Post-mating sexually selected signals are expected to indicate parental quality. The good parent model assumes that expression of the sexual character positively reflects parental ability, resulting in a potential link between the exaggeration of the character and nestling-fitness traits. We...

Resources invested by prey to acquire information on predator behavior from inside the refuge are crucial to minimize the risk of suffering a future fatal attack. However, most studies have only analyzed situations where information on the predator behavior is unavailable for hiding preys. Also,...

Success in sibling competition is one of the main factors determining individual body condition in the early stages of life and consequently offspring survival and fitness. In birds, most studies on this topic have been focused on the nesting period, but sibling competition still continues...

The duration of the postfledging dependence period (PFDP) is supposed to be modulated by the parent--offspring conflict: Offspring should extract the highest levels of parental investment, although parents may respond by setting fixed limits to the level of investment or by raising the costs of...

In a dominance-structured flock, social status may determine priority of access to food. Birds of low social status may perceive present and future access to food as less predictable, and so have a higher risk of starvation, than birds of high social rank. Theoretical models predict that...

Convective weather poses a major threat that compromises the safe operation of flights while inducing delay and cost. The aircraft trajectory optimization problem under thunderstorms is addressed, proposing a novel heuristic approach that incorporates uncertainties in the evolution of convective...

In the coevolutionary arms race between avian brood parasites and their hosts, several adaptations have evolved on both sides, the most prominent and important host defense being rejection of the parasitic egg. In the present study, we investigated possible predictors of egg rejection in 14...

Hosts of obligate avian brood parasites use visual cues to distinguish between their own eggs and those of the parasite. Despite major differences between human and bird vision, most previous studies on cuckoo egg mimicry estimated color matching based on human color vision. Undetected by...