Elsevier

Animal Behaviour

Volume 40, Issue 3, September 1990, Pages 462-471
Animal Behaviour

Manipulation of sex differences in parental care: the effect of brood size

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0003-3472(05)80526-3Get rights and content

Abstract

In species with biparental care, the evolutionarily stable strategy for investment in the brood depends on the value of the brood to the parents and on each partner's contribution. Any shortfall by one parent should be partially compensated for by the other parent, with the magnitude of this ’response’ depending on the value of the brood. Small weights were attached to one member of European starling, Sturnus vulgaris, pairs, to introduce biases in the division of labour whilst retaining a biparental system. Manipulation of both brood size and a partner's work rate demonstrated that: (1) each sex compensated for a partner's experimentally reduced work rate; (2) the magnitude of response depended on the manipulated brood size; (3) weighted birds and their partners delivered more small invertebrates than did controls; and (4) male and female effort was asymmetric with respect to brood size. These results accord with several general predictions of game theoretical models, but specific departures from expectation are discussed.

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    Present address: Department of Zoology, University of Bristol, Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1UG, U.K.

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