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Beissinger SR, Berg KS. Eviction-driven infanticide and sexually selected adoption and infanticide in a neotropical parrot. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2024; 121:e2317305121. [PMID: 38709919 PMCID: PMC11098109 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2317305121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2023] [Accepted: 04/04/2024] [Indexed: 05/08/2024] Open
Abstract
Infanticide and adoption have been attributed to sexual selection, where an individual later reproduces with the parent whose offspring it killed or adopted. While sexually selected infanticide is well known, evidence for sexually selected adoption is anecdotal. We report on both behaviors at 346 nests over 27 y in green-rumped parrotlets (Forpus passerinus) in Venezuela. Parrotlets are monogamous with long-term pair bonds, exhibit a strongly male-biased adult sex ratio, and nest in cavities that are in short supply, creating intense competition for nest sites and mates. Infanticide attacks occurred at 256 nests in two distinct contexts: 1) Attacks were primarily committed by nonbreeding pairs (69%) attempting to evict parents from the cavity. Infanticide attacks per nest were positively correlated with population size and evicting pairs never adopted abandoned offspring. Competition for limited nest sites was a primary cause of eviction-driven infanticide, and 2) attacks occurred less frequently at nests where one mate died (31%), was perpetrated primarily by stepparents of both sexes, and was independent of population size. Thus, within a single species and mating system, infanticide occurred in multiple contexts due to multiple drivers. Nevertheless, 48% of stepparents of both sexes adopted offspring, and another 23% of stepfathers exhibited both infanticide and long-term care. Stepfathers were often young males who subsequently nested with widows, reaching earlier ages of first breeding than competitors and demonstrating sexually selected adoption. Adoption and infanticide conferred similar fitness benefits to stepfathers and appeared to be equivalent strategies driven by limited breeding opportunities, male-biased sex ratios, and long-term monogamy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Steven R. Beissinger
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy & Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA94720
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, CA94720
| | - Karl S. Berg
- School of Integrative Biological and Chemical Sciences, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Brownsville, TX78520
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Voltura EV, Tracy JL, Heatley JJ, Kiacz S, Brightsmith DJ, Filippi AM, Franco JG, Coulson R. Modelling Red-Crowned Parrot (Psittaciformes: Amazona viridigenalis [Cassin, 1853]) distributions in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas using elevation and vegetation indices and their derivatives. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0294118. [PMID: 38055729 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0294118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2023] [Accepted: 10/26/2023] [Indexed: 12/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Texas Rio Grande Valley Red-crowned Parrots (Psittaciformes: Amazona viridigenalis [Cassin, 1853]) primarily occupy vegetated urban rather than natural areas. We investigated the utility of raw vegetation indices and their derivatives as well as elevation in modelling the Red-crowned parrot's general use, nest site, and roost site habitat distributions. A feature selection algorithm was employed to create and select an ensemble of fine-scale, top-ranked MaxEnt models from optimally-sized, decorrelated subsets of four to seven of 199 potential variables. Variables were ranked post hoc by frequency of appearance and mean permutation importance in top-ranked models. Our ensemble models accurately predicted the three distributions of interest ([Formula: see text] Area Under the Curve [AUC] = 0.904-0.969). Top-ranked variables for different habitat distribution models included: (a) general use-percent cover of preferred ranges of entropy texture of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values, entropy and contrast textures of NDVI, and elevation; (b) nest site-entropy textures of NDVI and Green-Blue NDVI, and percent cover of preferred range of entropy texture of NDVI values; (c) roost site-percent cover of preferred ranges of entropy texture of NDVI values, contrast texture of NDVI, and entropy texture of Green-Red Normalized Difference Index. Texas Rio Grande Valley Red-crowned Parrot presence was associated with urban areas with high heterogeneity and randomness in the distribution of vegetation and/or its characteristics (e.g., arrangement, type, structure). Maintaining existing preferred vegetation types and incorporating them into new developments should support the persistence of Red-crowned Parrots in southern Texas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elise Varaela Voltura
- Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States of America
- Schubot Center for Avian Health, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States of America
| | - James L Tracy
- Department of Entomology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States of America
| | - J Jill Heatley
- Schubot Center for Avian Health, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States of America
- Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States of America
| | - Simon Kiacz
- Schubot Center for Avian Health, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States of America
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States of America
| | - Donald J Brightsmith
- Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States of America
- Schubot Center for Avian Health, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States of America
| | - Anthony M Filippi
- Department of Geography, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States of America
| | - Jesús G Franco
- Rio Grande Joint Venture, American Bird Conservancy, McAllen, Texas, United States of America
| | - Robert Coulson
- Department of Entomology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States of America
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Almstead DK, Savagian AG, Smith MG, Riehl C. Inter‐group conflict in a cooperatively breeding bird: New insights into “home field advantage”. Ethology 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/eth.13113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Danielle K. Almstead
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Princeton University Princeton NJ USA
| | - Amanda G. Savagian
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Princeton University Princeton NJ USA
| | - Maria G. Smith
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Princeton University Princeton NJ USA
| | - Christina Riehl
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Princeton University Princeton NJ USA
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Lee AM, Reid JM, Beissinger SR. Modelling effects of nonbreeders on population growth estimates. J Anim Ecol 2016; 86:75-87. [PMID: 27625075 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.12592] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2015] [Accepted: 09/03/2016] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Abstract
Adult individuals that do not breed in a given year occur in a wide range of natural populations. However, such nonbreeders are often ignored in theoretical and empirical population studies, limiting our knowledge of how nonbreeders affect realized and estimated population dynamics and potentially impeding projection of deterministic and stochastic population growth rates. We present and analyse a general modelling framework for systems where breeders and nonbreeders differ in key demographic rates, incorporating different forms of nonbreeding, different life histories and frequency-dependent effects of nonbreeders on demographic rates of breeders. Comparisons of estimates of deterministic population growth rate, λ, and demographic variance, σd2, from models with and without distinct nonbreeder classes show that models that do not explicitly incorporate nonbreeders give upwardly biased estimates of σd2, particularly when the equilibrium ratio of nonbreeders to breeders, Nnb∗/Nb∗, is high. Estimates of λ from empirical observations of breeders only are substantially inflated when individuals frequently re-enter the breeding population after periods of nonbreeding. Sensitivity analyses of diverse parameterizations of our model framework, with and without negative frequency-dependent effects of nonbreeders on breeder demographic rates, show how changes in demographic rates of breeders vs. nonbreeders differentially affect λ. In particular, λ is most sensitive to nonbreeder parameters in long-lived species, when Nnb∗/Nb∗>0, and when individuals are unlikely to breed at several consecutive time steps. Our results demonstrate that failing to account for nonbreeders in population studies can obscure low population growth rates that should cause management concern. Quantifying the size and demography of the nonbreeding section of populations and modelling appropriate demographic structuring is therefore essential to evaluate nonbreeders' influence on deterministic and stochastic population dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aline M Lee
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy & Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720-3114, USA.,Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, AB24 2TZ, UK
| | - Jane M Reid
- Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, AB24 2TZ, UK
| | - Steven R Beissinger
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy & Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720-3114, USA.,Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720-3160, USA
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Wischhoff U, Marques-Santos F, Ardia DR, Roper JJ. White-rumped swallows prospect while they are actively nesting. J ETHOL 2015. [DOI: 10.1007/s10164-015-0425-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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White NE, Bunce M, Mawson PR, Dawson R, Saunders DA, Allentoft ME. Identifying conservation units after large‐scale land clearing: a spatio‐temporal molecular survey of endangered white‐tailed black cockatoos (
Calyptorhynchus
spp.). DIVERS DISTRIB 2014. [DOI: 10.1111/ddi.12202] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Nicole E. White
- Trace and Environmental DNA Laboratory Department of Environment and Agriculture Curtin University Perth WA 6102 Australia
- School of Veterinary and Life Sciences Murdoch University Perth WA 6150 Australia
| | - Michael Bunce
- Trace and Environmental DNA Laboratory Department of Environment and Agriculture Curtin University Perth WA 6102 Australia
- School of Veterinary and Life Sciences Murdoch University Perth WA 6150 Australia
| | | | - Rick Dawson
- Department of Parks and Wildlife Locked Bag 104 Bentley D.C. Perth WA 6983 Australia
| | | | - Morten E. Allentoft
- School of Veterinary and Life Sciences Murdoch University Perth WA 6150 Australia
- Centre for GeoGenetics Natural History Museum University of Copenhagen Øster Voldgade 5‐7 1350 Copenhagen K Denmark
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Opposing selection and environmental variation modify optimal timing of breeding. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2013; 110:15365-70. [PMID: 24003118 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1303821110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Studies of evolution in wild populations often find that the heritable phenotypic traits of individuals producing the most offspring do not increase proportionally in the population. This paradox may arise when phenotypic traits influence both fecundity and viability and when there is a tradeoff between these fitness components, leading to opposing selection. Such tradeoffs are the foundation of life history theory, but they are rarely investigated in selection studies. Timing of breeding is a classic example of a heritable trait under directional selection that does not result in an evolutionary response. Using a 22-y study of a tropical parrot, we show that opposing viability and fecundity selection on the timing of breeding is common and affects optimal breeding date, defined by maximization of fitness. After accounting for sampling error, the directions of viability (positive) and fecundity (negative) selection were consistent, but the magnitude of selection fluctuated among years. Environmental conditions (rainfall and breeding density) primarily and breeding experience secondarily modified selection, shifting optimal timing among individuals and years. In contrast to other studies, viability selection was as strong as fecundity selection, late-born juveniles had greater survival than early-born juveniles, and breeding later in the year increased fitness under opposing selection. Our findings provide support for life history tradeoffs influencing selection on phenotypic traits, highlight the need to unify selection and life history theory, and illustrate the importance of monitoring survival as well as reproduction for understanding phenological responses to climate change.
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Tarwater CE, Beissinger SR. Dispersal polymorphisms from natal phenotype-environment interactions have carry-over effects on lifetime reproductive success of a tropical parrot. Ecol Lett 2012; 15:1218-1229. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2012.01843.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2012] [Revised: 03/05/2012] [Accepted: 07/03/2012] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Corey E. Tarwater
- Ecosystem Sciences Division; Department of Environmental Science, Policy & Management; University of California; Berkeley CA 94720-3114 USA
| | - Steven R. Beissinger
- Ecosystem Sciences Division; Department of Environmental Science, Policy & Management; University of California; Berkeley CA 94720-3114 USA
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Contact calls are used for individual mate recognition in free-ranging green-rumped parrotlets, Forpus passerinus. Anim Behav 2011. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2010.10.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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