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McKinnon RA, Hawkshaw K, Hedlin E, Nakagawa S, Mathot KJ. Peregrine falcons shift mean and variance in provisioning in response to increasing brood demand. Behav Ecol 2024; 35:arad103. [PMID: 38144905 PMCID: PMC10746350 DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arad103] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2023] [Revised: 10/11/2023] [Accepted: 11/28/2023] [Indexed: 12/26/2023] Open
Abstract
The hierarchical model of provisioning posits that parents employ a strategic, sequential use of three provisioning tactics as offspring demand increases (e.g., due to increasing brood size and age). Namely, increasing delivery rate (reducing intervals between provisioning visits), expanding provisioned diet breadth, and adopting variance-sensitive provisioning. We evaluated this model in an Arctic breeding population of Peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus tundrius) by analyzing changes in inter-visit-intervals (IVIs) and residual variance in IVIs across 7 study years. Data were collected using motion-sensitive nest camera images and analyzed using Bayesian mixed effect models. We found strong support for a decrease in IVIs (i.e., increase in delivery rates) between provisioning visits and an increase in residual variance in IVIs with increasing nestling age, consistent with the notion that peregrines shift to variance-prone provisioning strategies with increasing nestling demand. However, support for predictions made based on the hierarchical model of tactics for coping with increased brood demand was equivocal as we did not find evidence in support of expected covariances between random effects (i.e., between IVI to an average sized brood (intercept), change in IVI with brood demand (slope) or variance in IVI). Overall, our study provides important biological insights into how parents cope with increased brood demand.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebekah A McKinnon
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, CW 405, Biological Sciences Building, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E9, Canada
- Nunavut Wildlife Cooperative Research Unit, Universiy of Alberta, CW 405, Biological Sciences Building, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E9,Canada
| | - Kevin Hawkshaw
- Nunavut Wildlife Cooperative Research Unit, Universiy of Alberta, CW 405, Biological Sciences Building, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E9,Canada
- Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta, GSB 751, Edmonton, AB T6G 0N4, Canada
| | - Erik Hedlin
- Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta, GSB 751, Edmonton, AB T6G 0N4, Canada
| | - Shinichi Nakagawa
- Evolution & Ecology Research Centre and School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Biological Sciences North, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
| | - Kimberley J Mathot
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, CW 405, Biological Sciences Building, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E9, Canada
- Canada Research Chair in Integrative Ecology, Department of Biological Sciences, CW 405, Biological Sciences Building, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E9, Canada
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Hegyi G, Laczi M, Szabó G, Sarkadi F, Török J. Plumage color degradation indicates reproductive effort: an experiment. Sci Rep 2023; 13:18770. [PMID: 37907494 PMCID: PMC10618437 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-45348-0] [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: 07/03/2023] [Accepted: 10/18/2023] [Indexed: 11/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Plumage color has traditionally been regarded as a static ornamental trait, but evidence is accumulating for significant color changes without molt that typically reduce the conspicuousness of ornamentation. In some species, the social partner seems to increase its reproductive investment if the color trait is experimentally enhanced, suggesting that color change could act as a signal. However, the information content of this signal is so far unclear. For example, birds in poor condition or making greater effort may deteriorate more severely. We used brood size manipulations to alter the reproductive effort of male and female collared flycatchers Ficedula albicollis. Both sexes showed less severe decline in some reflectance attribute of their white breast when their brood was experimentally reduced. In each sex, greater deterioration of the reflectance trait affected by the manipulation was accompanied by increased feeding rate by the partner. These feeding patterns do not prove, but are consistent with, a compensatory response by the partner to induced degradation. The manipulation effects on color change we detected confirm for the first time that plumage color deterioration can indicate current reproductive effort, thereby providing a potential fitness advantage to social partners that react to such deterioration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gergely Hegyi
- Behavioral Ecology Group, Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, 1117 Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, Budapest, Hungary.
- HUN-REN-ELTE-MTM Integrative Ecology Research Group, 1117 Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, Budapest, Hungary.
| | - Miklós Laczi
- Behavioral Ecology Group, Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, 1117 Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, Budapest, Hungary
- HUN-REN-ELTE-MTM Integrative Ecology Research Group, 1117 Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, Budapest, Hungary
- Barn Owl Foundation, Temesvári út 8, 8744, Orosztony, Hungary
| | - Gyula Szabó
- Behavioral Ecology Group, Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, 1117 Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Fanni Sarkadi
- Behavioral Ecology Group, Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, 1117 Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, Budapest, Hungary
| | - János Török
- Behavioral Ecology Group, Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, 1117 Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, Budapest, Hungary
- HUN-REN-ELTE-MTM Integrative Ecology Research Group, 1117 Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, Budapest, Hungary
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Laczi M, Jablonszky M, Markó G, Nagy G, Szabó G, Zsebők S, Török J, Hegyi G. White plumage color as an honest indicator: feather macrostructure links reflectance with reproductive effort and success. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-022-03238-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
The structural condition of feathers may generally have a decisive role in shaping the color properties of the plumage. However, the information content of structurally mediated color differences is poorly known. This makes it particularly hard to determine the meaning of color variation in pigment-free white plumage patches. The white wing patch of the collared flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis) is an important sexual trait, and changes in its reflectance are partly due to macrostructural condition. We used 2 years of macrostructural, reflectance, and breeding data from both sexes to examine whether wing patch macrostructure lends information content to actual reflectance in terms of reproductive effort and success. Macrostructure strongly predicted actual reflectance in males but only weakly in females. Furthermore, in males, feather vane width was related positively to current year reproductive effort, and negatively to previous year reproductive effort. This indicates that macrostructurally mediated reflectance attributes may inform the receiver not only of actual reproductive capacity but also of individual quality via reproductive costs.
Significance statement
Coloration of animals takes a central place in their communication and in advertising reproductive abilities. Although white plumage is widespread among animals, usually we have little knowledge on how its structure is linked to reproduction. We investigated this link in a wild population of collared flycatchers. We demonstrated that white feather structure was related to coloration and with current year and previous year reproductive capabilities in males. Our results suggest that white feather structure has the potential to connect reproductive costs with coloration.
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Laczi M, Kopena R, Sarkadi F, Kötél D, Török J, Rosivall B, Hegyi G. Triparental care in the collared flycatcher ( Ficedula albicollis): Cooperation of two females with a cuckolded male in rearing a brood. Ecol Evol 2021; 11:10754-10760. [PMID: 34429878 PMCID: PMC8366852 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.7923] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2021] [Revised: 06/25/2021] [Accepted: 06/30/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Certain predominant forms of mating and parental care systems are assumed in several model species among birds, but the opportunistic and apparently infrequent variations of "family structures" may often remain hidden due to methodological limitations with regard to genetic or behavioral observations. One of the intensively studied model species, the collared flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis), is usually characterized by social monogamy with polyterritorial, facultative social polygyny, and frequent extrapair mating and extrapair paternity. During a brood-size manipulation experiment, we observed two females and a male delivering food at an enlarged brood. A combination of breeding phenology data (egg laying and hatching date), behavioral data (feeding rates) from video recordings at 10 days of nestling age, and microsatellite genotyping for maternity and paternity suggests a situation of an unrelated female helping a pair in chick rearing. Such observations highlight the relevance of using traditional techniques and genetic analyses together to assess the parental roles within a population, which becomes more important where individuals may dynamically switch from their main and presupposed roles according to the actual environmental conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miklós Laczi
- Behavioural Ecology GroupDepartment of Systematic Zoology and EcologyInstitute of BiologyELTE Eötvös Loránd UniversityBudapestHungary
- The Barn Owl FoundationOrosztonyHungary
| | - Renáta Kopena
- Centre for Ecological ResearchInstitute of Ecology and BotanyVácrátótHungary
| | - Fanni Sarkadi
- Behavioural Ecology GroupDepartment of Systematic Zoology and EcologyInstitute of BiologyELTE Eötvös Loránd UniversityBudapestHungary
| | - Dóra Kötél
- Behavioural Ecology GroupDepartment of Systematic Zoology and EcologyInstitute of BiologyELTE Eötvös Loránd UniversityBudapestHungary
| | - János Török
- Behavioural Ecology GroupDepartment of Systematic Zoology and EcologyInstitute of BiologyELTE Eötvös Loránd UniversityBudapestHungary
- Ecology Research Group of the Hungarian Academy of SciencesBudapestHungary
| | - Balázs Rosivall
- Behavioural Ecology GroupDepartment of Systematic Zoology and EcologyInstitute of BiologyELTE Eötvös Loránd UniversityBudapestHungary
| | - Gergely Hegyi
- Behavioural Ecology GroupDepartment of Systematic Zoology and EcologyInstitute of BiologyELTE Eötvös Loránd UniversityBudapestHungary
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Hegyi G, Laczi M, Kötél D, Csörgő T. Melanin-based ornament darkness positively correlates with across-season nutritional condition. Ecol Evol 2020; 10:13087-13094. [PMID: 33304519 PMCID: PMC7713921 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.6898] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2020] [Revised: 09/08/2020] [Accepted: 09/15/2020] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Sexually dimorphic ornamental traits are widely regarded as indicators of nutritional condition. However, variation of nutritional condition outside the reproductive and the ornament production seasons has rarely been considered, although it affects the generality of information content, especially for ornaments that may be used across the year. We measured several indicators of migratory and molt condition in male and female blackcaps (Sylvia atricapilla) during their autumn migration, and quantified their crown reflectance. We detected robust correlations between migratory and molt condition indices, and the correlation structure was similar in the two sexes. Furthermore, the across-season measure of body condition was positively related to the darkness of the black crown in males, while being unrelated to reflectance traits of the reddish crown in females. Our results reinforce the possibility that some melanin-based ornaments may be year-round indicators of individual quality via their dependence on nutritional condition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gergely Hegyi
- Department of Systematic Zoology and EcologyELTE Eötvös Loránd UniversityBudapestHungary
| | - Miklós Laczi
- Department of Systematic Zoology and EcologyELTE Eötvös Loránd UniversityBudapestHungary
| | - Dóra Kötél
- Department of Systematic Zoology and EcologyELTE Eötvös Loránd UniversityBudapestHungary
| | - Tibor Csörgő
- Department of Anatomy, Cell and Developmental BiologyELTE Eötvös Loránd UniversityBudapestHungary
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Male Red-crested Cardinal plumage coloration is associated with parental abilities and breeding performance. Sci Rep 2019; 9:10958. [PMID: 31358834 PMCID: PMC6662885 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-47498-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2018] [Accepted: 07/18/2019] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Avian plumage coloration deriving from carotenoid-based pigments is among the most honest signals of individual quality. It has been argued that females may differentially allocate resources based on mate attractiveness or quality, paying the costs of investing more in a current breeding attempt. We tested predictions of the differential allocation hypothesis on the natural variation of carotenoid-based plumage using the brightly red-colored head plumage of the Red-crested Cardinal (Paroaria coronata). It is to our knowledge the first time this hypothesis is tested on the natural variation of this pigment on a wild bird. We found that the brightness of the males’ red plumage patch is positively associated with their reproductive success and the nest defence they provide. We also found that brighter males invest less in their offspring (by delivering less food to their nestlings and poorly cleaning the nest) than duller males and, by contrast, females mated with brighter males invest more in parental care. Our results are consistent with the differential allocation hypothesis: differential allocation allowed breeding pairs with brighter males to produce more offspring, suggesting that it can be considered adaptive and should be included in studies of eco-evolutionary dynamics.
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Hegyi G, Jenni-Eiermann S, Boross N, Garamszegi LZ, Laczi M, Kötél D, Krenhardt K, Jablonszky M, Markó G, Nagy G, Rosivall B, Szász E, Török J. Ornaments and condition: plumage patch sizes, nutritional reserve state, reserve accumulation, and reserve depletion. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-019-2701-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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Szász E, Markó G, Hegyi G, Török J, Garamszegi LZ, Rosivall B. Nest-site defence aggression during courtship does not predict nestling provisioning in male collared flycatchers. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-019-2672-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
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