserted parent expends more energy in parental effort than a bi-parental parent and has significantly lower reproductive success. However, males are able to hatch chicks, whereas females lose or abandon their nests within a few days of mate removal. Thus, monogamy in Killdeer appears to result from high nest failure rates, the necessity of two parents for any reproductive success, and the generalizable nature of Killdeer parental care.

scholarly journals Context and Frequency of Infanticide in Communally Breeding Guira Cuckoos

The Condor ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 103 (1) ◽  
pp. 170-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Regina H. F. Macedo ◽  
Mariana Cariello ◽  
Laura Muniz
Keyword(s):  
Egg Laying ◽  
Brood Reduction ◽  
Insect Abundance ◽  
Central Brazil ◽  
Asynchronous Hatching ◽  
Almost All

Abstract We studied the context of brood reduction through infanticide by communally breeding Guira Cuckoos (Guira guira) in central Brazil. During seven reproductive seasons, we monitored 142 nests from egg laying until fledging. Almost all nests (97%) lost eggs through ejection, and chick deaths occurred in 72% of all nests with hatchlings. There was evidence for infanticide in 38% of the nests that exhibited some mortality. We compared egg and chick mortality in the early part of the season with the later part, when insect abundance declines, but found no significant differences. Less than one-third of all nests monitored showed asynchronous hatching of eggs, and in those that did, chick death was not in reverse hatch order. Although there are several plausible explanations for infanticide, we highlight one likely candidate, which is its interpretation as a sexually selected trait where individuals gain reproductive benefits by provoking the group's nesting failure.

Male quality and song repertoires in western meadowlarks (Sturnella neglecta)

1993 ◽  
Vol 71 (5) ◽  
pp. 1059-1061 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew G. Horn ◽  
Thomas E. Dickinson ◽  
J. Bruce Falls
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Wing Length ◽  
Territory Size ◽  
Male Quality ◽  
Repertoire Size ◽  
Song Repertoire ◽  
Signalling System ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Sturnella Neglecta ◽  
Song Repertoires

The relationship between song repertoire size and measures of male quality and reproductive success was examined in a Manitoba population of western meadowlarks (Sturnella neglecta). Repertoire size correlated positively with the singer's wing length but not with mass or territory size. Males with larger repertoires tended to pair earlier and males with higher pairing success had larger repertoires. Repertoire size correlated positively with fledging success independently of pairing success. As suggested for other species, repertoire size might serve as a signal to females of male quality. We suggest mechanisms by which this signalling system is maintained.

Parental Care and Polygyny in the Chiffchaff Phylloscopus Collybita

Behaviour ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 133 (13-14) ◽  
pp. 1077-1094 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcos Rodrigues
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Threshold Model ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Food Provisioning ◽  
Nestling Period

AbstractThe males of most bird species help to raise the young, and females may suffer costs from polygyny because of having to share the male parental care. In the chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita) nests of monogamously and polygynously mated females had similar success in relation to the proportion of fledged young. Overall, male chiffchaffs provided little assistance to females during the nestling period, but they increased help when the young left the nest. Females who choose already-paired males (secondary females) incurred lower reproductive success, because they were unable to start a second brood after raising their first brood. Primary and monogamous females which received male help in the form of food provisioning during the fledgling period were more likely to attempt a second brood. This is the first study that reports associated costs to secondary females due to the lack of paternal aid after the young have fledged the nest. However, secondary females still can obtain compensatory benefits, as predicted by the polygyny threshold model, since most of them settled in good quality habitats, close to the primary females.

Experimentally-elevated testosterone, female parental care, and reproductive success in a songbird, the Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis)

2008 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 571-578 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dawn M. O'Neal ◽  
Dustin G. Reichard ◽  
Katie Pavilis ◽  
Ellen D. Ketterson
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Junco Hyemalis
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