Territory holders are more aggressive towards older, more dangerous floaters

Piper, Walter H.; Lee, Katherine R.; Hoover, Brian A.

doi:10.1007/s00265-022-03131-7

Cited by 2 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…Alternatively, females may preferentially prospect during the egg-laying phase, when frequent conspecific brood parasitism and nest sabotages occur [14]. In conclusion, our results suggest that male floaters do not prospect random nests but preferentially visit nests with owners who are more likely to be evicted [7]. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that floaters actively prospect nests taking into account their chances of future settlement [7,15].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

“…We found that this was the case for male birds, since nests in which the male owner had been wing-clipped attracted a larger number of male floaters than control nests. To the extent that this manipulation likely affected male RHP in the same way that it affected females', this pattern reinforces the idea that male floaters do not prospect nests randomly but favour those in which the male owner has a reduced RHP [7,15]. The intrusion of floaters in foreign nests often results in fights between the owner and the floater [11], suggesting that prospecting can result in nest takeovers, although no differences were found in our study in this respect.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

“…In conclusion, our results suggest that male floaters do not prospect random nests but preferentially visit nests with owners who are more likely to be evicted [ 7 ]. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that floaters actively prospect nests taking into account their chances of future settlement [ 7 , 15 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In different groups of animals, the capacity to acquire and defend a breeding territory is key for reproduction and is known as resource holding potential (RHP) [ 2 ]. Floaters are sexually mature individuals in a population that are not able to reproduce due to their lower status or ability to obtain a territory [ 1 , 3 , 4 ], and some studies suggest that these individuals have a lower RHP [ 5 , 6 ] and are forced to wait for a breeding opportunity [ 7 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Another possibility is that floaters use these nest visits to gain fitness benefits via extra-pair paternity or conspecific brood parasitism [ 14 ]. Alternatively, in particular after egg laying, prospecting behaviour may be used to evaluate competitor fitness and guide overtaking attempts [ 7 , 15 ]. In some species, such as the spotless starling, nest sabotage and take-overs by both sexes are frequent events [ 16 ], often involving fights that can lead to the death of one of the birds (electronic supplementary material, figure S1).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Male starling floaters preferentially visit nests of males with reduced resource holding potential

Gómez-Llanos,

Redondo,

Pérez-Rodríguez

et al. 2024

Biol. Lett.

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Floaters are sexually mature individuals that are not able to reproduce by defending breeding resources. Floaters often visit active nests, probably to gather public information or to compete for a nesting site. We tested the hypothesis that floaters preferentially prospect nests in which they have a better chance of taking over, and that they do so by assessing the owners' resource holding potential (RHP). We manipulated the flight capacity of male and female breeders in a population of spotless starlings ( Sturnus unicolor ) by clipping two flight feathers per wing before egg laying, thus increasing their wing-load and likely impairing their condition. We subsequently monitored breeder and floater activity by means of transponder readers during the nestling period. We found that nests owned by wing-clipped males were visited by a greater number of male floaters than control nests. This effect was absent in the case of wing-clipped females. The number of male floaters also increased with increasing nestling age and number of parental visits. The experiment shows that male floaters preferentially prospect nests in which the owner shows a reduced RHP, a strategy that likely allows them to evict weak owners and take over their nests for future reproductive attempts.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Male starling floaters preferentially visit nests of males with reduced resource holding potential

Gómez-Llanos,

Redondo,

Pérez-Rodríguez

et al. 2024

Biol. Lett.

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Darwin’s finches in human-altered environments sing common song types and are more aggressive

2023

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Human-altered landscapes may act as an environmental filter benefiting species or individuals with specific sets of capacities or behaviors. Yet the effects of human activity on culturally transmitted traits in animals are still poorly understood. Combining song recordings and simulated territory intrusions, we investigated whether songs (a cultural trait) and aggressiveness (a personality trait) in small ground finches (Geospiza fuliginosa) differed along a gradient of human activity levels (high-low-high) spanning two habitats with contrasting levels of rainfall (arid lowlands, humid highlands). We found that more common syllable types were more prevalent in arid lowland sites and at sites with high human activity. The number of syllables per song, song duration, song tempo and song rhythmicity did not differ across habitats or levels of human activity. During simulated territorial intrusions, small ground finches living in areas with higher levels of human activity and in the arid lowlands (regardless of human activity) showed the strongest aggressive response compared to those living in areas with lower levels of human activity or in the humid highlands. Thus, prevalence of aggression and syllable commonness correlated with each other across sites. Our results support the idea that resource distribution and human-impacted environments may select jointly for specific behavioral phenotypes such as aggression as well as common cultural traits.

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Territory holders are more aggressive towards older, more dangerous floaters

Cited by 2 publications

References 56 publications

Male starling floaters preferentially visit nests of males with reduced resource holding potential

Male starling floaters preferentially visit nests of males with reduced resource holding potential

Darwin’s finches in human-altered environments sing common song types and are more aggressive

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