Parental influence upon the provisioning schedules of nestling Short‐tailed Shearwaters Puffinus tenuirostris

Abstract

2000. Parental influence upon the provisioning schedules of nestling Short-tailed Shearwaters Puffinus tenuirostris. -J. Avian Biol. 31: 522-526.The single young of shearwaters grows slowly and is fed at long, often highly variable, intervals. We monitored the growth patterns of nestling Short-tailed Shearwaters Puffinus tenuirostris exchanged between nests in order to assess whether the patterns of parental visits or the demands of their young determined the rate of food provisioning in this species. These cross-fostering trials indicate a strong parental influence upon the rate of food delivery, but did not exclude the possibility of a minor influence from chicks.

Breeding short-tailed shearwaters buffer local environmental variability in south-eastern Australia by foraging in Antarctic waters

“…Furthermore, despite less favourable conditions, short-tailed shearwaters are more likely to invest in breeding season than abandon the breeding attempt prior to egg laying. This suggests that individuals of higher quality could be able to breed more frequently than others without compensatory reduction in their reproductive success or their chance of future survival [ 81 ].…”

Breeding short-tailed shearwaters buffer local environmental variability in south-eastern Australia by foraging in Antarctic waters

“…Furthermore, despite less favourable conditions, short-tailed shearwaters are more likely to invest in breeding season than abandon the breeding attempt prior to egg laying. This suggests that individuals of higher quality could be able to breed more frequently than others without compensatory reduction in their reproductive success or their chance of future survival [ 81 ].…”

How important are intrinsic factors to natal recruitment in Short-tailed Shearwaters Puffinus tenuirostris?

“…There are about 750,000 Short-tailed Shearwater burrows on the island (Marchant and Higgins 1990) with 290,000 pairs of breeding shearwaters (Brothers et al 2001). Set up in 1993/1994, the study site on Great Dog Island was initially constructed to investigate the relationship between the provisioning of chicks and fledging success (Hamer et al 1997;Bradley et al 2000). For the recruitment project, an area approximately 20 m in diameter with 390 shearwater burrows has been used since 1993/1994.…”

“…The maximum length and width of each egg were measured to ±0.02 mm using Vernier callipers and volume calculated using the formula v = klb 2 , where k was the constant 0.476, l = length and b = breadth (Parsons 1976). Burrows in both the ring and core that contained chicks were used in 1993/1994 to assess the role of chicks in provisioning by parents (see Hamer et al 1997 andBradley et al 2000). That year, chicks were fed supplementally throughout development to change their begging behaviour and assess how diet affected their growth.…”

Adult Brünnich's Guillemots Uria lomvia balance body condition and investment in chick growth

“…Previous work on the relationship between adult condition and chick growth has concentrated on the ability of adults to respond to changes in chick condition. Experimental manipulations of chick age through switching nestlings among sites have shown that many Procellariiform seabirds feed at a rate appropriate to the age of their own chick (Ricklefs 1987, 1992, Hamer & Hill 1994, Mauck & Grubb 1995, Weimerskirch et al . 1997, Bradley et al .…”

Breeding short-tailed shearwaters buffer local environmental variability in south-eastern Australia by foraging in Antarctic waters

“…Furthermore, despite less favourable conditions, short-tailed shearwaters are more likely to invest in breeding season than abandon the breeding attempt prior to egg laying. This suggests that individuals of higher quality could be able to breed more frequently than others without compensatory reduction in their reproductive success or their chance of future survival [ 81 ].…”

How important are intrinsic factors to natal recruitment in Short-tailed Shearwaters Puffinus tenuirostris?

“…There are about 750,000 Short-tailed Shearwater burrows on the island (Marchant and Higgins 1990) with 290,000 pairs of breeding shearwaters (Brothers et al 2001). Set up in 1993/1994, the study site on Great Dog Island was initially constructed to investigate the relationship between the provisioning of chicks and fledging success (Hamer et al 1997;Bradley et al 2000). For the recruitment project, an area approximately 20 m in diameter with 390 shearwater burrows has been used since 1993/1994.…”

“…The maximum length and width of each egg were measured to ±0.02 mm using Vernier callipers and volume calculated using the formula v = klb 2 , where k was the constant 0.476, l = length and b = breadth (Parsons 1976). Burrows in both the ring and core that contained chicks were used in 1993/1994 to assess the role of chicks in provisioning by parents (see Hamer et al 1997 andBradley et al 2000). That year, chicks were fed supplementally throughout development to change their begging behaviour and assess how diet affected their growth.…”

Adult Brünnich's Guillemots Uria lomvia balance body condition and investment in chick growth

“…Previous work on the relationship between adult condition and chick growth has concentrated on the ability of adults to respond to changes in chick condition. Experimental manipulations of chick age through switching nestlings among sites have shown that many Procellariiform seabirds feed at a rate appropriate to the age of their own chick (Ricklefs 1987, 1992, Hamer & Hill 1994, Mauck & Grubb 1995, Weimerskirch et al . 1997, Bradley et al .…”

Breeding short-tailed shearwaters buffer local environmental variability in south-eastern Australia by foraging in Antarctic waters

“…Furthermore, despite less favourable conditions, short-tailed shearwaters are more likely to invest in breeding season than abandon the breeding attempt prior to egg laying. This suggests that individuals of higher quality could be able to breed more frequently than others without compensatory reduction in their reproductive success or their chance of future survival [ 81 ].…”

How important are intrinsic factors to natal recruitment in Short-tailed Shearwaters Puffinus tenuirostris?

“…There are about 750,000 Short-tailed Shearwater burrows on the island (Marchant and Higgins 1990) with 290,000 pairs of breeding shearwaters (Brothers et al 2001). Set up in 1993/1994, the study site on Great Dog Island was initially constructed to investigate the relationship between the provisioning of chicks and fledging success (Hamer et al 1997;Bradley et al 2000). For the recruitment project, an area approximately 20 m in diameter with 390 shearwater burrows has been used since 1993/1994.…”

“…The maximum length and width of each egg were measured to ±0.02 mm using Vernier callipers and volume calculated using the formula v = klb 2 , where k was the constant 0.476, l = length and b = breadth (Parsons 1976). Burrows in both the ring and core that contained chicks were used in 1993/1994 to assess the role of chicks in provisioning by parents (see Hamer et al 1997 andBradley et al 2000). That year, chicks were fed supplementally throughout development to change their begging behaviour and assess how diet affected their growth.…”

Adult Brünnich's Guillemots Uria lomvia balance body condition and investment in chick growth

“…Previous work on the relationship between adult condition and chick growth has concentrated on the ability of adults to respond to changes in chick condition. Experimental manipulations of chick age through switching nestlings among sites have shown that many Procellariiform seabirds feed at a rate appropriate to the age of their own chick (Ricklefs 1987, 1992, Hamer & Hill 1994, Mauck & Grubb 1995, Weimerskirch et al . 1997, Bradley et al .…”