Mutual ornamentation and the parental behaviour of male and female Collared Flycatchers <i>Ficedula albicollis</i> during incubation

Kötél, Dóra; Laczi, Miklós; Török, János; Hegyi, Gergely

doi:10.1111/ibi.12389

Cited by 16 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 67 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…, but see Martin & Wiebe , Kötél et al . ) and did not differ between yearling and older males or females (as reported in previous studies: Table S2). We also found no effect of extra‐pair paternity on a male's feeding behaviour during incubation.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 78%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Patterns of female nest attendance and male feeding throughout the incubation period in Blue Tits Cyanistes caeruleus

Bambini

Schlicht

Kempenaers

2018

Ibis

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Most bird species exhibit biparental care, but the type of care provided by each sex may differ substantially. In particular, during the incubation phase in passerines, females perform most or all of the incubation, while the male cares for the brood indirectly by feeding the female. However, detailed descriptions of this male investment during the incubation period are missing. Here, we quantitatively describe female nest attendance and male incubation feeding throughout the~14-day incubation period in a population of Eurasian Blue Tits Cyanistes caeruleus breeding in nestboxes. Males and females progressively increased their daily activity at the nest over the incubation period. The amount of day-time incubation, measured as the proportion of the active day (time interval between first nestbox exit in the morning and last entry in the evening) a female spent inside the nestbox, varied between 52 and 60% with an average of 55% per day. The frequency of male incubation feeding varied between 0 and 74 times per day with an average of 12 feeds per day. Both male feeding rate and female nest attendance were highest in the morning and declined rapidly throughout the day. Females were more likely to be off the nest during the warmest periods (15-21°C), as expected based on thermal needs of the developing embryos, but also during the coldest periods (2-5°C), presumably due to the energetic needs of the female. This was despite the fact that males fed their females more often at the nest when ambient temperatures were low. Females that received more feeds incubated more and their off-nest bouts were shorter after a feed. The observed variation in female incubation and in male feeding rate was not linked to individual age or to variation in measures of reproductive success. However, direct observations showed that in some pairs a substantial amount of feeding by males occurred outside the nestbox. This suggests that the true male investment might have been underestimated, here and in previous studies.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 78%

“…, Kötél et al . ). Similarly, one could expect that a higher male incubation feeding rate enhances reproductive success.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Patterns of female nest attendance and male feeding throughout the incubation period in Blue Tits Cyanistes caeruleus

Bambini

Schlicht

Kempenaers

2018

Ibis

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The relationship changes very little when omitting the lowest value of patch size change (HBA effect after omission, F 1,29 = 5.686, p = 0.024) In the nestling rearing stage, no measure of actual nutrition showed any correlation with badge sizes. In our population, despite some consistent relationships between nestling growth and male badge sizes (Szöllősi et al 2009;Hegyi et al 2011), no correlational or experimental study has shown any robust link between measures of male parental care and forehead or wing patch size (Kiss et al 2013;Kötél et al 2016;Laczi et al 2017). Therefore, nutritional reserve management in the nestling rearing period may indeed not be closely linked to ornamentation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 59%

“…Actual reserve accumulation will correlate (uncertain sign) with current wing patch size in the courtship phase when this patch has major role as a territorial signal (Garamszegi et al 2006a) but such correlation is not expected for forehead patch size or in the nestling stage where male behaviour is not linked to patch sizes (Kiss et al 2013;Laczi et al 2017) 3. Reserve depletion will negatively correlate with current wing patch size during courtship if large-patched males suffer energetic shortcomings due to the territorial role of the trait (Garamszegi et al 2006a, b; see also Kötél et al 2016). 4.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ornaments and condition: plumage patch sizes, nutritional reserve state, reserve accumulation, and reserve depletion

Hegyi

Jenni-Eiermann

Boross

et al. 2019

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Condition-dependence is considered as a dominant mechanism ensuring the fitness benefits of continued mate choice for heritable sexual signal traits, but crucial questions remain concerning the underlying physiological pathways. For example, it is unclear whether condition-dependence is mediated by the different amount of resource obtained, some uncheatable functional link with nutritional status, or the adverse effect of nutritional stress experienced by some individuals. Furthermore, the pattern of change in nutritional reserves in relation to ornamental traits has recently been proposed as a critical pillar of the condition-dependence concept, but this pattern is virtually unknown in natural populations. We quantified separate measures for actual body condition, lipid reserve accumulation rate, and lipid reserve depletion, and applied these measures to two white plumage ornaments of male collared flycatchers during courtship, during nestling rearing, and before the summer moult. Neither actual condition nor reserve accumulation rate before moult predicted the subsequent change of ornament sizes, but reserve depletion was accompanied by the reduction of forehead patch size to the following year. Wing patch size, a trait important in territoriality, was negatively related to both reserve accumulation and reserve depletion in the courtship period, but not related to current condition. Finally, irrespective of breeding phase, measures of current condition, and recent nutritional reserve depletion were negatively correlated, but both were unrelated to resource accumulation rate. These results indicate that measuring nutritional reserve trajectories in addition to actual condition may reveal functionally important processes underlying signal-condition correlations. Significance statement Ornamental signal characters are known to convey honest information to signal receivers through their dependence on nutritional condition. Here, we show that such signals can also indicate the temporal trends of condition. We examine plumage patch sizes and separate measures of actual condition, nutritional reserve accumulation, and nutritional reserve depletion in three contexts: Communicated by A. Pilastro

show abstract

“…The nestling period lasts for 14-16 days. The female incubates the eggs alone, while being fed by its partner (Kötél et al 2016), and both parents provision the nestlings.…”

Section: Study Species and Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Male territorial aggression and fitness in collared flycatchers: a long-term study

Szász

Jablonszky

Krenhardt

et al. 2019

Sci Nat

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aggressive behaviour plays a fundamental role in the distribution of limiting resources. Thereby, it is expected to have consequences for fitness. Here, we explored the relationship between aggression and fitness in a long-term database collected in a wild population of the collared flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis). We quantified the aggression of males during nest-site defence by conducting simulated territorial intrusions in the courtship period. We estimated the fitness of males based on their pairing success, breeding output and survival to next year. Earlier arriving and older males had a higher probability to establish pairbond, and males that started to breed earlier fledged more young. Aggression did not predict pairing and breeding performances. However, the probability of a male to return in the next year was significantly related to aggression in an age-dependent manner. Among subadult males, more aggressive individuals had higher chances to return, while among adult males, less aggressive ones did so. This finding is in harmony with our general observation that subadult collared flycatcher males behave more aggressively than adult males when confronted with a conspecific intruder. Subadult males may be socially inexperienced, so they should be more aggressive to be successful. In contrast, if adult males suffer from higher physiological costs, a lower level of aggression may be more advantageous for them. Our study shows that aggressive behaviour can be a fitness-related trait, and to understand its role in determining fitness, age should be taken into account.

show abstract

Mutual ornamentation and the parental behaviour of male and female Collared Flycatchers Ficedula albicollis during incubation

Cited by 16 publications

References 67 publications

Patterns of female nest attendance and male feeding throughout the incubation period in Blue Tits Cyanistes caeruleus

Patterns of female nest attendance and male feeding throughout the incubation period in Blue Tits Cyanistes caeruleus

Ornaments and condition: plumage patch sizes, nutritional reserve state, reserve accumulation, and reserve depletion

Male territorial aggression and fitness in collared flycatchers: a long-term study

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About