Clutch Size in the Dotterel Charadrius morinellus: An Adaptation to Parental Incubation Behaviour?

1987 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 316 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Atle Kalas ◽  
Lars Lofaldli
Keyword(s):  
Clutch Size ◽  
Incubation Behaviour

scholarly journals Family Planning in the Kestrel (Falco Tinnunculus): the Proximate Control of Covariation of Laying Date and Clutch Size

Behaviour ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 114 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 117-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Serge Daan ◽  
Michael Hall ◽  
Theo Meijer
Keyword(s):  
Clutch Size ◽  
Feedback Loop ◽  
Significant Advance ◽  
Laying Date ◽  
Plasma Prolactin ◽  
Free Living ◽  
Feeding Experiments ◽  
Incubation Behaviour ◽  
Time Of Year ◽  
Seasonal Decline

AbstractThe time in spring when a male kestrel rapidly increases his daily hunting time and his hunting yield, and thereby the amount of food delivered to the female, determines the date when she lays the first egg. Food experiments in free-living and captive kestrels gave a significant advance in laying date. Clutch size, which decreases with progressive laying date, did not change independent of date in response to food manipulation. These effects are in agreement with most other feeding experiments. Photoperiod experiments in kestrels advanced the reproductive cycle in constant long days, and a similar seasonal decline in clutch size was found. It seems that there is an internally preprogrammed decrease in clutch size within an annual "reproductive window". A proximate control model for the seasonal decline of clutch size is proposed, modified from an earlier model by HAFTORN (1985). This incorporates an increasing tendency to incubate the first eggs with progression of the season, an egg contact-incubation positive feedback loop, and the resorption of further follicles in the ovary when the laying female incubates 50% of the time. This follicle resorption fixes the clutch size ca. four days before the last egg is laid. the 50% incubation level is reached earlier in late females and consequently resorption starts earlier and the resulting clutch is smaller than in early females. Experiments in kestrels with removal and addition of eggs, in combination with measurements of incubation behaviour are discussed in relation to the model. Plasma prolactin data of female kestrels show that this hormone is a serious candidate for a physiological component relaying time of year in our model for clutch size regulation.

scholarly journals Evolution of parental incubation behaviour in dinosaurs cannot be inferred from clutch mass in birds

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 20130036 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey F. Birchard ◽  
Marcello Ruta ◽  
D. Charles Deeming
Keyword(s):  
Parental Care ◽  
Clutch Size ◽  
Paternal Care ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Scaling Analysis ◽  
Theropod Dinosaurs ◽  
Incubation Behaviour ◽  
Allometric Analysis ◽  
Clutch Mass

A recent study proposed that incubation behaviour (i.e. type of parental care) in theropod dinosaurs can be inferred from an allometric analysis of clutch volume in extant birds. However, the study in question failed to account for factors known to affect egg and clutch size in living bird species. A new scaling analysis of avian clutch mass demonstrates that type of parental care cannot be distinguished by conventional allometry because of the confounding effects of phylogeny and hatchling maturity. Precociality of young but not paternal care in the theropod ancestors of birds is consistent with the available data.

Is there an Optimal Clutch Size in Snow Geese?

1987 ◽  
Vol 130 (6) ◽  
pp. 839-863 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. F. Rockwell ◽  
C. S. Findlay ◽  
F. Cooke
Keyword(s):  
Clutch Size ◽  
Snow Geese ◽  
Optimal Clutch Size

scholarly journals Glucocorticoids, state-dependent reproductive investment and success in the face of danger in a long-lived bird

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristina Noreikienė ◽  
Kim Jaatinen ◽  
Benjamin B. Steele ◽  
Markus Öst
Keyword(s):  
Predation Risk ◽  
Telomere Length ◽  
Clutch Size ◽  
Body Condition ◽  
Nest Predation ◽  
Hatching Success ◽  
Reproductive Investment ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Relative Telomere Length ◽  
Future Reproduction

AbstractGlucocorticoid hormones may mediate trade-offs between current and future reproduction. However, understanding their role is complicated by predation risk, which simultaneously affects the value of the current reproductive investment and elevates glucocorticoid levels. Here, we shed light on these issues in long-lived female Eiders (Somateria mollissima) by investigating how current reproductive investment (clutch size) and hatching success relate to faecal glucocorticoid metabolite [fGCM] level and residual reproductive value (minimum years of breeding experience, body condition, relative telomere length) under spatially variable predation risk. Our results showed a positive relationship between colony-specific predation risk and mean colony-specific fGCM levels. Clutch size and female fGCM were negatively correlated only under high nest predation and in females in good body condition, previously shown to have a longer life expectancy. We also found that younger females with longer telomeres had smaller clutches. The drop in hatching success with increasing fGCM levels was least pronounced under high nest predation risk, suggesting that elevated fGCM levels may allow females to ensure some reproductive success under such conditions. Hatching success was positively associated with female body condition, with relative telomere length, particularly in younger females, and with female minimum age, particularly under low predation risk, showing the utility of these metrics as indicators of individual quality. In line with a trade-off between current and future reproduction, our results show that high potential for future breeding prospects and increased predation risk shift the balance toward investment in future reproduction, with glucocorticoids playing a role in the resolution of this trade-off.

scholarly journals Temporal changes in reproductive success and optimal breeding decisions in a long-distance migratory bird

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia Reséndiz-Infante ◽  
Gilles Gauthier
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Clutch Size ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Migratory Bird ◽  
Laying Date ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Breeding Phenology ◽  
Additional Time ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Seasonal Decline

AbstractMany avian migrants have not adjusted breeding phenology to climate warming resulting in negative consequences for their offspring. We studied seasonal changes in reproductive success of the greater snow goose (Anser caerulescens atlantica), a long-distance migrant. As the climate warms and plant phenology advances, the mismatch between the timing of gosling hatch and peak nutritive quality of plants will increase. We predicted that optimal laying date yielding highest reproductive success occurred earlier over time and that the seasonal decline in reproductive success increased. Over 25 years, reproductive success of early breeders increased by 42%, producing a steeper seasonal decline in reproductive success. The difference between the laying date producing highest reproductive success and the median laying date of the population increased, which suggests an increase in the selection pressure for that trait. Observed clutch size was lower than clutch size yielding the highest reproductive success for most laying dates. However, at the individual level, clutch size could still be optimal if the additional time required to acquire nutrients to lay extra eggs is compensated by a reduction in reproductive success due to a delayed laying date. Nonetheless, breeding phenology may not respond sufficiently to meet future environmental changes induced by warming temperatures.

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