Sex ratio and sex-specific chick mortality in a species with moderate sexual size dimorphism and female brood desertion

Abstract

An equal sex ratio at the population level is the usual, evolutionarily stable condition. However, at the individual level, it may be adaptive for parents to manipulate the sex of their offspring, especially in species with sexual size dimorphism (SSD) when the costs and benefits of producing sons and daughters can vary. In this study, we investigated the hatching sex ratio (HSR) and fledging sex ratio (FSR) in the Whiskered Tern (Chlidonias hybrida). Despite the fact that SSD exists in Whiskered Terns already at the chick stage, HSR and FSR did not deviate from parity at the population level. We tested the dependence of HSR, FSR and the survival probability of males and females on the individual hatching date, average egg volume (in a clutch) and the number of nestlings. None of these factors influenced HSR. Survival probability was negatively correlated with the number of hatchlings. The proportion of females among the fledglings was positively correlated with the average egg volume per clutch. To better explore the effect of egg volume on the sex ratio, we tested the relationship between exact egg volume and hatchling sex or hatching success at the individual level; but despite the quite large sample size, our analyses failed to reveal any relationship. The sex ratio was equal among chicks that were found dead in a nest, mostly due to starvation, but more female than male chicks disappeared from nests (mostly due to predation), primarily in the first week of life. This indicates that females may be easier to predate, very likely by frogs hunting small chicks.