Condition-Dependent Begging Elicits Increased Parental Investment in a Wild Bird Population.

ABSTRACT: The coevolution of parental supply and offspring demand has long been thought to involve offspring need driving begging and parental care, leaving other hypotheses underexplored. In a population of wild birds, we experimentally tested whether begging serves as a negatively condition-dependent signal of need or a positively condition-dependent signal of quality. Across multiple years, we supplemented nestling house wrens with food shortly after hatching and simultaneously manipulated corticosterone levels to simulate the hunger-induced increase in glucocorticoids thought to mediate begging. This allowed us to also test whether begging is simply a proximate signal of hunger. Days after supplementation ended, food-supplemented nestlings were in better condition than nonsupplemented nestlings

SUBMITTER: Bowers EK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6546104 | biostudies-literature | 2019 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature