Premium
Temporal changes in food resources, parental feeding and breeding success of Heron Island silvereyes, Zosterops lateralis chlorocephala
Author(s) -
Eguchi Kazuhiro
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
ecological research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.628
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1440-1703
pISSN - 0912-3814
DOI - 10.1007/bf02347191
Subject(s) - heron , biology , food supply , nest (protein structural motif) , ecology , predation , zoology , biochemistry , agricultural science
The influences of the temporal change in food supply on the parental feeding effort and breeding success of silvereyes, Zosterops lateralis chlorocephala , was investigated on Heron Island, Australia. Food supply (arthropods and figs) declined as the breeding season progressed. The parental feeding rate and growth of nestlings were lower when food supply was poor. When available, dominant pairs fed their young more figs and fewer arthropods than lower ranking pairs. Dominant pairs raised heavier young than lower ranking pairs when food supply was poor, while there were no significant differences between them when food supply was rich. When food supply was rich, pairs delivering greater amounts of arthropods reared nestlings better, whereas feeding more figs did not improve growth of nestlings. When food supply was poor, pairs spending a longer time at the nest reared nestlings better.