Western bluebird parents preferentially feed hungrier nestlings in a design that balances location in the nest

Smith, Maria G.; Dickinson, Janis L.; Rush, Andrew; Wade, Allison L.; Yang, Dou‐Shuan

doi:10.1007/s00265-017-2287-3

Cited by 9 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…To explain nest-space use, parental feeding strategy and prey size, which are in turn influenced by weather conditions, are the most influential factors for nest-space use. This indicates on the one hand parental control over food allocation (Davis et al 1999;Forbes 2007;Roulin and Dreiss 2012;Ryser et al 2016;Smith et al 2017) and on the other hand the crucial role of prey size being sensitive to weather conditions for insectivorous birds (Arlettaz et al 2010). Thus, parental feeding behaviour, together with decision-making processes of altricial nestlings, may explain the post-natal nest-space use of cavity-nesting birds.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of different weather aspects on breeding performance, food supply and nest-space use in hoopoe offspring

Nuhlíčková

Svêtlík

Eckenfellner

et al. 2021

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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In this study, we investigated the influence of different weather aspects on breeding performance, food supply and nest-space use in hoopoe offspring (Upupa epops). Camera recordings of 88 nests were used to examine how ambient environmental conditions influence food supply, offspring nest-space use and the trade-off nestlings face regarding the two mainly used locations in the nest. Therefore, we provide a comprehensive analysis involving different factors including weather parameters together with food provisioned to nestlings on different temporal scales to identify the factors having the most influence on nest-space use. We found that different breeding conditions significantly influenced how nestlings used the nest. During excessively humid weather, nestlings spent more time under the entrance hole when small food was delivered. However, nestlings supplied with large prey more often remained hidden in the distant area, despite the adverse weather situation. In all three aspects and temporal scales, our analysis confirmed that prey was the most important factor influencing offspring nest-space use, suggesting a crucial role of large insects for hoopoes. Finally, we found that long-term effects of weather affect overall food provisioned to nestlings and thus offspring behaviour. We provide evidence that parental feeding location and prey size, which are in turn influenced by weather conditions, are the most influential factors for nest-space use. This study expands our knowledge of parent–offspring communication and how environmental factors may lead to differential nest-space use, which may be regarded as the earliest form of habitat preference in birds. Significance statement Nests are usually constrained in space but designed to protect offspring from the environment while giving them limited possibilities to express behavioural diversity. This is particularly true for bird nests, where nestlings are usually packed in close contact with one another and without much space for movement, except begging. Here we demonstrate that nest features, such as available nest space together with environmental conditions surrounding a nest, influence nestling strategies and behaviours, including social interactions between nest mates, which further leads to fitness consequences. Our results seem to be of great importance for habitat selection theory in birds, in particular regarding the early development of habitat preferences (imprinting) and use. On the other hand, the result may also have important implications for conservation issues given that nestling behaviour may be used as a determinant of environmental quality.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of different weather aspects on breeding performance, food supply and nest-space use in hoopoe offspring

Nuhlíčková

Svêtlík

Eckenfellner

et al. 2021

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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“…Furthermore, several experimental studies in which the relative nestling position was controlled for have found that parents feed their nestlings regardless of their position in the nest (e.g. Kilner 1995, Tanner et al 2008, Smith et al 2017.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parental feeding preferences rather than sibling competition determine the death of smaller nestlings in asynchronous broods

Soler¹,

Ruiz-Raya²,

Sánchez-Pérez³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Hatching asynchrony is a reproductive tactic that, through the creation of competitive hierarchies among offspring, allows parents for a quick adjustment of brood size via the death of smaller nestlings. This strategy is considered to be adaptive in case of unpredictable and/or poor environments in which it would guarantee that at least larger nestlings will fledge. Brood reduction is the usual outcome in asynchronously hatched broods since first-hatched nestlings are larger and get a disproportionately larger share of the food delivered by parents, often leading the youngest nestling to starve to death soon after hatching. However, we still do not know the proximate mechanisms of such brood reduction. One possibility is that the smallest nestling is not fed because larger nestlings outcompete it, which implies that nestlings control resource allocation. Alternatively, parents might actively ignore the persistent begging from their smallest nestling, which would involve that parents control food allocation. To determine whether parents or nestlings ultimately induce brood reduction in this situation, we experimentally created asynchronous broods of Eurasian blackbird (Turdus merula) nestlings and quantified food allocation by parents in two different situations: when sibling competition was allowed and, alternatively, when competition was prevented by physically separating nestlings within the nests by using wooden barriers. Our results showed that experimentally introduced smaller nestlings received less food than their larger nestmates both when competition among nestlings was allowed and when it was prevented. When adult males and females are considered separately, males fed the smallest nestling less often regardless of whether sibling competition was allowed or not, but adult females showed no differences. We can conclude that the smallest nestling starves mainly because parents actively ignore its begging. The higher competitive ability of the larger nestlings seem to have little effect given that although the smallest nestling is fed at a higher rate when physical interactions are prevented by the wooden barrier than when not, this difference is not significant. These findings suggest that parents rather than nestlings have the main control over food allocation.

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“…Thus, on each occasion, the parent spends some time assessing how to distribute food in a most efficient way. The choice of which nestling to feed is probably based on a number of visual cues like gape and flanges color (De Ayala et al 2007), gape size capacity in relation to prey size (Stalwick and Wiebe 2019), and/or the intensity of begging movements (Smith et al 2017). Low light may significantly depress, or even disable, color vision in birds (Lind andKelber 2009, Gomez et al 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Light affects parental provisioning behaviour in a cavity‐nesting Passerine

Podkowa

Malinowska

Surmacki

2019

Journal of Avian Biology

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Nocturnal bird species possess special adaptations to maximise visual efficiency under low light levels. However, some typically diurnal species also experience low‐light environments. For example, cavity‐nesting Passerines raise broods in dark cavities and search for food in light‐abundant surroundings. It is not clear whether they possess special adaptations for low light vision or breed in cavities at the expense of impaired parental care. In this study, we tested whether light conditions affect the provisioning efficiency of great tits. We experimentally tested how the level of natural and artificially increased illumination inside nest boxes affects parental feeding duration, frequency and timing. We monitored 15‐h of provisioning activity of great tit parents when nestlings were day seven post hatch. We used traditional ‘dark’ nest boxes and ‘bright’ nest boxes with increased illumination obtained by using semi‐transparent plastic windows. The duration of single feedings were, on average, shorter in brightened nest boxes compared to dark ones. This difference tended to be higher early in the morning and in the evening, when the illumination in dark nest boxes was the lowest. Nest box type, however, did not influence feeding frequency or times of the onset and the end of feeding. Our findings provide new evidence for impaired efficiency of parental care due to lowered light conditions. Further research is needed to test whether prolonged feeding duration has negative effects on adult time budgets and nestling energy expenditures.

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Western bluebird parents preferentially feed hungrier nestlings in a design that balances location in the nest

Cited by 9 publications

References 31 publications

Influence of different weather aspects on breeding performance, food supply and nest-space use in hoopoe offspring

Influence of different weather aspects on breeding performance, food supply and nest-space use in hoopoe offspring

Parental feeding preferences rather than sibling competition determine the death of smaller nestlings in asynchronous broods

Light affects parental provisioning behaviour in a cavity‐nesting Passerine

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