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Porträtt av Henrik Smith. Foto.

Henrik Smith

Professor

Porträtt av Henrik Smith. Foto.

Paternal care in the European starling, Sturnus vulgaris: nestling provision

Författare

  • Maria Sandell
  • Henrik G. Smith
  • Måns Bruun

Summary, in English

The extent to which male birds in polygynous species with biparental care assist in nestling feeding often varies considerably between nests of different mating status. Both how much polygynous males assist and how they divide their effort between nests may have a profound effect on the evolution of mating systems. In this study we investigated how males in the facultatively polygynous European starling Sturnus vulgaris invested in their different nests. The amount of male assistance affected the quality of the offspring. Polygynous males invested as much as monogamous males, but divided their effort asymmetrically between nests, predominantly feeding nestlings of first-mated (primary) females. Although females partly compensated for loss of male assistance, total feeding frequency was lower at primary females' nests than at monogamous females nests. Secondary females received even less assistance with nestling rearing, and the extent to which males assisted decreased with the length of the interval between the hatching of the primary and secondary clutches. These results are contrasted with those from a Belgian populations of starlings with a much more protracted breeding season and thus greater opportunities for males to attract additional mates during the nestling rearing period. The results show that both the ''defence of male parental investment model'' and the ''asynchronous settlement model'' have explanatory power, but that their validity depends on the potential length of the breeding season.

Avdelning/ar

  • Centrum för miljö- och klimatvetenskap (CEC)
  • Biodiversity
  • Biodiversitet och bevarandevetenskap

Publiceringsår

1996

Språk

Engelska

Sidor

301-309

Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie

Behavioral Ecology

Volym

39

Dokumenttyp

Artikel i tidskrift

Förlag

Oxford University Press

Ämne

  • Zoology
  • Ecology

Nyckelord

  • Nestling feeding
  • Parental investment
  • Mating systems

Aktiv

Published

Forskningsgrupp

  • Biodiversity and Conservation Science

ISBN/ISSN/Övrigt

  • ISSN: 1045-2249