Body Condition Indices Predict Reproductive Success but Not Survival in a Sedentary, Tropical Bird.

ABSTRACT: Body condition may predict individual fitness because those in better condition have more resources to allocate towards improving their fitness. However, the hypothesis that condition indices are meaningful proxies for fitness has been questioned. Here, we ask if intraspecific variation in condition indices predicts annual reproductive success and survival. We monitored a population of Neochmia phaeton (crimson finch), a sedentary, tropical passerine, for reproductive success and survival over four breeding seasons, and sampled them for commonly used condition indices: mass adjusted for body size, muscle and fat scores, packed cell volume, hemoglobin concentration, total plasma protein, and heterophil to lymphocyte ratio. Our study population is well suited for this research because indivi

SUBMITTER: Milenkaya O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4549336 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature