Publication
Title
Female mate choice, differential allocation and parent-offspring covariation in canaries
Author
Abstract
Parental care typically involves elaborate reciprocal within-family interactions, and traits such as parental provisioning and offspring begging should therefore coevolve. There is indeed mounting evidence for a phenotypic covariation, also in the canary (Serinus canaria), our model species. Such covariation may arise due to maternal effects, rendering this relationship particularly sensitive to environmental conditions. Here, we manipulated the social environment by pairing females with either their chosen or non-chosen male. Subsequently, all clutches were cross-fostered to separate pre- and postnatal effects. We found a positive covariation between offspring begging and parental provisioning, which was, however, unaffected by mate preferences, and we found no evidence for differential allocation. In addition, there was no effect of assortative mating, which is thought to reinforce parent-offspring covariation. The fact that parent-offspring covariation is consistently observed in canaries suggests that it is biologically relevant, but it requires further studies to elucidate its sensitivity to environmental variation.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Behaviour : an international journal of comparative ethology. - Leiden, 1948, currens
Publication
Leiden : Brill , 2015
ISSN
0005-7959 [print]
1568-539X [online]
DOI
10.1163/1568539X-00003282
Volume/pages
152 :10 (2015) , p. 1349-1369
ISI
000357692100004
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 03.09.2015
Last edited 09.10.2023
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