A Dynamic State Variable Model of Mate Desertion in Cooper's Hawks

Kelly, Elizabeth Joan; Kennedy, Patricia L.

doi:10.2307/1939298

Cited by 50 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…According to his hypothesis, females should desert at any point in the breeding cycle at which they reach a threshold of body condition that compromises their survival. This has been shown to occur in some female raptors (Kelly & Kennedy 1993). However, our study on the Kentish plover indicates that brood desertion by females in this species cannot be accounted for by the di¡erential parental capacity hypothesis as formulated in energetic terms, since our data indicate that breeding Kentish plovers sustain metabolic rates without losing body mass or compromising their body condition.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 56%

Brood desertion by female shorebirds: a test of the differential parental capacity hypothesis on Kentish plovers

Amat

Visser

Pérez-Hurtado

et al. 2000

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

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The aim of this study was to examine whether the energetic costs of reproduction explain o¡spring desertion by female shorebirds, as is suggested by the di¡erential parental capacity hypothesis. A prediction of the hypothesis is that, in species with biparental incubation in which females desert from brood care after hatching, the body condition of females should decline after laying to a point at which their body reserves are too low for continuing parental care. We tested this prediction on Kentish plovers (Charadrius alexandrinus) in which both sexes incubate but the females desert from brood care before the chicks £edge. We found no changes in either the body masses or body compositions of both individual male and female plovers from early incubation and throughout early chick rearing. Furthermore, the timing of brood desertion by females was not a¡ected by their body condition. Neither did we ¢nd gender di¡erences in the energetic costs of incubation. There were no di¡erences in the timing of brood desertion between experimental and control females in an experiment in which we lengthened or shortened the duration of incubation by one week. These results indicate that energetic costs do not explain o¡spring desertion by female Kentish plovers and that the needs of chicks for parental care rather than cumulative investment by females is what determines the timing of brood desertion.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 56%

Brood desertion by female shorebirds: a test of the differential parental capacity hypothesis on Kentish plovers

Amat

Visser

Pérez-Hurtado

et al. 2000

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

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“…Female Cooper's hawks that permanently left their nest areas and ceased caring for young before the young were 29 d of age (fledging age) were considered to have deserted their broods and mate (following Fujioka 1989, andKelly andKennedy 1993). Female Cooper's hawks were considered to have dispersed from the study areas if they undertook a postbreeding movement of .100 km; some dispersing females returned to the study area in subsequent seasons or years.…”

Section: Definitionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Significantly, the response by female Cooper's hawks to declining prey delivery rates by males was to desert the nest area and brood, not to increase foraging efforts to augment prey deliveries to young. Kelly and Kennedy (1993) investigated theoretical factors associated with female brood desertion in Cooper's hawks and concluded desertion was an effective strategy that balanced probabilities for current brood survival with survival and future reproductive potential of the female. Our findings support this hypothesis, because at all nest sites where breeding female Cooper's hawks deserted but breeding males remained alive, all young fledged successfully.…”

Section: Diet and Foraging Habitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecology of the Cooper's Hawk in North Florida

Millsap

Breen

Phillips

2013

North American Fauna

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We studied adult Cooper's hawks Accipiter cooperii on two study areas in north Florida from 1995 to 2001, an area dominated by large plantations managed for northern bobwhite Colinus virginianus and an area of mixed farmland and woods with no direct bobwhite management. We monitored 76 Cooper's hawk nesting attempts at 31 discrete nest areas, and radio-tagged 19 breeding males and 30 breeding females that we radio-tracked for up to 5 y. Nesting density (565 to 1,494 ha per occupied nest area) was comparable but productivity (1.8 and 2.8 young fledged per occupied and successful nest area, respectively) was lower than for the species elsewhere. Prey may have been more limiting than in other areas studied because chipmunks Tamias striatus, an important prey elsewhere, were absent. Annual Cooper's hawk survival averaged 84% for males and 81% for females, except in 1998 when survival was substantially lower. Average annual home-range size for male Cooper's hawks was 15.3 km2 inclusive of one nesting area. Female annual ranges averaged 30.3 km2, and included from three to nine nesting areas. Daily space use was similar between the sexes, but females had separate breeding and nonbreeding ranges whereas males were sedentary. Females used the same nonbreeding areas among years, but switched nesting areas 68% of the time compared with only 17% for males. Birds comprised 88% of the breeding and 98% of the nonbreeding season diet of Cooper's hawks by frequency. Important prey species all year were mourning doves Zenaida macroura, blue jays Cyanocitta cristata, and northern bobwhite; during summer, cattle egrets Bubulcus ibis, northern mockingbirds Mimus polyglottos and northern cardinals Cardinalis cardinalis were also important; and during autumn and winter, killdeer Charadrius vociferus, yellow-billed cuckoos Coccyzus americanus, and chickens were important. Female Cooper's hawks took larger prey than males; females were responsible for most cattle egret and chicken kills; whereas, males took most blue jays, killdeer, northern mockingbirds, and northern cardinals. Of avian prey brought to nests, 64% were nestling birds. Most adult male Cooper's hawks were adept at raiding bird nest boxes. Male Cooper's hawks captured 85% of the prey fed to nestlings. Female Cooper's hawks relied on males for food from early March until young were ≥12 d old, and 6 of 10 breeding females monitored intensively were never observed foraging for their broods. Most prey brought to nestling Cooper's hawks was captured within 2 km of nests, and foraging effort was consistent throughout the day. During the nonbreeding season, most prey captures occurred before 0900 hours or at dusk. Northern bobwhite made up 2% of male and 6% of female Cooper's hawk prey annually by frequency; this extrapolated to 18 bobwhite/year/adult Cooper's hawk on both study areas, 59% of which were captured between November and February. Outside the breeding season, male Cooper's hawks foraged evenly over their home range whereas females tended to focus on prey concentrations. Because female Cooper's hawks were so adept at finding and exploiting prey hotspots, perhaps the best strategy for reducing predation on bobwhite is habitat management that produces an even distribution of bobwhite across the landscape.

