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Using an Electronic Monitoring System to Link Offspring Provisioning and Foraging Behavior of a Wild Passerine
journal contribution
posted on 2011-01-01, 00:00 authored by Mylene MarietteMylene Mariette, E Pariser, A Gilby, M Magrath, S Pryke, S GriffithAlthough the costs of parental care are at the foundations of optimal-parental-investment theory, our understanding of the nature of the underlying costs is limited by the difficulty of measuring variation in foraging effort. We simultaneously measured parental provisioning and foraging behavior in a free-living population of Zebra Finches (Taeniopygia guttata) using an electronic monitoring system. We fitted 145 adults with a passive transponder tag and remotely recorded their visits to nest boxes and feeders continuously over a 2-month period. After validating the accuracy of this monitoring system, we studied how provisioning and foraging activities varied through time (day and breeding cycle) and influenced the benefits (food received by the offspring) and costs (interclutch interval) of parental care. The provisioning rates of wild Zebra Finches were surprisingly low, with an average of only one visit per hour throughout the day. This was significantly lower than those reported for this model species in captivity and for most other passerines in the wild. Nest visitation rate only partially explained the amount of food received by the young, with parental foraging activity, including the minimum distance covered on foraging trips, being better predictors. Parents that sustained higher foraging activity and covered more distance during the first breeding attempt took longer to renest. These results demonstrate that in some species matching foraging activity with offspring provisioning may provide a better estimate of the true investment that individuals commit to a reproductive attempt.
History
Journal
AukVolume
128Issue
1Pagination
26 - 35Publisher
University of California PressLocation
Berkeley, Calif.Publisher DOI
ISSN
0004-8038eISSN
1938-4254Language
engPublication classification
C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal; C Journal articleCopyright notice
2011, University of California PressUsage metrics
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Keywords
DistanceForaging costNest visitation rateNestling provisioningParental carePIT-tagTaeniopygia guttataZebra FinchScience & TechnologyLife Sciences & BiomedicineOrnithologyZoologyFLYCATCHER FICEDULA-HYPOLEUCAFINCHES TAENIOPYGIA-GUTTATATITS PARUS-CAERULEUSBODY-MASS REGULATIONZEBRA FINCHESREPRODUCTIVE SUCCESSENERGY-EXPENDITUREBLUE TITSPIED FLYCATCHERZoology
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