Begging food provisioning and nestling competition in great tit broods infested with ectoparasites

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Serval ID
serval:BIB_A0C89F8DAA5B
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Begging food provisioning and nestling competition in great tit broods infested with ectoparasites
Journal
Behavioral Ecology
Author(s)
Christe P., Richner H., Oppliger Anne
ISSN
1045-2249
Publication state
Published
Issued date
1996
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
7
Number
2
Pages
127-131
Language
english
Notes
ID35A72F235F24_
Abstract
Ectoparasites are a ubiquitous environmental component of breeding birds, and it has repeatedly been shown that hematophagous ectoparasites such as fleas and mites reduce the quality and number of offspring of bird hosts, thereby lowering the value of a current brood. Selection acting on the hosts will favor physiological and behavioral responses that will reduce the parasites' impact. However, the results of the few bird studies that addressed the question of whether parasitism leads to a higher rate of food provisioning are equivocal, and the begging response to infestation has rarely been quantified. A change in begging activity and parental rate of food provisioning could be predicted in either direction: parents could reduce their investment in the brood in order to invest more in future broods, or they could increase their investment in order to compensate for the parasites' effect on the current brood. Since the nestlings are weakened by the ectoparasites they may beg less, but on the other hand they may beg more in order to obtain more food. In this study we show experimentally that (1) hen fleas (Ceratophyllus gallinae) reduce the body mass and size of great tit (Parus major) nestlings, (2) nestlings of parasitized broods more than double their begging rate, (3) the male parents increase the frequency of feeding trips by over 50%, (4) the females do not adjust feeding rate to the lowered nutritional state of nestlings, and (5) food competition among siblings of parasitized broods is increased. Ultimately the difference in the parental feeding response may be understood as the result of a sex-related difference in the trade-off of investing in current versus future broods.
Keywords
brood value, ectoparasites, food provisioning, great tit, investment trade-off, nestling begging, nestling competition, signaling
Web of science
Open Access
Yes
Create date
19/11/2007 10:42
Last modification date
14/02/2022 7:56
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