Plumage brightness as an indicator of parental care in northern cardinals

Linville, Susan U.; Breitwisch, Randall; Schilling, Amy J.

doi:10.1006/anbe.1997.0595

Cited by 162 publications

(116 citation statements)

References 44 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

108

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The 'good parent hypothesis' [41,42] predicts that traits, such as ornaments and song, should signal the ability of a male to provide care. Some studies support the hypothesis by showing positive relationships between sexually selected traits and paternal care [43][44][45], whereas others do not find any relationship [46,47].…”

Section: Do Parents Gain An Advantage By Handicapping Themselves?mentioning

confidence: 98%

Conflict between parents over care

Houston

Székely

McNamara

2005

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

349

316

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Conflict between parents over care of young arises when the young benefit from the effort of both parents, but each parent suffers a reduction in future reproductive success as a consequence of its own effort. Here, we review existing models and argue that they fail to capture many important components of parental conflict. For example, we lack adequate models of how a parent should compensate for a reduction in the effort of its mate. These models should incorporate the process by which decisions are reached. Recent theory suggests that a parent benefits by handicapping itself, and more experimental and theoretical work on this topic could be fruitful. We also need more theoretical work on attractiveness that incorporates consistent interactions between males and females.There are many forms of parental care and many ways in which care can be costly to a parent, in that it reduces their reproductive success in other breeding attempts [1,2]. Parental care involves a high level of energy expenditure, which might reduce the condition of the parent at the end of the breeding season. This can reduce the future survival of the care-provider and, hence, its probability of breeding the following year. A parent that deserts its mate and young has greater opportunities to pair with a new partner within the current breeding season than does a parent that cares. Even if a male remains with his mate and young, it might be possible to increase his chances of copulating with females other than his mate by decreasing his level of care and devoting more time to courting other females [3]. Such matings are known as extra-pair copulations (EPCs).Although the details vary across species, the success of the young generally depends on the care from both parents, whereas the cost to a parent depends on its own effort. Thus, a conflict of interest emerges [4,5], with each parent preferring the other to do the hard work. Here, we focus on sexual conflict over care, although the parents might also disagree about family size, timing of breeding or the sex ratio of their offspring [6]. For a broader account of sexual conflict, see [7].The benefit that results from a particular level of care by a parent depends on the behaviour of its partner, whereas the cost of care in terms of lost mating opportunities depends on the behaviour of other members of the population. For example, if a male deserts, his chances of obtaining a new mate will depend on the number of females that have also deserted their mate and are hence available. If a male seeks EPCs, then his chances of obtaining them depend on the receptiveness of females in the population and the extent to which males allocate their time to guarding their mates from other males as opposed to caring for their young or seeking EPCs [8]. These complex interactions make it difficult to use verbal arguments to predict the level of care that will evolve. Theory attempts to predict the outcome of evolution by constructing mathematical models that expose the logic of parental conflict. Here, we co...

show abstract

Section: Do Parents Gain An Advantage By Handicapping Themselves?mentioning

confidence: 98%

Conflict between parents over care

Houston

Székely

McNamara

2005

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

349

316

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Transgenerational epigenetic effects can also enhance offspring immunity (Grindstaff et al, 2003;Hasselquist and Nilsson, 2009;Clairardin et al, 2011) and could be associated with parental coloration. Alternatively, more colorful adults may provide greater or higher quality resources to their young (Linville et al, 1998;Siefferman and Hill, 2003;Garcia-Navas et al, 2012), which could enhance offspring immunity because mounting an immune response can be energetically costly and influenced by condition (Norris and Evans, 2000;Lifjeld et al, 2002;Palacios et al, 2012;Pickett et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationships among plumage coloration, blood selenium concentrations, and immune responses of adult and nestling tree swallows

Beck

Hawley

2015

Journal of Experimental Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In a number of taxa, males and females both display ornaments that may be associated with individual quality and could be reliable signals to potential mates or rivals. We examined the iridescent blue/green back and white breast of adult tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) to determine whether plumage reflectance is related to adult or offspring immune responses. We simultaneously addressed the influence of blood selenium levels and the interaction between blood selenium and plumage coloration on adult and nestling immunity. Selenium is a wellknown antioxidant necessary for mounting a robust immune response but its importance in wild birds remains poorly understood. In females, the brightness of white breast coloration was positively associated with bactericidal capacity, but there was no association with blood selenium. In contrast, male bactericidal capacity was associated with an interactive effect between dorsal plumage coloration and blood selenium concentration. Males with bluer hues and greater blue chroma showed increased bactericidal capacity as blood selenium concentrations increased, while bactericidal capacity declined in greener males at higher blood selenium concentrations. In nestlings, bactericidal capacity was positively associated with nestling blood selenium concentrations and white brightness of both social parents. These results suggest that white plumage reflectance is indicative of quality in tree swallows and that greater attention should be paid to the reflectance of large white plumage patches. Additionally, the role of micronutrients, such as selenium, in mediating relationships between physiology and signals of quality, should be explored further.

show abstract

“…Cunningham and Russell 2000;Rutstein et al 2004;Bonato et al 2009) or feeding effort (e.g. Linville et al 1998;Ligon and Hill 2010) according to the quality of their mates.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can simple songs express useful signals for mate choice?

Lyu

Sun

2016

Avian Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: As one of the most elaborate and diverse sexual signals, bird songs are prominent among mate choice criteria. Females generally prefer mates with larger repertoire size, which promotes the evolution of song complexity. However, there are also some songbirds that have far simpler and less diverse vocalizations, which have not been the focus of scientific scrutiny. Most Phylloscopus warblers are accomplished singers with complex songs. In contrast, Hume's Warbler (P. humei) has extremely simple songs. In order to explore the song's function, its evolutionary significance and particularly to assess its possible relationship with parental investment, we studied mate choice of the subspecies P. h. mandellii in Lianhuashan National Nature Reserve, Gansu, China. Methods:We recorded body measurements and songs of breeding males and then explored their relationships with the date of clutch initiation, reasoning that the characteristics of males that are involved with early nesting activities reflect female mate preferences. We also recorded egg size and body measurements of nestlings to assess the relationship between parental investment and mate choice. Results:We found that male wing and tail lengths were positively correlated with early clutch initiation as were songs characterized by short duration and rapid rise to maximum amplitude. We also found that early-breeding females did not lay large eggs, but produced more surviving young, which grew up faster. Conclusions:Female mate choice criteria in this bird include both visual signals and song characteristics. Our study supports the hypothesis that females may judge male quality from quite subtle differences. In order to reduce the risk of predation, a preference for such inconspicuous male characteristics may be partially driven by high vulnerability of this warbler to predators as a ground-nesting species.

show abstract

Plumage brightness as an indicator of parental care in northern cardinals

Cited by 162 publications

References 44 publications

Conflict between parents over care

Conflict between parents over care

Relationships among plumage coloration, blood selenium concentrations, and immune responses of adult and nestling tree swallows

Can simple songs express useful signals for mate choice?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About