Coordinated parental provisioning is related to feeding rate and reproductive success in a songbird
Coordinated parental provisioning is related to feeding rate and reproductive success in a songbird
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DOI：
10.1093/beheco/arv198
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发表时间：
2016-03-01
影响因子：
2.4
通讯作者：
Hatchwell, Ben J.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Bebbington, Kat;Hatchwell, Ben J.
在双亲照顾的物种中，父母投资的性别冲突是因为当他们的伴侣承担更多的生殖成本时，父母双方都会受益。这种冲突可能会对后代造成代价，但最近的理论工作预测，父母可以通过行为协商来解决性冲突，特别是通过交替提供雏鸟的旅行。然而，这一想法几乎没有得到任何实证的关注。在这项研究中，我们测试的假设，父母交替提供食物的长尾山雀（Aegithalos caudatus）的后代，并调查这种协调的父母照顾是否与更大的生殖成功。我们发现，父母交替供应旅行比预期的机会，父母的交替是可重复的多个观察期在一个巢。更多的交替与增加访问同步性和增加食物交付给雏鸟。此外，我们发现，巢与更多的交替不太可能被提前，可能是由于减少活动的巢周围的父母协调他们的供应行为。我们的研究结果支持这一假设，即交替的后代供应是一种行为适应，以减少成本的性冲突。
In species with biparental care, there is sexual conflict over parental investment because each parent benefits when their partner bears more of the reproductive costs. Such conflict can be costly for offspring, but recent theoretical work predicts that parents can resolve sexual conflict through behavioral negotiation, specifically by alternating their trips to provision nestlings. However, this idea has received almost no empirical attention. In this study, we test the hypothesis that parents alternate their delivery of food to offspring in long-tailed tits (Aegithalos caudatus) and investigate whether this coordination of parental care is associated with greater reproductive success. We show that parents alternate provisioning trips more than would be expected by chance and that parental alternation is repeatable across multiple observation periods at a nest. More alternation is associated with increased visit synchrony and increased food delivery to nestlings. Moreover, we found that nests with more alternation were less likely to be predated, probably resulting from reduced activity around the nest when parents coordinate their provisioning behavior. Our results support the hypothesis that alternation of offspring provisioning is a behavioral adaptation to reduce the costs of sexual conflict.