BIOC54H3 Lecture Notes - Eurasian Blue Tit, Sexual Conflict, Frigatebird
Document Summary
Lecture 6: parental care & kinship - costs vs. benefits. Parental care = a cooperative venture between a male and a female in many socially monogamous birds. Care = costly; so sexual conflict arises between the parents about how much effort they should invest into rearing their young. The sexual conflict over care is most apparent when one parent abandons the brood before the offspring are independent. During biparental care, females fed the chick more often than the males. After their mate deserted, the females nearly doubled their feeding rate and thus, fully compensated for the lost care. Growth rates of chicks provided with biparental and female-only care did not differ. Females may withhold care during biparental care to manoeuvre their mates into prolonged care provision. A female only provides at her full capacity once her mate has deserted. Behaviour by parent which increases offspring"s fitness (and would not occur in absence of offspring).