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“…Given that energy reserves play an important role in determining patterns of care, an evolutionary account of care should adopt a state-dependent approach (Houston et al 1988;Houston and McNamara 1999;Clark and Mangel 2000). State-dependent models have been developed to investigate the decision of a single sex by Kelly and Kennedy (1993) and Webb et al (in press). For instance, Kelly and Kennedy (1993) showed that female Cooper's hawks Accipiter cooperi should desert their young when their reserves fall below a critical level.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…State-dependent models have been developed to investigate the decision of a single sex by Kelly and Kennedy (1993) and Webb et al (in press). For instance, Kelly and Kennedy (1993) showed that female Cooper's hawks Accipiter cooperi should desert their young when their reserves fall below a critical level. In their model, however, the behavior of deserting females was constrained by their not allowing the females to remate.…”

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confidence: 99%

Sexual Conflict about Parental Care: The Role of Reserves

Barta¹,

Houston²,

McNamara³

et al. 2002

The American Naturalist

105

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Parental care often increases the survival of offspring, but it is costly to parents. Because of this trade-off, a sexual conflict over care arises. The solution to this conflict depends on the interactions between the male and female parents, the behavior of other animals in the population, and the individual differences within a sex. We take an integrated approach and develop a state-dependent dynamic game model of parental care. The model investigates a single breeding season in which the animals can breed several times. Each parent's decision about whether to care for the brood or desert depends on its own energy reserves, its mate's reserves, and the time in the season. We develop a fully consistent solution in which the behavior of an animal is the best given the behavior of its mate and of all other animals in the population. The model predicts that females may strategically reduce their own reserves so as to "force" their mate to provide care. We investigate how the energy costs of caring and searching for a mate, values of care (how the probability of offspring survival depends on the pattern of care), and population sex ratio influence the pattern of care over the breeding season.Keywords: sexual conflict, parental care, offspring desertion, dynamic game, reserves, body mass regulation.Parental care is an energetically demanding behavior (Ricklefs 1974;Golet and Irons 1999;Hõrak et al. 1999 and thus, parents should have sufficient reserves to raise their young to independence. Parents in poor condition may terminate care and abandon their nest or young (Snyder et al. 1989;Olsson 1997; reviewed by Clutton-Brock 1991;Székely et al. 1996). Given that energy reserves play an important role in determining patterns of care, an evolutionary account of care should adopt a state-dependent approach (Houston et al. 1988;Houston and McNamara 1999;Clark and Mangel 2000). State-dependent models have been developed to investigate the decision of a single sex by Kelly and Kennedy (1993) and Webb et al. (in press). For instance, Kelly and Kennedy (1993) showed that female Cooper's hawks Accipiter cooperi should desert their young when their reserves fall below a critical level. In their model, however, the behavior of deserting females was constrained by their not allowing the females to remate. In a more general model by Webb et al. (in press), a deserting female can remate and renest within the same breeding season. Interestingly, their model found that a female deserts not only when her reserves are low (and thus she is threatened by starvation) but also when her reserves are high. In the latter case, the deserting female immediately starts to search for a new mate and thus increases her reproductive success by remating.In many birds, fish, and mammals, however, the payoffs from caring and deserting not only depend on the environment and the energy reserves of the parents but also on the behavior of other animals in the population. First, the success of the current breeding attempt depends on whether the ...

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A Dynamic State Variable Model of Mate Desertion in Cooper's Hawks

Cited by 50 publications

References 26 publications

Brood desertion by female shorebirds: a test of the differential parental capacity hypothesis on Kentish plovers

Brood desertion by female shorebirds: a test of the differential parental capacity hypothesis on Kentish plovers

Ecology of the Cooper's Hawk in North Florida

Sexual Conflict about Parental Care: The Role of Reserves

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