The Evolution of Begging: Sibling Competition and Parent-Offspring Conflict

Harper, Alan

doi:10.1086/284542

Cited by 154 publications

(109 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Female begging displays include loud vocalizations, body postures and wing fluttering, which closely resemble the begging displays of older nestlings (Ellis et al 2009;Godfray 1991;Harper 1986). The striking similarity of female and nestling begging displays suggests the retention into adulthood in females of typically juvenile behaviours (Moore and Rohwer 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Males respond to female begging signals of need: a handicapping experiment in the pied flycatcher, Ficedula hypoleuca

et al. 2014

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ABSTRACT. The 'female nutrition' hypothesis proposes that food provided by males during incubation is an important energy source for females in bird species in which females alone incubate. Females should be able to communicate their needs through begging signals to mates and males may compensate for the energetic limitations of females through their feeding visits, owing to their overlapping reproductive interests. To test whether female begging during incubation is an honest signal of energetic need and whether mates respond to it we experimentally handicapped female pied flycatchers at the beginning of incubation by clipping two primary flight feathers on each wing. Experimental manipulation led females to intensify begging displays arising from condition impairment and males accordingly increased their incubation feeding rates.Female begging intensity explained more than half of the variation in male incubation feeding rate, thereby showing that female nutrition is the main factor explaining male incubation feeding. Moreover, handicapped females consumed a higher proportion of male food deliveries during the first few days after hatching and weighed less at the end of the nestling period than control females.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Males respond to female begging signals of need: a handicapping experiment in the pied flycatcher, Ficedula hypoleuca

et al. 2014

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“…For example, it is hard to see how a female mammal can regulate exactly the flow of milk to individual offspring; rather, offspring that struggle hardest to gain the best teats and suckle most actively will gain the biggest share of the milk. Typically, such scrambles are modelled so that the gains to an individual offspring match that offspring's begging level relative to the mean begging level Parker 1985), often termed 'mean matching' (Harper 1986 Godfray & Parker 1992). Thus begging to level x i yields a share proportional to x i /(mean x for the brood).…”

Section: Conflict Resolutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intrafamilial conflict and parental investment: a synthesis

Parker

Royle

Hartley

2002

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B

302

296

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We outline and develop current theory on how inherent genetic conflicts of interest between the various family members can affect the flow of parental investment from parents to offspring, and discuss the problems for empirical testing that this generates. The parental investment pattern realized in nature reflects the simultaneous resolution of all the conflicts between the family players. This depends on the genetic mechanism, the mating system and reproductive constraints, on whether extra demand by progeny affects current or future sibs, and particularly on the behavioural mechanisms underlying demand (begging or solicitation) and supply (provision of parental investment by parents). The direction of deviation from the optimal parental investment for the parent(s) depends on the slope of what we term the 'effect of supply on demand', the mechanism that determines how changes in food supply affect begging levels. If increasing food increases begging (positive slope), less parental investment is supplied than the parental optimum and if increasing food decreases begging (negative slope), more parental investment is supplied. The magnitude of deviation depends on both the 'effect of supply on demand' and on the 'effect of demand on supply' (the mechanism determining how changes in begging affect food supply, which always has a positive slope). We conclude that it will often be impossible to deduce the extent of underlying conflict by establishing the amount of parental investment given relative to the ideal optimum for the parent. Some possible directions for future research are discussed.

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“…Moreover, because brood parasites are unrelated to host parents and, under most circumstances, compete against unrelated siblings (Rothstein 1990;Davies 2000), they provide a group that are predicted to respond differently than nonparasitic species to short-term need and beg more intensively than nonparasitic species for a given level of hunger (Harper 1986;Motro 1989;Holen et al 2001). Although much work has gone into studying the begging of brood parasites during feeding visits by parents (e.g., Lichtenstein and Sealy 1998;Kilner et al 1999) and in laboratory settings without attendant parents (e.g., Redondo 1993;Lichtenstein 2001;Hauber 2003), no studies have yet quantified how proximate factors influence parent-absent begging in brood parasites under natural conditions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With respect to short-term need, food-deprived cowbird nestlings are predicted to beg more frequently and intensively when supplemented with food because food deprivation typically increases begging activity (Budden and Wright 2001a). Finally, I also tested the hypothesis that the frequency and intensity of parent-absent begging of cowbirds was greater than host nestlings for a given level of need because the begging behavior of brood parasites is viewed as being unrestrained by inclusive fitness costs (Harper 1986;Motro 1989;Holen et al 2001). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parent-absent begging in the Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater): the role of short-term need and nestmate size

Rivers

2009

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Although it is well-established that nestlings of many altricial species beg when parents are away from the nest, we have a poor understanding of parent-absent begging in brood parasites, including the proximate factors that may influence begging frequency and intensity. In this study, I examined how parent-absent begging was influenced by competitive asymmetries between host and Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) nestlings under disparate levels of short-term need. Food-deprived cowbird nestlings begged more frequently and for a greater proportion of parent-absent period than when food-supplemented, with similar patterns observed in hosts of different sizes. In contrast, three metrics of cowbird begging intensity varied relative to host size but not due to differences in short-term need. Cowbirds consistently begged more frequently and intensively than host nestlings for a given level of short-term need, providing evidence that cowbird begging displays are more frequent and intense than non-parasitic nestlings during both feeding visits and parent-absent periods. In sum, the frequency of begging by cowbirds was only influenced by short-term need, whereas begging intensity during parent-absent events was only influenced by the host against which cowbirds competed. This study demonstrates that host size and shortterm need had differing influences on the frequency and intensity of parent-absent begging in cowbirds, although both factors are likely important in limiting the evolution of parent-absent begging in cowbirds. Because it appears to provide no immediate benefits yet may decrease fitness, parent-absent begging should be included in future theoretical models investigating the evolution of begging displays in nestling birds.

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The Evolution of Begging: Sibling Competition and Parent-Offspring Conflict

Cited by 154 publications

References 26 publications

Males respond to female begging signals of need: a handicapping experiment in the pied flycatcher, Ficedula hypoleuca

Males respond to female begging signals of need: a handicapping experiment in the pied flycatcher, Ficedula hypoleuca

Intrafamilial conflict and parental investment: a synthesis

Parent-absent begging in the Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater): the role of short-term need and nestmate size

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