Increased perception of predation risk to adults and offspring alters avian reproductive strategy and performance

Hua, Fangyuan; Sieving, Kathryn E.; Fletcher, Robert J.; Wright, Chloe A.

doi:10.1093/beheco/aru017

Cited by 127 publications

(102 citation statements)

References 78 publications

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“…This agrees with previous studies on the topic (e.g. Eggers et al 2005Eggers et al , 2008Massaro et al 2008;Peluc et al 2008;Zanette et al 2011;Ghalambor et al 2013;Hua et al 2014) and also with the reduction in nest visits observed for female Blackbirds during the incubation stage (Ibáñez-Á lamo and Soler 2012). However, adult Blackbirds did not show an increase in latency time due to a high perceived predation risk (prediction 1b).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

“…While several studies have demonstrated a reduction in offspring provisioning rates (e.g. Eggers et al 2005Eggers et al , 2008Massaro et al 2008;Peluc et al 2008;Zanette et al 2011;Ghalambor et al 2013;Hua et al 2014;LaManna and Martin 2016), it remains unknown whether the reduction in nest visitation rates differs between sexes. Martin and Badyaev (1996) suggested that nest predation could place greater constraints on female than on male plumage brightness, implying that each sex responds differentially to nest predation risk.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Male and female Blackbirds (Turdus merula) respond similarly to the risk of nest predation

Ibáñez‐Álamo

Soler

2016

J Ornithol

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Several studies have found that adult birds of altricial species adjust their parental care behaviour (i.e. nest visits) in response to the current risk of predation for their offspring. However, no experimental study has so far investigated whether there are sex differences in these passive anti-predator responses during the nestling period. Differences between males and females could arise because of several factors, including (1) probability of detection, (2) confidence in parenthood, and (3) different parental care behaviour associated with each sex. To test whether these anti-predator passive responses involve sex differences, we experimentally manipulated the perceived risk of nest predation of adult Common Blackbirds (Turdus merula), a sexually dimorphic species with a relatively high extra-pair paternity level. Our results showed that nest predation significantly reduced adult visits to the nest, but not differentially between males and females, which does not support our predictions. Our findings suggest (1) that sex differences in predator-induced behaviour could depend on the type of response (active vs. passive antipredator strategies); (2) the potential existence of a minimum threshold in detectability between males and females for these behavioural changes to occur; and (3) the contrasting and opposite effects of several factors that might impede the selection of sex differences in these types of parental care behaviour.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Male and female Blackbirds (Turdus merula) respond similarly to the risk of nest predation

Ibáñez‐Álamo

Soler

2016

J Ornithol

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“…For example, female pied flycatchers ( Ficedula hypoleuca ) provisioned nestlings at higher rates under conditions of high perceived risk compared with females provisioning under conditions of low perceived risk (Thomson et al 2010), but song sparrows ( Melospiza melodia ) decreased parental provisioning rates under similar conditions (Zanette et al 2011). In other species, the magnitude of behavioral responses to offspring and adult predator models differed depending on the adult survival probability and the clutch size of the species (Ghalambor and Martin 2001), suggesting that risk-management strategies may differ among species depending on life history (Hua et al 2014; LaManna and Martin 2016). To complicate the matter further, breeding birds must manage both self-risk and risk to offspring (Mahr et al 2014), where the appropriate response to one may differ from that to the other.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In some cases, when perceived predation risk was heightened, significantly fewer offspring (Scheuerlein et al 2001; Zanette et al 2011; Hua et al 2014) and lower quality offspring (Thomson et al 2006a) were produced, females were less likely to initiate a second brood (Scheuerlein et al 2001), and males spent more time nest-guarding and less time foraging, resulting in deterioration of their body condition (Komdeur and Kats 1999). In contrast to such results, significant costs of behavioral plasticity have not been detected in other studies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavioral Plasticity in Response to Perceived Predation Risk in Breeding House Wrens

2016

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Predation is a significant cause of nest failure in passerine birds, and, thus, natural selection is expected to favor behavioral plasticity to allow birds to respond to perceived changes in predation risk. However, behavioral plasticity in response to perceived predation risk, and its potential fitness-related costs, are understudied. In a wild population of breeding house wrens (Troglodytes aedon), we tested the hypotheses that (1) birds show behavioral plasticity in response to perceived nest-predation risk to reduce self-risk or risk to offspring, but (2) this plasticity incurs fitness-related costs. We experimentally increased the perceived risk of nest predation by enlarging the diameter of the nestbox entrance from the standard 3.2 cm to 5.0 cm once incubation began. Unexpectedly, large-hole females spent significantly less time being vigilant than small-hole (control) females during late incubation. Both males and females also exhibited plasticity in their provisioning behavior. Large-hole males increased and large-hole females decreased provisioning visits with increasing brood size, whereas small-hole males and females behaved similarly and were unaffected by brood size. Females did not show plasticity in their incubation or brooding behavior. Notwithstanding this behavioral plasticity in response to increased perceived predation risk, treatment had no effect on hatching success or early hatchling survival, nor did it affect nestling body condition or fledging success. We conclude, therefore, that house wrens show behavioral plasticity in response to perceived nest-predation risk, but that any short-term fitness-related costs associated with this flexibility appear negligible.

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“…At the individual level, increased perceived predation risk negatively affects reproductive success through sub-optimal territory choice and parental care [1,2]. Exposure to predators may also elevate physiological stress [3][4][5] (but see [6]), modify offspring growth rates [7,8] and influence the composition of maternal effects transferred to the developing embryo [9][10][11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predator encounters have spatially extensive impacts on parental behaviour in a breeding bird community

et al. 2016

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Predation risk has negative indirect effects on prey fitness, partly mediated through changes in behaviour. Evidence that individuals gather social information from other members of the population suggests that events in a community may impact the behaviour of distant individuals. However, spatially wide-ranging impacts on individual behaviour caused by a predator encounter elsewhere in a community have not been documented before. We investigated the effect of a predator encounter (hawk model presented at a focal nest) on the parental behaviour of pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca), both at the focal nest and at nearby nests different distances from the predator encounter. We show that nest visitation of both focal pairs and nearby pairs were affected, up to 3 h and 1 h, respectively. Parents also appeared to compensate initial disrupted feeding by later increasing nest visitation rates. This is the first evidence showing that the behaviour of nearby pairs was affected away from an immediate source of risk. Our results indicate that the impacts of short-term predator encounters may immediately extend spatially to the broader community, affecting the behaviour of distant individuals. Information about predators is probably quickly spread by cues such as intra-and heterospecific alarm calls, in communities of different taxa.

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Increased perception of predation risk to adults and offspring alters avian reproductive strategy and performance

Cited by 127 publications

References 78 publications

Male and female Blackbirds (Turdus merula) respond similarly to the risk of nest predation

Male and female Blackbirds (Turdus merula) respond similarly to the risk of nest predation

Behavioral Plasticity in Response to Perceived Predation Risk in Breeding House Wrens

Predator encounters have spatially extensive impacts on parental behaviour in a breeding bird community

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