Mainwaring, Mark and Lucy, David and Hartley, Ian (2013) Hatching asynchrony reduces the supply of parental care provided by zebra finches. Animal Behaviour, 85 (1). pp. 77-81. ISSN 0003-3472
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
Parent-offspring conflict over the supply of parental care results in offspring attempting to exert control using begging behaviours and parents attempting to exert control by manipulating brood sizes and hatching patterns. The peak load reduction hypothesis proposes that avian parents can exert control via hatching asynchrony, which means that sibling competition is determined by age hierarchies and not growth rates, thereby lowering the overall demand for food. However, the peak load reduction hypothesis has only received mixed support and here, we describe an experiment where we manipulated the hatching patterns of zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) broods and quantified patterns of nestling begging and parental care. Between broods, nestlings in synchronous broods begged more intensely than nestlings in asynchronous broods. Within broods meanwhile, late hatched asynchronous nestlings begged more intensely but received less food than early hatched asynchronous or synchronous nestlings. However, parental feeding effort did not correlate with brood begging intensity at the previous nest visit in asynchronous or synchronous broods, and hence remained unchanged. Therefore, parents were not responsive to nestling begging behaviours which supports the peak load reduction hypothesis and suggests that parents control the level of parental care provided to offspring.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Journal or Publication Title: | Animal Behaviour |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | parental care ; sexual conflict ; offspring begging ; hatching asynchrony ; peak load reduction hypothesis ; zebra finch |
| Subjects: | Q Science > QL Zoology |
| Departments: | Faculty of Science and Technology > Lancaster Environment Centre Faculty of Science and Technology > Mathematics and Statistics |
| ID Code: | 58452 |
| Deposited By: | ep_importer_pure |
| Deposited On: | 18 Sep 2012 12:36 |
| Refereed?: | Yes |
| Published?: | Published |
| Last Modified: | 10 May 2013 16:03 |
| Identification Number: | |
| URI: | http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/58452 |
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