Flexibility in the development of heron sibling aggression: an intraspecific test of the prey-size hypothesis

Mock, Douglas W.; Lamey, Timothy C.; Williams, Charles F.; Pelletier, A. R.

doi:10.1016/s0003-3472(87)80011-8

Cited by 31 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Such a relationship occurs in Great Blue Herons. In this species, fighting was frequent and intense in a population that fed their nestlings small prey, but in another that fed large prey, fighting rates were low (Mock et al 1987) and similar to those that we found among nestling night herons. As in Great Blue Herons, diet and presumably prey size varies widely among different populations of Black-crowned Night Herons worldwide (Voisin 1991).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Responses of Egg-Laying Pied Flycatchers to Experimental Changes in Clutch Size: A Re-Examination

Kern¹,

Cowie²,

Slater³

2000

Condor

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Responses of Egg-Laying Pied Flycatchers to Experimental Changes in Clutch Size: A Re-Examination

Kern¹,

Cowie²,

Slater³

2000

Condor

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“…In egrets and herons, for example, competition between nestlings is manifested in terms of aggression, and commonly escalates to the point of siblicide (Mock 1984;Mock et al 1987). The extent of sibling aggression appears to be related to the ease with which food delivered by parents can be monopolized by individual chicks.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

American robin nestlings compete by jockeying for position

McRae

Montgomerie

1993

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

131

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We investigated whether nestling American robins (Turdus migratorius) were capable of influencing food distribution in their nests by perceiving that certain sectors of the nest received a relatively high proportion of feedings and positioning themselves accordingly.Feeding observations were obtained from videotape recordings taken at different stages of the nestling period. Parents generally arrived at a predictable location on the nest rim and allocated proportionally more food to nestlings in the central position. The degree of nestling movement was significantly positively correlated with variation in the predictability of parental arrival locations on the nest rim. Furthermore, nestlings moved more in broods suffering brood reduction. This suggests that when competition for food is intense and the location of parental arrival is predictable, nestlings respond by jockeying for access to the most favorable (i.e., central) position in the nest. We conclude that jockeying for position by nestlings can influence the pattern of food allocation by parents, and that hungry nestlings can improve their competitive standing against nestmates by moving to positions where parents are more likely to feed them.

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“…The critical element is not necessarily original prey size, since large items can be broken up and small items can be massed together by parents of some species, but whether food is delivered to chicks in such a way that one of them can gain exclusive access by aggression. Data supporting the prey-size hypothesis come from interspecific comparisons of ardeids and other species (Mock 1985), a geographic comparison of two great blue heron (Ardea herodias) populations (Mock et al 1987) and an interspecific cross-fostering experiment that manipulated size of food boluses presented to great blue heron nestlings (Mock 1984b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Brown pelican siblicide and the prey-size hypothesis

Pinson

Drummond

1993

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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We asked whether the brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) practices facultative brood reduction and tested two predictions of Mock's (1985) prey-size hypothesis: (1) if chicks take food directly from the parental mouth, nestmates should compete aggressively;(2) aggression between nestmates should increase during the developmental transition from indirect feeding (parents deposit food on the substrate) to direct feeding (parents pass food from mouth to mouth). Eggs in two-egg and three-egg clutches were laid and hatched 2 days apart. Junior (second-and third-hatched) chicks, fed less than their nestmates, grew more slowly and died more frequently. Of non-hatchling victims 74% were underweight, 55% bore peck wounds and 43% were found outside the nest, implying starvation, aggression and expulsion from the nest. Aggression occurred in all observed sibships, and junior chicks were subordinate in eight of ten cases. A progressive transition from indirect to direct feeding occurred during the 30 days after hatching, but there was no evidence of an increase in pecking during the transition. In conclusion, the brown pelican practices facultative brood reduction, and chick loss is mediated by sibling aggression as predicted by the preysize hypothesis. Pecking during indirect feeds seems to contradict the prey-size hypothesis, but may serve partly to establish a relationship of dominance-subordinance.

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Flexibility in the development of heron sibling aggression: an intraspecific test of the prey-size hypothesis

Cited by 31 publications

References 36 publications

Responses of Egg-Laying Pied Flycatchers to Experimental Changes in Clutch Size: A Re-Examination

Responses of Egg-Laying Pied Flycatchers to Experimental Changes in Clutch Size: A Re-Examination

American robin nestlings compete by jockeying for position

Brown pelican siblicide and the prey-size hypothesis

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