Experimental cross-fostering of eggs reveals effects of territory quality on reproductive allocation.

ABSTRACT: Parental and territory quality are often correlated in territorial birds, and both factors influence the resources allocated to offspring. Surprisingly, the relative contribution of these two components of variation in parental investment remains obscure. We experimentally decoupled the normal covariation between parental quality and territory quality to test the hypothesis that territory quality influences female prenatal and postnatal reproductive allocation. Territories were categorized into low-, intermediate-, and high-quality based on fledging success of nests over the previous 6 years (nesting sites are fixed in space).To decouple covariation between territory quality and individual quality, nestbox entrance size was increased on high-quality territories and left small on poor-quali

SUBMITTER: Poorboy DM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6129948 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Sep-Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature