Parental care of the Common Tern Sterna hirundo

Abstract

Parental care activities of male and female Common Terns Sterna hivundo were recorded over two hreeding seasons. Males and females exhibited distinct parental roles throughout a breeding bout.(hurtship feeding by males was extensive prior to and during egg-laying, but declined with the onset of incubation. Females performed significantly more incubation behaviour than males although both sexes spent cqual time attending at the nest site. During the chick stage, females spent significantly more time on the territory than did males. Chick feeding was largely the responsibility of the male; males fed chicks at a rate approximately three times higher than that of females. In addition, whereas females showed no trend in the size of fish delivered to chicks relative to chick age, the size of fish delivered by males increased with chick age. Courtship feeding activities and extensive chick feeding contributi(ins by male Common Terns appear to outweigh parental ciintrihuticins b y fcmalcs, contrary to prcdictiiins fiir a monogamous species.

Telomere length reflects phenotypic quality and costs of reproduction in a long-lived seabird

“…The effect of reproductive output on telomere length was not significantly different between the sexes, but considerably stronger in males than females (table 2 and figure 2), which may be explained by the fact that in common terns the chick feeding rate of fathers exceeds that of mothers by a factor of three when considering the entire chick-rearing period [35]. Hence, it is not surprising that male phenotypic state shows a stronger association with reproductive success.…”

“…The common tern is a long-lived, sexually monomorphic and socially monogamous, migratory seabird species with one breeding attempt per year and a clutch size of two to three eggs (clutches with three eggs: 2007, 58%; 2008, 69%). Both sexes provide parental care, but in the first days after hatching females are mainly brooding and, over the entire chick-rearing period, chick feeding effort of males exceeds females' by a factor of three [35]. Main causes of early chick mortality are chick abandonment and starvation [36,37].…”

What makes a good parent? Sex-specific relationships between nest attendance, hormone levels, and breeding success in a long-lived seabird

“…However, we assume that male Common Terns often rest near the nest while the female is incubating (see also Wiggins and Morris 1987, Weidinger 1998, Nisbet 2002. But is the pattern of female-biased Common Tern nest attendance a general one, or might sex-specific parental attendance change under certain conditions?…”

“…The Common Tern is a small, long-lived, and monogamous seabird with biparental care throughout the breeding season (Becker and Ludwigs 2004), yet there is remarkable sex-specific variation in parental care (Nisbet 1973, Wiggins and Morris 1987, Wendeln 1997. Both parents contribute to incubation and brooding duties, but the female contributes higher proportions of time to incubation, whereas the male is mostly responsible for feeding during early chick rearing while the female stays with the young (Wiggins andMorris 1987, Wendeln 1997).…”

Sex-Biased Mortality of Common Terns in Wind Farm Collisions

“…It is known that female Common Terns spend more time in their territories defending their nests against avian intruders and kleptoparasites (Sorokaité 2005), while males allocate more time to foraging and more frequently deliver food to their mates and chicks (Nisbet 1973, Wiggins and Morris 1987, Gonzalés-Solís et al 2001. In fact, a male bias was found only when most pairs on the peninsula were engaged in egg laying and incubation.…”