No abstract

Life‐history theory predicts that parents refer to the resources they hold to determine their breeding strategy. In multi‐brooded species, it is hypothesized that single‐brooded parents produce larger clutches and raise offspring with a brood survival strategy, whereas multi‐brooded parents only do this under good breeding conditions. Under poor conditions, they produce smaller clutches and raise offspring with a brood reduction strategy. We tested this hypothesis in the Brown‐cheeked Laughing Thrush Trochalopteron henrici, which can breed twice a year on the Tibetan Plateau, by investigating the life‐history traits and provisioning behaviours of single‐ and double‐brooded parents. Single‐brooded parents laid larger clutches of smaller eggs and produced more and larger fledglings than double‐brooded parents in their first brood. Double‐brooded parents produced smaller clutches of larger eggs but fledged larger nestlings in their first brood than in their second brood. As single‐brooded parents only need to raise one brood a year, then producing and raising as many offspring as possible (i.e. the brood survival strategy in a large brood) can maximize their reproductive success. For double‐brooded parents, producing and raising fewer offspring in the first brood (i.e. the brood survival strategy in a small brood) can ensure their nesting success during a short breeding cycle. Additionally, producing more offspring but raising larger nestlings in the second brood (i.e. the brood reduction strategy in a large brood) can select for offspring of higher quality within the brood. Our findings indicate that different tradeoffs between single‐ and double‐brooded parents in egg‐laying and nestling‐raising may be an adaptation to the seasonal variation in environmental conditions.

The discovery of personality traits in animal populations may help to explain individual variation in breeding strategies. In the White‐collared Blackbird Turdus albocinctus, females, but not males, exhibited different nest defence behaviours that can be used to classify them into bold and shy personalities. Bold females had higher nest success, lower fecundity and higher parental investment than shy females, and the social mates of bold females had lower parental investment than that of shy females. Our findings suggest that the reproductive strategy of birds may be closely related to their personality traits.

The complete mitochondrial genome of Asymblepharus himalayanus, has been determined for the first time by sanger sequencing. The overall length of the mitogenome is 17,304 bp and contains 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, 2 ribosomal RNA genes, and a putative control region. The total base composition is 31.2% for A, 27.0% for T, 14.4% for G, and 27.4% for C. The phylogenetic tree with the whole mitochondrial genome sequence of A. himalayanus together with 10 other related species belonging to the family Scincidae was reconstructed, in order to prove the validity of the mitogenome of A. himalayanus. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that A. himalayanus was not nested within Scincella, and further corroborated this species does not belong to the genus of Scincella.