Redpath, Steve and Thompson, Alex and Amar, Arjun
(2017).
Female begging calls reflect nutritional need of nestlings in the hen harrier Circus cyaneus.
BMC Evolutionary Biology. 17
, 1-8
[Journal article]
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Abstract
Background: Most birds exhibit bi-parental care with both sexes providing food for their young. Nestling signal food needs through begging. However, for some species, males rarely visit the nest, so have limited opportunity for gaining information directly from the chicks. Instead, females beg when males deliver food. We tested whether this calling signalled nutritional need and specifically the needs of the female (Breeder Need hypothesis) or that of their chicks (Offspring Need hypothesis).
Results: We observed begging and provisioning rates at 42 nests of hen harrier (Circus cyaneus) in Scotland, explored the factors associated with variation in begging rate and the relationship between begging and provisioning. We also tested the impact of food on begging and provisioning through a feeding experiment. Female begging rate increased up to a chick age of 3 weeks and then tailed off. In addition, begging increased when broods were large.
Conclusions: Our data provided support for the Offspring Need hypothesis. At nests where adlib food was provided females reduced their begging rate. These patterns suggested that female begging was an honest signal of need. However, begging continued even with adlib food and was only weakly associated with greater provisioning by males, suggesting that these calls may also play an additional role, possibly reflecting sexual or parent-offspring conflict.
Authors/Creators: | Redpath, Steve and Thompson, Alex and Amar, Arjun | ||||||
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Title: | Female begging calls reflect nutritional need of nestlings in the hen harrier Circus cyaneus | ||||||
Year of publishing : | 2017 | ||||||
Volume: | 17 | ||||||
Page range: | 1-8 | ||||||
Number of Pages: | 8 | ||||||
Publisher: | BMC | ||||||
ISSN: | 1471-2148 | ||||||
Language: | English | ||||||
Publication Type: | Journal article | ||||||
Article category: | Scientific peer reviewed | ||||||
Version: | Published version | ||||||
Copyright: | Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0 | ||||||
Full Text Status: | Public | ||||||
Subjects: | (A) Swedish standard research categories 2011 > 1 Natural sciences > 106 Biological Sciences (Medical to be 3 and Agricultural to be 4) > Zoology | ||||||
Keywords: | Begging behaviour, Nestlings, Provisioning behaviour, Breeder need, Offspring need, Raptors, Hen harrier, Sexual conflict | ||||||
URN:NBN: | urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-p-91940 | ||||||
Permanent URL: | http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-p-91940 | ||||||
Additional ID: |
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ID Code: | 16895 | ||||||
Faculty: | NJ - Fakulteten för naturresurser och jordbruksvetenskap | ||||||
Department: | (NL, NJ) > Dept. of Ecology (S) > Dept. of Ecology | ||||||
Deposited By: | SLUpub Connector | ||||||
Deposited On: | 05 May 2020 08:54 | ||||||
Metadata Last Modified: | 05 May 2020 08:54 |
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