Natal dispersers pay a lifetime cost to increased reproductive effort in a wild bird population.

ABSTRACT: Natal dispersal is assumed to be costly. Such costs can be difficult to detect, and fitness consequences of dispersal are therefore poorly known. Because of lower phenotypic quality and/or familiarity with the environment, natal dispersers may be less buffered against a sudden increase in reproductive effort. Consequently, reproductive costs associated with natal dispersal may mostly be detected in harsh breeding conditions. We tested this prediction by comparing lifetime reproductive success between natal dispersers and non-dispersers in a patchy population of collared flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis) when they reared either a non-manipulated brood or an experimentally increased or decreased brood. Natal dispersers achieved lower lifetime reproductive success than non-dispersers o

SUBMITTER: Germain M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5378078 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature