Clutch desertion and re-nesting in pied flycatchers: an experiment with progressive clutch removal |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 1, I-20126, Milan, Italy;2. Alpine Wildlife Research Centre, Gran Paradiso National Park, Via Pio VII 9, 10135, Turin, Italy;1. University of Leicester, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH, United Kingdom;2. University of Leicester, Department of Biology, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH, United Kingdom;3. University of Leicester, Centre for Landscape & Climate Research, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH, United Kingdom;4. Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Lancaster Environment Centre Library Avenue, Bailrigg, Lancaster LA1 4AP, United Kingdom;1. CIBIO/UP–Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, Campus Agrário de Vairão, Vairão, Portugal;2. ALOSA–Sonidos de la Naturaleza, Barcelona, Spain;3. Molecular Ecology & Evolution Lab, Department of Biology, University of Lund, Lund, Sweden;1. Department of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia;2. Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia |
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| Abstract: | Clutch desertion and re-nesting are important components of fitness when predation is frequent. In nestbox populations however, nest predation and desertion are rare but can be studied by experimental manipulations. We experimentally reduced clutches of pied flycatcher,Ficedula hypoleucaby removing one egg per day until desertion occurred. The size of the clutch at desertion and whether females re-nested or not were used as measures of the female response. Of the deserting females, 74% re-nested in our study area. Re-nesting frequency was correlated with date but not with the size of the clutch laid. The majority of the non-re-nesting females deserted empty nests, while the majority of re-nesting females deserted one egg. Clutch size at desertion was not correlated with the size of the clutch laid nor with laying date; it was smaller than the size predicted by an optimality analysis of the value of both the current (deserted) and the replacement clutch. For the re-nesting females, there was a negative correlation between fledging rate of the replacement clutch and the size of the clutch at desertion. Our predictions, made under the hypothesis that desertion and re-nesting are adaptive behaviours, were partly supported by the data; we explain the discrepancy by the constraint of searching for a new nest site or mate for re-nesting. |
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