Sandwich Tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis)

Cayenne Tern New to North America, with Comments on Its Relationship to Sandwich Tern

The Auk ◽

10.1093/auk/101.2.404 ◽

1984 ◽

Vol 101 (2) ◽

pp. 396-398 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

P. A. Buckley ◽

Francine Geber Buckley

Keyword(s):

North America ◽

Sandwich Tern

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Sex-biased parental-care allocation in three tern species (Laridae, Aves)

Canadian Journal of Zoology ◽

10.1139/z95-172 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 73 (8) ◽

pp. 1461-1467 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Mauro Fasola ◽

Nicola Saino

Keyword(s):

Parental Care ◽

Agonistic Behavior ◽

Sexual Size Dimorphism ◽

Reproductive Effort ◽

Seabird Species ◽

Theoretical Predictions ◽

Males And Females ◽

Sandwich Tern ◽

Parental Expenditure ◽

Care Allocation

We studied parental-care allocation by males and females in three tern species. Female Common Terns (Sterna hirundo) and Little Terns (S. albifrons) performed more incubation and brooding than males, whereas in the Sandwich Tern (S. sandvicensis) the sexes shared these duties equally. In all three species, agonistic behaviors were performed equally by females and males. Prey types brought by males and females of each species were similar, but males tended to bring larger prey and had higher delivery rates than females. Information on parental-care allocation by female and male seabirds of various species, 5 gulls, 6 terns, and 1 skimmer, indicates that females perform most of the incubation and brooding in both gulls and terns, whereas males perform most territory attendance and agonistic behavior (gulls) and more prey provisioning (terns). These patterns are qualitatively consistent with the explanation that the differences between gulls and terns in sex-biased parental care are related to the fact that gulls exhibit sexual size dimorphism but terns do not. Contrary to theoretical predictions that in monogamous birds, females contribute more reproductive effort than males, in all the seabird species studied so far the total parental expenditure by males seems to equal or outweigh that by females.

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