Territory Quality and Plumage Morph Predict Offspring Sex Ratio Variation in a Raptor.

ABSTRACT: Parents may adapt their offspring sex ratio in response to their own phenotype and environmental conditions. The most significant causes for adaptive sex-ratio variation might express themselves as different distributions of fitness components between sexes along a given variable. Several causes for differential sex allocation in raptors with reversed sexual size dimorphism have been suggested. We search for correlates of fledgling sex in an extensive dataset on common buzzards Buteo buteo, a long-lived bird of prey. Larger female offspring could be more resource-demanding and starvation-prone and thus the costly sex. Prominent factors such as brood size and laying date did not predict nestling sex. Nonetheless, lifetime sex ratio (LSR, potentially indicative of individual sex allocation c

SUBMITTER: Chakarov N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4596812 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature