Premium
Chick parasitism by blowflies affects feeding rates in a Mediterranean population of blue tits
Author(s) -
HurtrezBoussès Sylvie,
Blondel Jacques,
Perret Philippe,
Fabreguettes Jacques,
Renaud François Renaud
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
ecology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.852
H-Index - 265
eISSN - 1461-0248
pISSN - 1461-023X
DOI - 10.1046/j.1461-0248.1998.00017.x
Subject(s) - altricial , fledge , biology , parasitism , paternal care , cyanistes , ecology , zoology , brood parasite , population , brood , offspring , parus , demography , hatching , host (biology) , sociology , pregnancy , genetics
Offspring fitness depends on interactions between parental care and environmental constraints. It has been suggested that in altricial birds parents are able to compensate for the detrimental effects of ectoparasites by improving food provisioning. We tested this prediction in a population of blue tits highly parasitized by blowfly larvae. The frequency of parental feeding visits was significantly higher in parasitized broods than in broods experimentally deparasitized. Despite a strong increase in parental care, chicks of parasitized broods were lighter, smaller, and more anaemic than chicks in deparasitized broods. Parents invest more in feeding parasitized young but cannot fully compensate for the negative effects of parasites, hence young are in poor condition at fledging.