Green nesting material has a function in mate attraction in the European starling

Brouwer, Lyanne; Komdeur, Jan

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2003.07.005

Cited by 85 publications

(130 citation statements)

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“…The incorporation of fresh herbs into nests peaks about 5 days before the first egg is laid, at the time when the pair forms and the eggs of the clutch begin to be yolked, and ceases with the end of the courtship phase. This timing suggests a role of this behaviour in mate attraction (Gwinner, 1997;Brouwer and Komdeur, 2004;Veiga et al, 2006;).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Nest Composition and Yolk Hormones: Do Female European Starlings Adjust Yolk Androgens to Nest Quality?

Gwinner

Yohannes

Schwabl

2013

Avian Biology Research

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The nest is a key element of avian reproductive fitness. It provides the developmental environment for the embryo and nestling thereby affecting their quality and survival. Nests are often constructed by the male and nest quality, elaboration, and ornamentation vary among males in a species. Therefore, male nest-building behaviour is likely under sexual selection and females may use male nest-building behaviour and nest features as cues in mate choice and their own reproductive investment. We tested this hypothesis in European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris). Male starlings present green plants to females during their courtship display and furbish their nests with variable quantities of fresh green plants. The highest frequency of plant incorporation into the nest occurs during pair formation and oogenesis. We determined nest composition and measured yolk testosterone concentrations in eggs. Yolk testosterone concentrations were positively correlated with the amount of green plant material in nests. Because males use green nest material in courtship and green nest material positively affects nestlings' development, we suggest that female European starlings use male nest-building effort, ritualised courtship display of green plants, and nest characteristics in mate choice, and adjust yolk testosterone levels in the eggs to the quality of the nest to optimise offspring growth.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Nest Composition and Yolk Hormones: Do Female European Starlings Adjust Yolk Androgens to Nest Quality?

Gwinner

Yohannes

Schwabl

2013

Avian Biology Research

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“…In particular, studies of Corsican blue tits have demonstrated that their inclusion within nests does effectively reduce the abundance and virulence of ectoparasites and bacteria and thus, has positive effects on the fitness of both the nestlings and attending parents (e.g., Lambrechts and dos Santos, 2000;Lafuma et al, 2001;Petit et al, 2002;Lambrechts et al, 2008;Mennerat et al, 2008). However, it is prudent to acknowledge that nest materials can have multiple functions and that aromatic plant materials play an important role in the process of sexual selection in European starlings and other species (Fauth et al, 1991;Gwinner, 1997;Gwinner et al, 2000;Brouwer and Komdeur, 2004). Meanwhile, feathers, which are thought by some to be incorporated into nests to provide a physical barrier between nestlings and ectoparasites instead appear to create a suitable microclimate for offspring development as reported primarily in tree swallows and less commonly in other species (Winkler, 1993;Lombardo et al, 1995;Dawson, 2004;Liljesthröm et al, 2009;Stephenson et al, 2009;Dawson et al, 2011).…”

Section: Parasite Avoidancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is now evidence that constructing a nest is energetically expensive for birds and that whilst those costs are less substantial than provisioning nestlings or incubating eggs, they are nevertheless far more substantial than they were generally considered to be just a couple of decades ago (e.g., Withers, 1977;Hansell and Ruxton, 2002;Soler et al, 2007;Moreno et al, 2008Moreno et al, , 2010; reviewed by Mainwaring and Hartley, 2013). Thus, nest building behaviors and the design of completed nests may act as sexual signals and there is widespread evidence that they play a role in sexual selection in species where nests are built by males alone (Lens et al, 1994;Evans and Burn, 1996;Gwinner, 1997;Evans, 1997a,b;Soler et al, 2001;de Neve and Soler, 2002;Brouwer and Komdeur, 2004;Polo et al, 2004Polo et al, , 2010Veiga and Polo, 2005;Veiga et al, 2006), by females alone (Moreno et al, 2008(Moreno et al, , 2010 and by both parents (Soler et al, 1998;Sergio et al, 2011).…”

Section: Sexual Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Causes and Consequences of Intraspecific Variation in Nesting Behaviors: Insights from Blue Tits and Great Tits

