Food supply differentially affects sibling negotiation and competition in the barn owl (Tyto alba)

Details

Ressource 1Request a copy Under indefinite embargo.
UNIL restricted access
State: Public
Version: author
Serval ID
serval:BIB_4AC08AE6A3E9
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Title
Food supply differentially affects sibling negotiation and competition in the barn owl (Tyto alba)
Journal
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
Author(s)
Roulin A.
ISSN
0340-5443
Publication state
Published
Issued date
2001
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
49
Number
6
Pages
514-519
Language
english
Abstract
In contrast to most birds, nestling barn owls (Tyto alba) vocalise not only when parents are at the nest but also in their absence. Calls produced in their absence have been shown to facilitate sibling negotiation over the impending food resource. Since nestlings vocalise more vigorously in the presence of parents, they may be calling not to negotiate resources but to compete amongst each other over parental food distribution. A critical issue is to determine whether offspring need differentially affects sibling negotiation and sibling competition, that is vocalisation in the absence and presence of parents. To answer this question, I manipulated the food supply of 26 broods by adding or removing prey items. In the absence of parents, food-added broods vocalised at a significantly lower level than food-removed ones. In contrast, once a parent arrived at the nest, the vocalisation level was not significantly related to the manipulation of brood food supply. This suggests that in the absence of parents, it is more important for food-removed nestlings to vocalise intensely, and that in their presence, the relationship between begging and offspring need tends to vanish. In other words, brood food supply may affect sibling negotiation to a larger extent than sibling competition.
Keywords
begging, parent-offspring conflict, sibling competition, sibling negotiation, Tyto alba
Web of science
Create date
24/01/2008 17:42
Last modification date
20/08/2019 13:58
Usage data