Passive and active parental food allocation in a songbird.

ABSTRACT: Parent-offspring conflict over food allocation can be modeled using two theoretical frameworks: passive (scramble competition) and active choice (signaling) resolution models. However, differentiating between these models empirically can be challenging. One possibility involves investigating details of decision-making by feeding parents. Different nestling traits, related to competitive prowess or signaling cryptic condition, may interact additively or non-additively as predictors of parental feeding responses. To explore this, we experimentally created even-sized, small broods of pied flycatchers and manipulated nestling cryptic quality, independently of size, by vitamin E supplementation. We explored how interactions between nestling cryptic condition, size, signals, and spatial location

SUBMITTER: Parejo-Pulido D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10516681 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep-Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature