Patterns of acceptance of artificial eggs and chicks by Magellanic Penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus)

Wagner, Eric L.; Lee, Eleanor J.; Boersma, P. Dee

doi:10.1007/s10336-012-0875-6

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…In some avian species, parents are not able to identify their own offspring, and can only recognize the location of the nest, thus delivering food to any young bird that may be present (Varpe et al 2004, Riou et al 2012. In some cases, offspring may have certain physical characteristics that serve as cues for determining the intensity of parental effort (Wagner et al 2013). Though we do not have sufficient evidence to confirm that adult Red-footed Boobies are unable to distinguish their own offspring from neighboring offspring, the documentation of alloparental feeding behavior by Lecomte et al (2006) and Biaulieu et al (2009), also supports this hypothesis.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

WHEN THE FLEDGLINGS RED-FOOTED BOOBIES (Sula sula) ACQUIRE FLIGHT CAPACITY

Rodrigues¹,

Araújo²,

Arruda³

2016

Oecol. Aust.

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The high cost of parental care may sometimes result in a conflict of interest between parents and offspring. To achieve the benefits of producing viable offspring and/or additional breeding opportunities, tropical seabirds must be able to afford the costs of searching for food in an oligotrophic environment. In order to verify the behavioral variation of Red-footed Boobies (Sula sula) during the late phase of its development, over a 12 week period was recorded the behavior of 15 fledglings. The behavioral records were made with the instantaneous focal animal method in windows of 15 minutes and records every minute. Records of feeding, agonism and frigates attacks were recorded ad libitum during the days of observation. No differences in the frequency of activities displayed by offspring at advanced stages of fledgling development, or in the frequency of parental presence during the transitional period to full capacity for flight were detected. On the other hand, it was observed that fledglings synchronized their presence at the nest with that of the adults even after achieving full flight capacity and that during periods of absence neighboring offspring were likely to occupy vacant nests. We speculate that with this behavior they apparently are trying to acquire, opportunistically, extra food resources from other, not directly related adults. However, we did not observe any fledgling being fed by a non-related adult. We also recorded the expression of aggressive behaviors of a fledgling towards a neighboring fledgling on the nest. These observations suggest the presence of a behavioral strategy in this species that is motivated by the continuously high demand for sustenance as the frequency of parental provisioning declines during the more advanced stages of offspring development. Although we did not verify changes in the fledglings' behavioral repertoire, the occurrence of agonistic behavior among them suggests that they must try alternative strategies to get food while not quite ready to live independently.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

WHEN THE FLEDGLINGS RED-FOOTED BOOBIES (Sula sula) ACQUIRE FLIGHT CAPACITY

Rodrigues¹,

Araújo²,

Arruda³

2016

Oecol. Aust.

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“…If the nest had been categorized as ‘manipulated' when E1 was laid, we measured and marked the egg and replaced it with a plaster replica (the real E1 was safely placed in a plastic container inside the colony, under a bush sheltered from the sunlight but exposed to ambient temperature (Barrionuevo and Frere 2017)). The replica eggs were made of gypsum and were the same size and shape as penguin eggs, and were accepted by all females (Wagner et al 2013, Barrionuevo 2015). For these nests, when E2 was laid, we measured the egg and added a second categorization to the nest: synchronous or asynchronous, according to the way it was manipulated, as follows: a) If the nest was classified as synchronous, as soon as E2 was laid, we took it and placed it in another manipulated nest in which an E2 was laid on the same day.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Compensatory effect of egg size dimorphism on hatching asynchrony in Magellanic penguin

Marchisio

Barrionuevo

Frere

2021

Journal of Avian Biology

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Egg laying is one of the most important phases in a female bird's breeding cycle. Its cost is high because eggs contain all the resources needed for the development of an embryo. Variation in size and quality of eggs can have important long-term consequences for offspring survival. Hatching asynchrony is known to influence sibling competition in many bird species. Last-hatched chicks will have a competitive disadvantage throughout the pre-fledgling period because they are smaller. The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of hatching asynchrony and egg size variation on the growth and fledging success of Magellanic penguin Spheniscus magellanicus chicks after disentangling the effects of parental condition. We simultaneously manipulated egg size dimorphism, hatching asynchrony and parental condition by performing a cross-fostering experiment, creating broods with controlled egg size dimorphism and hatching asynchrony in a colony of Magellanic penguins located in Isla Quiroga, Santa Cruz, Argentina. We found that hatching asynchrony had a negative effect on lasthatched chicks, but this disadvantage was mitigated by egg size dimorphism in their favor. Moreover, females in good condition invest more in second than in first chicks, which, added to a greater investment by foster fathers, leading to offspring fledging in good condition. On the contrary, for the first-hatched chicks, we found that body condition of the biological father was an important factor for their growth. We conclude that raising more than one chick seems to be a decision based on parental condition throughout the breeding season.

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“…Artificial eggs were made of gypsum and had the same size and shape as penguin eggs. All females accepted these eggs as their own and continued the incubation without any problems (Wagner et al ). This experiment allowed us to maintain the laying order of the eggs and avoid variations related to the genetic background of the nestlings when performing cross‐fostering experiments.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An experimental approach to the brood reduction hypothesis in Magellanic penguins

Barrionuevo

Frere

2017

Journal of Avian Biology

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In many bird species, eggs in a brood hatch within days of each other, leading to a size asymmetry detrimental to younger siblings. Hatching asynchrony is often thought of as an adaptive strategy, and the most widely studied hypothesis in relation to this is the ‘brood reduction hypothesis’. This hypothesis states that when food resources are unpredictable, hatching asynchrony will allow the adjustment of the brood size maximizing fledging success and benefitting parents. The Magellanic penguin Spheniscus magellanicus is an appropriate species to test this hypothesis because it has a 2‐egg clutch that hatches over a 2‐d interval with a broad range of variation (–1 to 4 d), it shows facultative brood reduction, and food abundance between breeding seasons is variable. We performed a manipulative study at Isla Quiroga, Argentina, during three breeding seasons (2010–2012) by forcing broods to hatch synchronously (0 d) or asynchronously (2 or 4 d). Years were categorized based on estimated food abundance. Our study provided mixed results because in the low estimated food abundance year asynchronous broods did not have higher nestling survival than synchronous broods, and the second‐hatchling in asynchronous broods did not die more often than those in synchronous broods. On the other hand, younger siblings of 4‐d asynchronous broods starved earlier than those of synchronous broods, and 2‐d asynchronous broods fledged heavier young than synchronous broods. Asynchronous hatching would seem to benefit reproduction in this species, not with respect to survival, but in terms of the advantages it can accord to nestlings and, in terms of lower costs, for parents raising nestlings.

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Patterns of acceptance of artificial eggs and chicks by Magellanic Penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus)

Cited by 6 publications

References 43 publications

WHEN THE FLEDGLINGS RED-FOOTED BOOBIES (Sula sula) ACQUIRE FLIGHT CAPACITY

WHEN THE FLEDGLINGS RED-FOOTED BOOBIES (Sula sula) ACQUIRE FLIGHT CAPACITY

Compensatory effect of egg size dimorphism on hatching asynchrony in Magellanic penguin

An experimental approach to the brood reduction hypothesis in Magellanic penguins

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