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Increasing the perceived predation risk changes parental care in female but not in male G reat T its P arus major
Author(s) -
Moks Kadri,
Tilgar Vallo
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
ibis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.933
H-Index - 80
eISSN - 1474-919X
pISSN - 0019-1019
DOI - 10.1111/ibi.12113
Subject(s) - predation , brood , nest (protein structural motif) , paternal care , biology , predator , risk perception , zoology , offspring , perception , ecology , demography , genetics , pregnancy , biochemistry , sociology , neuroscience
In birds, little is known about how the presence of predators alters parental food distribution decisions among nestlings. We found that experimentally increasing perceived predation risk changed parental care in female but not in male G reat T its P arus major . Females fed the lightest and average nestlings at similar rates under control conditions when predation risk was not manipulated but ignored the lightest nestling under increased perceived predation risk. Moreover, females reduced the duration of nest visits greatly after encountering a model predator, suggesting that the perception of predators may facilitate brood reduction mechanisms.