Parent birds assess nest predation risk and adjust their reproductive strategies

Fontaine, Joseph J.; Martin, Thomas E.

doi:10.1111/j.1461-0248.2006.00892.x

Cited by 404 publications

(403 citation statements)

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“…Fontaine & Martin [12] observed a decrease in egg size and clutch mass in eight passerine species under increased nest predation risk. Similarly, in five species of acanthosomatid bugs, females laid smaller eggs at the peripheral, which represents a more vulnerable section of the clutch [11].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In many insects and birds, mothers lay smaller eggs when these eggs are more likely to experience mortality owing to predation, either to save energy that can be redirected to other functions or to enable them to produce more young and thus to spread the risk [11][12][13]. This strategy is a 'selfish maternal effect' [14], as a smaller egg often strongly diminishes offspring fitness [15,16].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Juvenile exposure to predator cues induces a larger egg size in fish

Segers

Taborsky

2011

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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When females anticipate a hazardous environment for their offspring, they can increase offspring survival by producing larger young. Early environmental experience determines egg size in different animal taxa. We predicted that a higher perceived predation risk by juveniles would cause an increase in the sizes of eggs that they produce as adults. To test this, we exposed juveniles of the mouthbrooding cichlid Eretmodus cyanostictus in a split-brood experiment either to cues of a natural predator or to a control situation. After maturation, females that had been confronted with predators produced heavier eggs, whereas clutch size itself was not affected by the treatment. This effect cannot be explained by a differential female body size because the predator treatment did not influence growth trajectories. The observed increase of egg mass is likely to be adaptive, as heavier eggs gave rise to larger young and in fish, juvenile predation risk drops sharply with increasing body size. This study provides the first evidence that predator cues perceived by females early in life positively affect egg mass, suggesting that these cues allow her to predict the predation risk for her offspring.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Juvenile exposure to predator cues induces a larger egg size in fish

Segers

Taborsky

2011

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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“…Within each subspecies, predation risk should be highest during the stage of offspring development with the most parental activity around the nest (P1), and parental activity should be higher around nests with more offspring (P2: Ferretti et al 2005). Furthermore, nest attendance should be lower, on average, in the coastal population in order to reduce detection by predators (P3: Eggers et al 2005;Fontaine and Martin 2006), which may in turn reduce nestling growth (Nolan et al 2001) or increase the mass of food carried per provisioning trip (P4: Martin et al 2000).…”

Section: Predationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Causes of reduced clutch size in a tidal marsh endemic

et al. 2008

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We tested three hypotheses of clutch size variation in two subspecies of the swamp sparrow (Melospiza georgiana georgiana and M. g. nigrescens). Swamp sparrows follow the pattern of other estuarine endemics, where clutch size is smaller among tidal salt marsh populations (M. g. nigrescens) than their closest inland relatives (M. g. georgiana). Our results support predation risk and temperature, but not adult survival, as explanations of this pattern in swamp sparrows. Coastal nests were twice as likely to fail as inland nests, and parental activity around the nest site was positively related to clutch size at both sites. When brood size was controlled for, coastal adults visited nests less often and females vocalized less frequently during visits than inland birds, which may decrease nest detectability to predators. Coastal parents waited longer than inland birds to feed offspring in the presence of a model nest predator, but there was no difference in their response to models of predators of adults, as would be expected if coastal birds possessed increased longevity. Additionally, coastal females laid more eggs than inland females over a single season, following a within-season bet-hedging strategy rather than reducing within-season investment. Coastal territories experienced ambient air temperatures above the physiological zero of egg development more often, and higher temperatures during laying correlated with smaller clutches and increased egg inviability among coastal birds. Similar effects were not seen among inland nests, where laying temperatures were generally below physiological zero. Both subspecies showed an increase in hatching asynchrony and a decrease in apparent incubation length under high temperatures. Coastal individuals, however, showed less hatching asynchrony overall despite higher temperatures. Both air temperatures during laying and predation risk could potentially explain reduced clutch size in not only coastal plain swamp sparrows, but also other tidal marsh endemics.

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“…High levels of movement near the nest might increase the chances that nests are detected by predators (Ghalambor andMartin 2002, Smith et al 2010). It has been shown experimentally that passerines can adjust their incubation behavior in response to the presence or absence of predators (Fontaine and Martin 2006). Variation in clutch survival among Arctic shorebird species has been related to whether species show uniparental or biparental incubation (Smith and Wilson 2010) and is correlated with the total time spent off the nest .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%