Nest predation and the evolution of nestling begging calls

Briskie, James V.; Martin, Paul R.; Martin, Thomas E.

doi:10.1098/rspb.1999.0902

Cited by 163 publications

(112 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Most studies on begging behaviour have taken place in passeriform birds, and based on the results it may well be that chicks convey information on their nutritional needs (Iacovides and Evans 1998;Kilner and Johnstone 1997;Price and Ydenberg 1995;Redondo and Castro 1992). However, these results were partly clouded by the fact that begging behaviour is also influenced by nestling competition (Neuenschwander et al 2003;Price 1996), previous feeding experiences (Kedar et al 2000;Rodriguez-Girones et al 2002) and predation pressure (Briskie et al 1999). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 69%

Acoustic parameters of begging calls indicate chick body condition in Wilson’s storm-petrels Oceanites oceanicus

Gladbach

Büßer

Mundry

et al. 2008

J Ethol

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Begging behaviour as a key element in the parent-offspring conflict has been studied in many avian species. These types of studies have nearly exclusively been based on call counts, and it is still not entirely clear whether begging calls themselves contain any information. We studied begging behaviour in Wilson's storm-petrel Oceanites oceanicus, a small procellariiform seabird. This species provides the opportunity to study the signalling value of begging calls in the absence of potentially confounding factors such as nestling competition, previous feeding experiences and predation pressure. We applied a new method using a semi-automatic spectrogram analysis software that measures the acoustic parameters of begging calls. Our analysis revealed that the frequency parameters of begging calls reflect chicks' current body condition, with chicks in poorer condition uttering calls at higher frequencies. Chicks uttering higher pitched calls also received larger meals. Our study shows that certain acoustic parameters of begging calls can indicate the state of a chick in Wilson's storm-petrels.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 69%

Acoustic parameters of begging calls indicate chick body condition in Wilson’s storm-petrels Oceanites oceanicus

Gladbach

Büßer

Mundry

et al. 2008

J Ethol

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“…Instead, as we show here, it can actually re£ect a strong proximate e¡ect of parental activity o¡setting antagonistic nest site e¡ects. Ultimately, nest predation can exert strong selection on a wide variety of phenotypic traits (Skutch 1949;Slagsvold 1982Slagsvold , 1984Martin 1992aMartin , 1995Martin , 1998Redondo & Castro 1992;Bosque & Bosque 1995;Briskie et al 1999;Conway & Martin 2000;Ghalambor & Martin 2000;Martin et al 2000) making identi¢cation of the ecological factors that in£uence the risk of nest predation necessary. Previous work has suggested that nest site selection within species as well as di¡erences in nest types between species are important determinants of variation in nest predation risk (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nest predation increases with parental activity: separating nest site and parental activity effects

Martin

Scott

Menge

2000

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

Self Cite

583

494

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Alexander Skutch hypothesized that increased parental activity can increase the risk of nest predation. We tested this hypothesis using ten open-nesting bird species in Arizona, USA. Parental activity was greater during the nestling than incubation stage because parents visited the nest frequently to feed their young during the nestling stage. However, nest predation did not generally increase with parental activity between nesting stages across the ten study species. Previous investigators have found similar results. We tested whether nest site e¡ects might yield higher predation during incubation because the most obvious sites are depredated most rapidly. We conducted experiments using nest sites from the previous year to remove parental activity. Our results showed that nest sites have highly repeatable e¡ects on nest predation risk; poor nest sites incurred rapid predation and caused predation rates to be greater during the incubation than nestling stage. This pattern also was exhibited in a bird species with similar (i.e. controlled) parental activity between nesting stages. Once nest site e¡ects are taken into account, nest predation shows a strong proximate increase with parental activity during the nestling stage within and across species. Parental activity and nest sites exert antagonistic in£uences on current estimates of nest predation between nesting stages and both must be considered in order to understand current patterns of nest predation, which is an important source of natural selection.

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“…In experiments with loudspeakers in dummy nests, they demonstrated that the calls of tree-nesters produced higher predation rates (than those of ground-nesters) when played on the ground, but that the calls of ground nesters did not increase predation risk (compared with tree-nesters) when played in dummy nests in the trees. Briskie et al (1999) studied a 24-species community of breeding passerines, measuring egg loss from predation and recording begging calls. Controlling for phylogeny, they found a relationship where species with higher predation rate had calls of higher frequency and lower amplitude.…”

Section: Soundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Non-visual crypsis: a review of the empirical evidence for camouflage to senses other than vision

Ruxton

2008

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

114

100

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I review the evidence that organisms have adaptations that confer difficulty of detection by predators and parasites that seek their targets primarily using sensory systems other than vision. In other words, I will answer the question of whether crypsis is a concept that can usefully be applied to non-visual sensory perception. Probably because vision is such an important sensory system in humans, research in this field is sparse. Thus, at present we have very few examples of chemical camouflage, and even these contain some ambiguity in deciding whether they are best seen as examples of background matching or mimicry. There are many examples of organisms that are adaptively silent at times or in locations when or where predation risk is higher or in response to detection of a predator. By contrast, evidence that the form (rather than use) of vocalizations and other sound-based signals has been influenced by issues of reducing detectability to unintended receivers is suggestive rather than conclusive. There is again suggestive but not completely conclusive evidence for crypsis against electro-sensing predators. Lastly, mechanoreception is highly understudied in this regard, but there are scattered reports that strongly suggest that some species can be thought of as being adapted to be cryptic in this modality. Hence, I conclude that crypsis is a concept that can usefully be applied to senses other than vision, and that this is a field very much worthy of more investigation.

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Nest predation and the evolution of nestling begging calls

Cited by 163 publications

References 27 publications

Acoustic parameters of begging calls indicate chick body condition in Wilson’s storm-petrels Oceanites oceanicus

Acoustic parameters of begging calls indicate chick body condition in Wilson’s storm-petrels Oceanites oceanicus

Nest predation increases with parental activity: separating nest site and parental activity effects

Non-visual crypsis: a review of the empirical evidence for camouflage to senses other than vision

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