Interactions between parents and non-residential intruders at a breeding colony of Herring Gulls<i>Larus argentatus</i>

Observations on 24 focal nests revealed that, at the time when parental investment in feeding fledging chicks declined, chicks showed a marked increase in begging, particularly in larger broods, whilst parents became less responsive to begging. That chicks suffer a cost from early termination of investment is indicated by the fact that third‐hatched chicks, who had attempted (unsuccessfully) to initiate more feeds, were absent from the territory first, rather than the more mature first‐ and second‐hatched chicks. Taken together, these results and related inter‐ and intra‐brood contrasts in behaviour are interpreted as offering support for Trivers' theory of parent‐offspring conflict over the termination of investment.

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Sex-biased parental-care allocation in three tern species (Laridae, Aves)

Fasola¹,

Saino²

1995

Can. J. Zool.

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We studied parental-care allocation by males and females in three tern species. Female Common Terns (Sterna hirundo) and Little Terns (S. albifrons) performed more incubation and brooding than males, whereas in the Sandwich Tern (S. sandvicensis) the sexes shared these duties equally. In all three species, agonistic behaviors were performed equally by females and males. Prey types brought by males and females of each species were similar, but males tended to bring larger prey and had higher delivery rates than females. Information on parental-care allocation by female and male seabirds of various species, 5 gulls, 6 terns, and 1 skimmer, indicates that females perform most of the incubation and brooding in both gulls and terns, whereas males perform most territory attendance and agonistic behavior (gulls) and more prey provisioning (terns). These patterns are qualitatively consistent with the explanation that the differences between gulls and terns in sex-biased parental care are related to the fact that gulls exhibit sexual size dimorphism but terns do not. Contrary to theoretical predictions that in monogamous birds, females contribute more reproductive effort than males, in all the seabird species studied so far the total parental expenditure by males seems to equal or outweigh that by females.

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Interactions between parents and non-residential intruders at a breeding colony of Herring GullsLarus argentatus

Cited by 4 publications

References 17 publications

Informed Dispersal

Informed Dispersal

Parent‐Offspring Conflict over Independence in the Herring Gull (Larus argentatus)

Sex-biased parental-care allocation in three tern species (Laridae, Aves)

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