Mainwaring

2017

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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Nest building is an important and yet under-studied stage of the reproductive cycle in many taxa, including birds, and whilst we have a decent understanding of interspecific variation in avian nesting behaviors, our understanding of intraspecific variation in nesting behaviors is much less developed. This is largely because an insufficient number of studies have been performed on any one species to draw robust conclusions. Fortunately, though, the amount of research on the nesting behaviors of nestbox-breeding blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) and great tits (Parus major) has increased dramatically in recent years and their nesting behaviors are now sufficiently well-studied to offer useful insights into intraspecific variation in avian nesting behaviors. Studies show that individuals of both species select nest sites based on the presence and/or absence of conspecifics and heterospecifics and whilst neighbors were assumed to adversely affect focal individuals by competing for resources, they are now considered beneficial as they provide information about habitat quality and contribute to anti-predator defenses. Nest-building females accurately gauge local weather conditions and respond to predictable variation in environmental conditions by building nests with variable amounts of cup lining material to create suitable nest microclimates for nestlings. Meanwhile, both species vary the amount of aromatic plant materials in their nests in relation to the abundance of nest-dwelling parasites and pathogens and as aromatic plant materials also play a role in sexual selection then nest materials can have multiple functions. The height of nests is negatively correlated with the local risk of predation but whilst predator avoidance favors lower nests, sexual selection favors taller nests. In fact, higher quality females build taller nests that contain more green plant material which in turn influences the amount of care provided by males. This suggests there is considerable intraspecific variation in nesting behaviors in blue and great tits, and in birds generally, and highlights that birds are adept at adaptively varying their nesting behaviors in response to multiple factors. There is, however, a paucity of evidence directly linking such variation in nest building behaviors to reproductive success or fitness more broadly and so further studies could usefully examine such links because trade-offs between competing selection pressures may constrain adaptive nesting behaviors.

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“…This is evidence that E. culicivora's unusual prey-choice behavior might be linked to this species' mating strategy, but it may be common for animal courtship routines to be based in part on the use of odors that have salience in another context. Examples include pheromones of noctuid moths mimicking the plant volatiles used by females for locating oviposition sites (18), male fruit flies attracting potential mates by using ginger root oil as a perfume (19), and bird species that incorporate aromatic plant material in their nests (20,21). There is also evidence from studies on salamanders and voles that odor derived from highquality diets makes individuals more attractive to the opposite sex (5,22).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How blood-derived odor influences mate-choice decisions by a mosquito-eating predator

Cross

Jackson

Pollard

2009

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Evarcha culicivora (Araneae, Salticidae) feeds indirectly on vertebrate blood by choosing, as preferred prey, bloodcarrying female mosquitoes. Mutual mate-choice behavior is also pronounced in this species. Here we show that, when E. culicivora feeds indirectly on blood, it acquires a diet-related odor that makes it more attractive to the opposite sex. The mate-choice decisions of the adults of both sexes were investigated in a series of experiments based on comparing how long the test spider remained close to the odor of one source spider on one day and to the odor of a different source spider on the following day. Four different maintenance diets for source spiders were used in these experiments: bloodfed female mosquitoes (Culicidae, Anopheles gambiae ss), sugar-fed female mosquitoes, male mosquitoes, and lake flies (Chironomidae, Nilodorum brevibucca). Both sexes of E. culicivora spent more time close to the odor of opposite-sex conspecifics that had been on a diet of bloodfed mosquitoes (blood diet) instead of any of the three nonblood diets. Opposite-sex conspecifics that had been on a nonblood diet became more attractive once they were switched to a blood diet. That the attractive odor from blood dissipates was shown when spiders became less attractive once they were switched to a nonblood diet or subjected to a fast. However, there was no evident preference for the odor of a same-sex conspecific on a blood diet instead of a lake fly diet. These findings are discussed in the context of sexual selection and sensory exploitation.mosquitoes ͉ olfaction ͉ predation ͉ sensory exploitation ͉ sexual selection

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Green nesting material has a function in mate attraction in the European starling

Cited by 85 publications

References 50 publications

Nest Composition and Yolk Hormones: Do Female European Starlings Adjust Yolk Androgens to Nest Quality?

Nest Composition and Yolk Hormones: Do Female European Starlings Adjust Yolk Androgens to Nest Quality?

Causes and Consequences of Intraspecific Variation in Nesting Behaviors: Insights from Blue Tits and Great Tits

How blood-derived odor influences mate-choice decisions by a mosquito-eating predator

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