The influence of female age on breeding in the Eider<i>Somateria mollissima</i>

Baillie, Stephen R.; Milne, H.

doi:10.1080/00063658209476738

Cited by 77 publications

(60 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…2). Baillie and Milne (1982) found that young common eiders (Somateria mollissima) began incubation later than older females, although the difference was not significant. The beside a laying or incubating female if the neighbouring female will defend the area from predators.…”

Section: Arrival and Nest Initiationmentioning

confidence: 87%

Breeding Biology of King Eiders Nesting on Karrak Lake, Northwest Territories

Kellett¹,

Alisauskas²

1997

ARCTIC

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ABSTRACT. We studied various aspects of the breeding biology of king eiders (Somateria spectabilis) nesting at Karrak Lake, south of Queen Maud Gulf in the central Canadian Arctic. We found 41 nests distributed among 10 islands in Karrak Lake; to our knowledge, this represents the largest number of king eider nests studied at one site. We suspect that island nesting by king eiders is more common than has been previously reported. King eiders favoured mid-sized islands (0.002 -0.081 km 2 ) over very small (less than 0.002 km 2 ) or very large (greater than 0.081 km 2 ) islands. Mean clutch size was 5.4 ± 1.7 (SD) eggs. Apparent nest success was 69.4%, with a composite Mayfield estimate of nest success over egg laying and incubation of 48.7% (95% CI: 47.4 -50.0%). Nest success was uncorrelated with date of nest initiation or island size, but eiders nesting on islands farther from the mainland had greater success than those nesting on islands closer to the mainland. Additionally, nest success was greater on islands with more nesting eiders and on islands with nesting arctic terns (Sterna paradisaea).

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Section: Arrival and Nest Initiationmentioning

confidence: 87%

Breeding Biology of King Eiders Nesting on Karrak Lake, Northwest Territories

Kellett¹,

Alisauskas²

1997

ARCTIC

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“…In many precocial species, nesting parasites (parasitic females with their own clutch) or floater females tend to lay parasitic eggs at the beginning of the breeding season (Sorenson 1991;Lyon 1993;Åhlund and Andersson 2001); however, parasitic eggs may also be laid later in the season by young and/or weak females (Spurr and Milne 1976;Baillie and Milne 1982;Laurila and Hario 1988) or by those that have experienced brood failure (Eadie et al 1988). In our population, some of these strategies could have combined to result in the lack of association between EPM and breeding date.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Brood parasitism and quasi-parasitism in the European barn swallow Hirundo rustica rustica

Petrželková

Michálková

Albrechtová

et al. 2015

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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We studied patterns of extra-pair maternity (EPM) in 245 nests (225 nests belonging to 120 females of known identity) of sexually promiscuous European barn swallows (Hirundo rustica rustica) over a 3-year period. At least one EPM nestling was identified in 54 nests (22.0 %), representing 5.7 % of a total of 1060 nestlings. Up to 28.3 % of all EPM nestlings resulted from quasi-parasitism (QP), whereby nestattending males sired parasitic offspring. Nests of quasiparasitic females were never in close proximity to the host nest. Our data thus indicate nonrandom QP patterns in our population suggesting that QP can be considered a third alternative reproductive strategy alongside extra-pair paternity (EPP) and intraspecific brood parasitism (IBP). Of several socioecological factors evaluated, only number of simultaneous egg-laying females in the population proved a good predictor for EPM occurrence. Whereas parasitic females produced more offspring per breeding attempt than was the population average, both QP and IBP affected host female reproductive output, being associated with a reduced number of her offspring produced from the nest. On the contrary, QP resulted in an increase in the number of offspring produced by nestattending males, suggesting that males may benefit from cooperating with parasitic females at the expense of their social partners.

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“…Anorexia during the incubation period (22-26 days) leads to a body mass loss during egg laying and incubation of more than 40% (Korschgen 1977;Parker & Holm 1990). The common eider is long-lived, yearly survival has been reported to be 85% (Baillie & Milne 1982;Yoccoz et al 2002), and we expect that eiders adjust their investment level during reproduction so as not to jeopardize their own survival prospects (Charlesworth 1980;Lindén & Møller 1989). Eiders with low clutch size have been found to have lower nest success (success defined as hatching at least one egg; Erikstad & Tveraa 1995), increased abandonment of ducklings (Erikstad et al 1993) and also lower return rate and survival (Yoccoz et al 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differential investment and costs during avian incubation determined by individual quality: an experimental study of the common eider (Somateria mollissima)

Hanssen

Erikstad

Johnsen

et al. 2003

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

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Individuals of different quality may have different investment strategies, shaping responses to experimental manipulations, thereby rendering the detection of such patterns difficult. However, previous clutch-size manipulation studies have infrequently incorporated individual differences in quality. To examine costs of incubation and reproductive investment in relation to changes in clutch size, we enlarged and reduced natural clutch sizes of four and five eggs by one egg early in the incubation period in female common eiders (Somateria mollissima), a sea duck with an anorectic incubation period. Females that had produced four eggs (lower quality) responded to clutch reductions by deserting the nest more frequently but did not increase incubation effort in response to clutch enlargement, at the cost of reduced hatch success of eggs. Among birds with an original clutch size of five (higher quality), reducing and enlarging clutch size reduced and increased relative body mass loss respectively without affecting hatch success. In common eiders many females abandon their own ducklings to the care of other females. Enlarging five-egg clutches led to increased brood care rate despite the higher effort spent incubating these clutches, indicating that the higher fitness value of a large brood is increasing adult brood investment. This study shows that the ability to respond to clutch-size manipulations depends on original clutch size, reflecting differences in female quality. Females of low quality were reluctant to increase investment at the cost of lower hatch success, whereas females of higher quality apparently have a larger capacity both to increase incubation effort and brood care investment.

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The influence of female age on breeding in the EiderSomateria mollissima

Cited by 77 publications

References 26 publications

Breeding Biology of King Eiders Nesting on Karrak Lake, Northwest Territories

Breeding Biology of King Eiders Nesting on Karrak Lake, Northwest Territories

Brood parasitism and quasi-parasitism in the European barn swallow Hirundo rustica rustica

Differential investment and costs during avian incubation determined by individual quality: an experimental study of the common eider (Somateria mollissima)

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