Contrasting effects of reduced incubation cost on clutch attendance by male and female European starlings

Magrath, Michael J. L.; Overveld, Thijs van; Komdeur, Jan

doi:10.1163/156853905774831837

Cited by 9 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 44 publications

(77 reference statements)

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“…In contrast, male nest attendance time was not related to the behaviour of the genetic father, however, it was influenced negatively by humidity, suggesting a more flexible response and compensation to changes in the non-social environment by males than by females during incubation. Our results are in line with previous studies reporting male and female parents to react differently to environmental changes in various bird species (Magrath et al, 2005;Charmantier et al, 2008;Kosztolányi et al, 2009;Vincze et al, 2017;Rohwer and Purcell, 2019;Sharpe et al, 2021;Ton et al, 2021). In zebra finches, a recent study also corroborates our finding suggesting sexually different flexibility and reactions to changing environmental conditions, however, with a sexually contrasting effect of ambient temperature (Ton et al, 2021).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Genetic and Social Transmission of Parental Sex Roles in Zebra Finch Families

et al. 2022

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Parental care plays a central, reinforcing role in the evolution of sex roles and its development is often reported to be driven by genetic, rather than environmental effects. Based on these studies, however, genetic inheritance does not account fully for the often-significant phenotypic variability observed within species, a variation that we hypothesized may be explained by social effects from parents. Following a full cross-fostering design, here we aimed at disentangling genetic and social parental effects in the ontogeny of parental behaviours. Clutches of eggs were swapped, and we monitored parental behaviours in two consecutive generations of a captive population of the socially monogamous, biparental zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata). Using nest box cameras, parental behaviour was recorded for 3 h in two reproductive stages: on day 8 of incubation and day 10 post-hatching. These fostered birds, after becoming fully matured, received a pair randomly and we observed parental care of this second generation too, following the same protocol. We then compared various parental behaviours (such as time spent incubating, or number of nest attendances during offspring provisioning) in the second generation to those of their genetic and social parents. Based on the results of our experiment, both genetic and social effects can contribute to intergenerational transmission of specific parental behaviours, with various weights. However, the strongest and most consistent effect that we found is that of the current mate; a social effect that can manifest both in negative and positive directions, depending on the behavioural trait. Our study suggests context-specific and sexually different genetic, social and non-social environmental effects in the ontogeny of parental sex roles and outline the importance of parental negotiation in explaining individual variation of parental behaviour in biparental species.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Genetic and Social Transmission of Parental Sex Roles in Zebra Finch Families

et al. 2022

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“…However, the increase in nest attendance by males may represent compensation for the reduced attentiveness by the female, consistent with results of Magrath et al (2005). The optimal contribution by one parent should depend on the level of investment by their partner, with a reduction in effort by one parent predicted to result in partial compensation by the other.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

“…Our study demonstrated that female Black-necked Cranes shifted priority between self-maintenance and incubation demands depending on various temperature conditions and their parental cooperation. Similarly, Magrath et al (2005) reported that females were more sensitive to the thermal status and demands of the clutch than males.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Incubation strategies of the Black-necked Crane (Grus nigricollis) in relation to ambient temperature and time of day

Zhang

Shu

et al. 2017

Avian Res

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Background:The behavior of cranes reflects many of their survival strategies, but little has been known of the incubation strategies of cranes, in which both parents share incubation duties, in response to cold temperatures in alpine environments. The lack of information may restrict the effective conservation of the threatened Black-necked Crane (Grus nigricollis), a biparental bird nesting in high elevation wetlands. Methods:We directly observed and used infrared video cameras from 2014 to 2015 to study the incubation behavior and quantitatively measured the frequency and details of egg turning behavior in the Black-necked Crane at the Yanchiwan National Nature Reserve in western Gansu Province, China. Results:At lower ambient temperatures in the morning, crane parents spent more time on the nest with less recess frequency and prolonged on-bout duration, while at higher temperatures around noon, the parents had more frequent recesses from incubation and shorter periods between nest exchanges. They adjusted the amount of time incubating by varying the recess frequency and the length of on-bout duration. Mean nest attendance and egg turning frequency of females were significantly higher than those of the males. The nest attendance and on-bout duration of females showed a significantly negative relationship with those of males. The two parents responded differently to the change of temperature. Females spent more time on the nest at lower morning temperatures, while males increased their time on the nest at higher temperatures after noon. Higher incubation recess frequency and egg turning frequency were observed at noon, probably because parents spent more time foraging, taking advantage of the lower egg cooling rate. Conclusion:Both Black-necked Crane parents in the alpine environment adjusted their behavior in response to the thermal requirements of eggs and the weather conditions experienced. Our findings demonstrate that parents of this species incubated in different but complementary ways and efficiently enhanced egg care in a dynamic environment, so as to maximize benefits from the warm portion of the day and the intense solar radiation while minimizing the cost of rewarming eggs and the risks of cooling eggs.

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“…Differences in attentiveness between male and female Zebra Finches reflect theoretical expectations (Møller & Cuervo 2000) and have been known for a long time (El‐Wailly 1966), but sex variation in behavioural incubation responses to ambient temperature is poorly documented (van Overveld et al . 2005) and its causes are still unclear.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1984) and have also identified sex‐dependent differences in attentiveness for European Starlings Sturnus vulgaris (van Overveld et al . 2005). Although available studies are extremely valuable in broadening our understanding of parental and embryonic plastic adjustments to ambient temperature variation, they still provide an incomplete test of these mechanisms.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Higher experimental ambient temperature decreases female incubation attentiveness in Zebra Finches (Taeniopygia guttata) and lower effort yields negligible energy savings

Ton

Hurley

Griffith

2021

Ibis

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In birds, ambient temperature can influence adult incubation behaviour, energy budget, egg temperature and embryonic development, with downstream effects on offspring survival. Surprisingly, experimental manipulations of the whole nesting environment to test causes and consequences of variation in incubation pattern, energy balance, egg temperature and the duration of development are lacking to date. Here, we bred pairs of Zebra Finches Taeniopygia guttata under controlled conditions at 18 and 30 °C and measured clutch size, temperature, hatching success, parental attentiveness and the length of the embryonic period. We found that when breeding at the higher temperature, males, but not females, increased the number of incubation bouts on the nest. Instead, females, but not males, reduced their attentiveness towards the clutch overall. Eggs showed no temperature differences between the two treatments and bigger clutches experienced lower temperatures. This suggests that parental behaviour may buffer the effect of ambient conditions on the thermal profile of eggs, including species with high rates of parental attentiveness. Warmer conditions yielded higher hatching rates but did not cause measurable differences in the length of embryonic development. Still, smaller clutches hatched earlier in accordance with the higher temperature experienced. Additionally, we used data from the literature to calculate parental energy expenditure and demonstrate that this was substantially different across the two treatments, although predicted energy savings from reduced attentiveness at 30 °C appeared negligible. These results suggest that when food is available, ambient temperature and not energy trade‐offs may explain variation in incubation behaviour.

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Contrasting effects of reduced incubation cost on clutch attendance by male and female European starlings

Cited by 9 publications

References 44 publications

Genetic and Social Transmission of Parental Sex Roles in Zebra Finch Families

Genetic and Social Transmission of Parental Sex Roles in Zebra Finch Families

Incubation strategies of the Black-necked Crane (Grus nigricollis) in relation to ambient temperature and time of day

Higher experimental ambient temperature decreases female incubation attentiveness in Zebra Finches (Taeniopygia guttata) and lower effort yields negligible energy savings

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