Effects of early life adversity and sex on dominance in European starlings.

ABSTRACT: Dominance in socially foraging animals may be related to sex and to variation in individual quality. Individual quality may in turn reflect conditions during early development. We studied dominance in a cohort of adult European starlings, Sturnus vulgaris, that had been subject to experimental manipulations of food supply and begging effort when they were nestlings. We measured dominance in two different contexts, contests over a food resource and relative position on a sloping perch, over the course of 3 weeks. Dominance in food contests was extremely stable over the 3 weeks and relative perch position somewhat stable. Males were dominant over females in contests over food and perched in higher positions. These sex differences were not explained by males' greater size or body weigh

SUBMITTER: Bedford T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5478363 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature