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Hatching order and size-dependent mortality in relation to brood sex ratio composition in chinstrap penguins

Fargallo, Juan A.; Polo, Vicente; Neve, Liesbeth de; … - In: Behavioral Ecology 17 (2006) 5, pp. 772-778

The differential environmental sensitivity of the sexes has strong implications in the evolutionary history of species as it can alter sexual size dimorphism, population sex ratios, and the faculty of parents to manipulate offspring sex in relation to environmental conditions. We studied sexual...

Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10008581325

Brood parasitic European starlings do not lay high-quality eggs

Pilz, Kevin M.; Smith, Henrik G.; Andersson, Malte - In: Behavioral Ecology 16 (2005) 3, pp. 507-513

Chicks of obligate brood parasites employ a variety of morphological and behavioral strategies to outcompete nest mates. Elevated competitiveness is favored by natural selection because parasitic chicks are not related to their host parents or nest mates. When chicks of conspecific brood...

Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10008581447

Phylogenetic analysis of life-history adaptations in parasitic cowbirds

Mermoz, Myriam E.; Ornelas, Juan Francisco - In: Behavioral Ecology 15 (2004) 1, pp. 109-119

Parasitic cowbirds lay eggs in the nests of other species and dupe them into caring for their young. Unlike other brood parasites, cowbirds have not developed egg mimicry or bizarre chick morphology. However, most of them parasitize a large number of hosts. Several features of cowbirds have been...

Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10008581562

Egg size and reproductive allocation in eusocial thrips

Kranz, Brenda D. - In: Behavioral Ecology 16 (2005) 4, pp. 779-787

Reproductive allocation, in terms of fecundity and egg size, has been given little consideration in eusocial societies. To begin to address this, absolute and body size--adjusted egg volumes were compared, along with fecundity, between the foundress and her subfertile soldier offspring in the...

Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10008581634

Alternative tactics and individual reproductive success in natural associations of the burying beetle, Nicrophorus vespilloides

Müller, Josef K.; Braunisch, Veronika; Hwang, Wenbe; … - In: Behavioral Ecology 18 (2007) 1, pp. 196-203

Alternative reproductive tactics can be maintained through different evolutionary avenues. They can be genetically or stochastically determined, in which case they must yield equal fitness, or their use can be conditional, in which case the fitness payoff of alternatives may differ. We attempted...

Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10008581333

The impact of learning foster species' song on the evolution of specialist avian brood parasitism

Beltman, J. B.; Haccou, P.; Cate, C. ten - In: Behavioral Ecology 14 (2003) 6, pp. 917-923

Obligate interspecific avian brood parasites do not build nests of their own but lay their eggs in the nests of other species. It has been proposed that a flexible song learning mechanism (copying the heterospecific songs of the foster species) facilitates the evolution of brood-parasitic...

Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10008581379

Phylogeny, specialization, and brood parasite--host coevolution: some possible pitfalls of parsimony

Rothstein, Stephen I.; Patten, Michael A. - In: Behavioral Ecology 13 (2002) 1, pp. 1-10

Coevolutionary hypotheses (COEV) predict that parasitic birds become more specialized in host selection over time as more host species evolve defenses. A contrasting model, PHYLO, suggests that brood parasites exhibit a phylogenetic trajectory toward increasing generalization because there is a...

Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10008581528

When will rejection of parasite nestlings by hosts of nonevicting avian brood parasites be favored? A misimprinting-equilibrium model

Lawes, Michael J.; Marthews, Toby R. - In: Behavioral Ecology 14 (2003) 6, pp. 757-770

It has been suggested that discrimination and rejection of the nestlings of avian brood parasites are most likely to evolve when the parasite nestling is raised alongside the host nestlings, for example, many cowbird-host systems. Under these circumstances, the benefits of discrimination are...

Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10008581688

The evolution of egg rejection by cuckoo hosts in Australia and Europe

Langmore, N.E.; Kilner, R.M.; Butchart, S.H.M.; Maurer, G. - In: Behavioral Ecology 16 (2005) 4, pp. 686-692

eggs in the nest is evolutionarily stable. Under this hypothesis, it pays hosts to accept cuckoo eggs if (1) the energetic … cost of raising the cuckoo is low, (2) there is time to renest, and (3) clutch size is small. We parasitized the nests of … host and nonhost species with nonmimetic model eggs to test whether the evolution of egg recognition by cuckoo hosts could …

Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10008581787

Song discrimination suggests premating isolation among sympatric indigobird species and host races

Balakrishnan, Christopher N.; Sorenson, Michael D. - In: Behavioral Ecology 17 (2006) 3, pp. 473-478

Indigobirds (Vidua spp.) are host-specific brood parasites that have diversified in a recent radiation apparently driven by host colonization. Behavioral imprinting of both male and female indigobirds on host song is thought to promote rapid speciation because it results in assortative mating...

Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10008581906