Nestling detectability affects parental feeding preferences in a cavity-nesting bird

Détails

ID Serval
serval:BIB_49D9CA77300E
Type
Article: article d'un périodique ou d'un magazine.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Titre
Nestling detectability affects parental feeding preferences in a cavity-nesting bird
Périodique
Animal Behaviour
Auteur⸱e⸱s
Heeb P., Schwander T., Faoro S.
ISSN
0003-3472
Statut éditorial
Publié
Date de publication
2003
Volume
66
Numéro
4
Pages
637-642
Langue
anglais
Notes
ID9FA4A070A2D1_
Résumé
In many avian species, nestlings have evolved striking plumage, behaviours and mouth colours to obtain a greater share of parental investment. Studies revealing parental feeding preferences for nestlings with red gapes have proposed that red mouth colour in songbirds can act as a signal of nestling need or condition. Alternative hypotheses suggest that bright nestling mouths in cavity-nesting birds evolved to increase nestling detectability by the parents. We tested whether nestling mouth colour affects parental feeding preferences in great tits, Pants major L. In broods of six young, we experimentally painted mouth gapes and flanges either red or yellow and tested the effect of mouth colour on nestlings' mass gain under two lighting conditions. In nests with high luminosity, there was no significant effect of mouth colour on mass gain. In nests with low luminosity, nestlings with red gapes and flanges gained less mass than nestlings with red gapes and yellow flanges or both yellow gapes and flanges. Our results suggest that, in nests with low luminosity, red mouths decreased nestling detectability to the feeding parents and support the hypothesis that poor luminosity in nesting cavities can select for pale mouths. Overall, our results do not support the hypothesis that red mouth colour signals nestling need or condition to parent great tits.
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Création de la notice
19/11/2007 10:25
Dernière modification de la notice
20/08/2019 13:57
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