Parents increase their parental effort when aided by helpers in a cooperatively breeding bird

Valencia, Juliana; Solis, Carlos; Carranza, Juan; Martín, Concha Mateos

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2005.06.021

Cited by 46 publications

(68 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Also, in the Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae), although brood reduction was the main cause for nest failure, additional helpers did not increase food delivery rates (Legge 2000). Therefore, parental investment by breeders may be driven by factors other than nestling mortality risk, such as nest defense (Valencia et al 2006) or nestling body condition (review in Carranza et al 2008). Considering the high rates of nest predation in the White-banded Tanager (Alves and Cavalcanti 1990;Duca 2007), we predicted that protection against predators may be the most important role of helpers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Similar results have been found for other species (Carranza et al 2008). For example, in the Azurewinged Magpie (Cyanopica cyanus), breeders increased their feeding effort when aided by helpers, even though starvation risk was a minor cause of nest failure (Valencia et al 2006). Also, in the Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae), although brood reduction was the main cause for nest failure, additional helpers did not increase food delivery rates (Legge 2000).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…We evaluated linear and quadratic tendencies through the season to control for possible season-day effects, such as predator number and foraging behavior or alternate prey availability (Stutchbury and Morton 2001). We also considered nest age as a predictor variable, since environmental, ecological or parental behavior changes during nest development may affect the chances of success (Skutch 1949).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Because of the high energy costs of parental investment, it is reasonable to expect that breeders reduce their workload with nestling care when assisted by helpers. However, studies of cooperative species have shown that, in the presence of helpers at the nest, parents can maintain the same parental effort (Emlen and Wrege 1991;Magrath and Yezerinac 1997), decrease (MacColl and Hatchwell 2003) or even increase their contribution with nestling care (Valencia et al 2006), suggesting that factors other than parental care may affect breeders' responses.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Helpers at the nest of White-banded Tanager Neothraupis fasciata benefit male breeders but do not increase reproductive success

Manica

Marini

2011

J Ornithol

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In cooperatively breeding birds, breeders can adjust their parental care investment without affecting nestling survival probability and save energy to invest in other activities, such as feeding, mating or territory defense. Furthermore, helpers at the nest can improve nestling nutrition and hence the reproductive performance of the breeding pair. We determined the influence of helpers on nestling feeding effort and reproductive success of breeders in the neotropical White-banded Tanager (Neothraupis fasciata). We monitored nests during the breeding seasons of 2006 and 2007 in central Brazil. Males showed a compensatory reduction of their food delivery rate in the presence of helpers, whereas females exhibited the same parental effort regardless of having helpers. Total food delivery rate was higher for nests with helpers, but there was no effect of helpers on reproductive performance of breeders (clutch size, hatching rate, fledgling productivity and reproductive success). Our results indicate that cooperative breeding in the White-banded Tanager appears to be important for males to reduce their parental care effort and, hence, invest in their survival or future reproductive attempts. Zusammenfassung Bei kooperativ brütenden Vögeln können Brüter ihren Brutpflegeaufwand anpassen, ohne dass dies die Ü berlebenswahrscheinlichkeit der Nestlinge beeinträchtigt, und Energie sparen, die dann in andere Aktivitäten, wie Nahrungsaufnahme, Paarung oder Revierverteidigung, investiert werden kann. Außerdem können Helfer am Nest die Ernährung der Nestlinge und somit die Fortpflanzungsleistung des Brutpaares verbessern. Wir haben ermittelt, wie sich Helfer auf den NestlingsFütterungsaufwand und den Fortpflanzungserfolg von brü-tenden neotropischen Flügelbindentangaren (Neothraupis fasciata) auswirken. Wir haben Nester während der Brutsaisons 2006 und 2007 in Zentralbrasilien überwacht. Männchen zeigten eine kompensatorische Reduktion ihrer Fütterungsrate in Anwesenheit von Helfern, während Weibchen denselben Elternaufwand zeigten, unabhängig davon, ob sie Helfer hatten oder nicht. Die Gesamtfütterungsrate war für Nester mit Helfern höher, doch Helfer hatten keinen Einfluss auf die Fortpflanzungsleistung von Brütern (Gelegegröße, Schlupfrate, Flügglingsproduktion und Fortpflanzungserfolg). Unsere Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass kooperatives Brüten bei Flügelbindentangaren für Männchen wichtig zu sein scheint, um ihren Brutpflegeaufwand zu reduzieren und folglich in ihr Ü berleben oder weitere Fortpflanzungsversuche zu investieren.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Helpers at the nest of White-banded Tanager Neothraupis fasciata benefit male breeders but do not increase reproductive success

Manica

Marini

2011

J Ornithol

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“…Furthermore, the influence of these ecological factors on parental provisioning behaviour may also depend on the social system, such as the number of carers providing food (Houston and Davies 1985;Hatchwell 1999;Valencia et al 2006) and the territorial system of the species concerned. For example, in territorial species, parental provisioning rates may depend on territory size and quality, while in non-territorial breeding systems, food can not be monopolised, and parents often forage in groups so that parents may have to share resources with other individuals (Krause and Ruxton 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parental provisioning behaviour in a flock-living passerine, the Vinous-throated Parrotbill Paradoxornis webbianus

2009

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The amount of food delivered by parents to their chicks is affected by various life history traits as well as environmental and social factors, and this investment ultimately determines the current and future fitness of parents and their offspring. We studied parental provisioning behaviour in the Vinous-throated Parrotbill Paradoxornis webbianus, a species with an unusual social system that is characterised by flock-living, weak territoriality and variable nesting dispersion. Parental provisioning rate had a positive influence on chick mass gain, suggesting that provisioning rate is an effective measure of parental investment in this species. Males and females fed nestlings at approximately the same rate, and no other carers were observed at nests. Parents coordinated provisioning rates so that they mostly fed chicks synchronously. However, the extent to which parents coordinated provisioning was associated with their social environment, synchrony being positively related to local breeding density and negatively to nearest neighbour distance. The rate at which parents provisioned nestlings showed the same relationships with social measures, being greatest at higher density and when neighbours were closer. Visit rate was also related to chick age, but not to brood size, brood sex ratio, extra pair paternity, laying date, temperature, parents' body characters, time of day or year. We conclude that a breeding pairs' social environment plays an important role in determining parental investment, probably through its effects on the opportunities that parents have for foraging with conspecifics.

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Helper effects on breeder allocations to direct care

Kushnick

2012

American J Hum Biol

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Introduction: Mothers receive childcare and productive assistance from allomaternal helpers in many societies. Although much effort has been aimed toward showing helper effects on maternal reproductive success, less has been directed toward highlighting the full range of potential effects on breeder behavior. I present a model of optimal maternal care with helpers, and tests of derived hypotheses with data collected among the Karo Batak—a group of Indonesian agriculturalists. Methods: To test the model's predictions I compared the effect of women receiving help from patrilateral versus matrilateral kin because those kin may provide help with different maternal responsibilities. The model predicts a decrease in maternal allocation to care that is substitutable with the helper contribution and the helper assists with that type of care; it predicts an increase in care that is nonsubstitutable with the helper contribution or substitutable care when the helper assists with other responsibilities. With the exception of one other, most models have failed to account for an increase. Results/Conclusions: Analyses of time spent carrying children supported the model. With matrilateral helpers, women increased carrying; with patrilateral helpers, they decreased it. Time spent farmworking showed the opposite pattern, suggesting that matrilateral helpers effectively decrease costs, nudging optimal maternal care upward. Patterns of breastfeeding provided little support for the model. The results do, however, suggest potential proximate mechanisms by which helpers influence maternal reproductive success in cooperative breeding societies. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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Parents increase their parental effort when aided by helpers in a cooperatively breeding bird

Cited by 46 publications

References 22 publications

Helpers at the nest of White-banded Tanager Neothraupis fasciata benefit male breeders but do not increase reproductive success

Helpers at the nest of White-banded Tanager Neothraupis fasciata benefit male breeders but do not increase reproductive success

Parental provisioning behaviour in a flock-living passerine, the Vinous-throated Parrotbill Paradoxornis webbianus

Helper effects on breeder allocations to direct care

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