Crèche Formation in the Common Eider

Munro, J. A.

doi:10.2307/4085272

Cited by 60 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…They suggested that aunts are both failed breeders and nonbreeders that are selecting nesting sites for future years which are temporarily attracted to broods. Despite a lack of information about aunt behavior in Svalbard, we think that this discrepancy in the prolactin levels of aunts may be population dependent, as seems to be the case for crèche formation between eiders living in northern Finland (energetic salvage strategy hypothesis, Öst, 2000) and in the St. Lawrence River Estuary (accidental hypothesis, Munro and Bédard, 1977). However, prolactin is probably not the single hormone involved in the control of the parental behavior in eiders.…”

Section: Mass Loss Prolactin Levels At Hatching and Posthatch Parenmentioning

confidence: 90%

Factors Affecting Plasma Concentrations of Prolactin in the Common Eider Somateria mollissima

Criscuolo

Chastel

Gabrielsen

et al. 2002

General and Comparative Endocrinology

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Section: Mass Loss Prolactin Levels At Hatching and Posthatch Parenmentioning

confidence: 90%

Factors Affecting Plasma Concentrations of Prolactin in the Common Eider Somateria mollissima

Criscuolo

Chastel

Gabrielsen

et al. 2002

General and Comparative Endocrinology

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“…About half of the eider females abandon their own ducklings to the care of other females. Tending females may also join other tending females, forming so-called 'crèches' (Munro & Bedard 1977;Bustnes & Erikstad 1991). We classified the females as to whether they were 'tenders' or 'abandoners' (Kehoe 1989;Bustnes & Erikstad 1991).…”

Section: (C) General Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differential investment and costs during avian incubation determined by individual quality: an experimental study of the common eider (Somateria mollissima)

Hanssen

Erikstad

Johnsen

et al. 2003

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

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Individuals of different quality may have different investment strategies, shaping responses to experimental manipulations, thereby rendering the detection of such patterns difficult. However, previous clutch-size manipulation studies have infrequently incorporated individual differences in quality. To examine costs of incubation and reproductive investment in relation to changes in clutch size, we enlarged and reduced natural clutch sizes of four and five eggs by one egg early in the incubation period in female common eiders (Somateria mollissima), a sea duck with an anorectic incubation period. Females that had produced four eggs (lower quality) responded to clutch reductions by deserting the nest more frequently but did not increase incubation effort in response to clutch enlargement, at the cost of reduced hatch success of eggs. Among birds with an original clutch size of five (higher quality), reducing and enlarging clutch size reduced and increased relative body mass loss respectively without affecting hatch success. In common eiders many females abandon their own ducklings to the care of other females. Enlarging five-egg clutches led to increased brood care rate despite the higher effort spent incubating these clutches, indicating that the higher fitness value of a large brood is increasing adult brood investment. This study shows that the ability to respond to clutch-size manipulations depends on original clutch size, reflecting differences in female quality. Females of low quality were reluctant to increase investment at the cost of lower hatch success, whereas females of higher quality apparently have a larger capacity both to increase incubation effort and brood care investment.

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“…After hatching females lead their ducklings to the water where they join a creching system which results in much amalgamation and mixing of broods, and in many females not caring for their own young (Gorman andMilne 1972, Munro andBedard 1977). Therefore the investigations reported here relate only to the period up to the end of incubation.…”

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confidence: 99%