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Sex roles, parental effort and offspring desertion in the monogamous Eurasian Curlew Numenius arquata
Author(s) -
CURRIE DAVE,
VALKAMA JARI,
BERG ÅKE,
BOSCHERT MARTIN,
NORRDAHL KAI,
HÄNNINEN MIKKO,
KORPIMÄKI ERKKI,
PