Breeding biology, adult survival and territoriality of the white-browed treecreeper (climacteris affinis) in north-west Victoria, Australia Radford, James Q. 2004, Breeding biology, adult survival and territoriality of the white-browed treecreeper (climacteris affinis) in north-west Victoria, Australia, Emu, vol. 104, pp. 305-316, doi: 10.1071/MU04002. Attached Files Name Description MIMEType Size Downloads Title Breeding biology, adult survival and territoriality of the white-browed treecreeper (climacteris affinis) in north-west Victoria, Australia Author(s) Radford, James Q. Journal name Emu Volume number 104 Start page 305 End page 316 Publisher CSIRO Publishing Place of publication Collingwood, Vic. Publication date 2004 ISSN 0158-4197 1448-5540 Summary This is the first study to present empirical data describing the social organisation and breeding biology of the White-browed Treecreeper (Climacteris affinis). The species is typical of many small Australian passerines in that it has high annual survival (~80%), small clutches (mean = 1.95 ± 0.05), long breeding seasons (eggs laid August to November) and long incubation (17–18 days) and nestling periods (25–26 days), corrected for body weight. Reproductive effort is modified in response to variation in climatic conditions by adjusting the commencement of breeding and number of clutches laid per season, which is facilitated by an extended breeding season. White-browed Treecreepers occupied relatively large (mean = 8.4 ± 0.8 ha), all-purpose territories throughout the year. However, unlike many group territorial birds, territory size was not related to the number of occupants. The role of food limitation and climatic variability in relation to territory dispersion and life-history traits is explored. Facultative cooperative breeding was confirmed. Cooperative groups were formed through male philopatry, with usually only one, but up to three, male helpers present in a moderate fraction (35%) of breeding units. Thus, all species of Climacteris are now confirmed as facultative cooperatively breeding species, which provides further evidence for the aggregation of cooperative breeders at the generic level in mixed (i.e. cooperative and pair breeders) phylogenetic clades. In C. affinis, males may attain breeding positions through inheritance of their natal territory or by filling vacancies in nearby territories. Females obtained breeding positions by ‘floating’ as non-breeding residents in established territories, waiting for a vacancy to arise. Language eng DOI 10.1071/MU04002 Field of Research 060803 Animal Developmental and Reproductive Biology HERDC Research category C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal Copyright notice ©2004, Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30002765 Document type: Journal Article Collections: Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment School of Ecology and Environment Related Links Link Description Connected to published version (restricted access) Go to link with your DU access privileges     Unless expressly stated otherwise, the copyright for items in DRO is owned by the author, with all rights reserved. Versions Version Filter Type Fri, 13 Jun 2014, 22:44:47 EST Fri, 17 Oct 2014, 08:17:44 EST Filtered Full Citation counts:   Cited 1 times in TR Web of Science Cited 2 times in Scopus Search Google Scholar Access Statistics: 555 Abstract Views, 0 File Downloads  -  Detailed Statistics Created: Mon, 07 Jul 2008, 08:33:51 EST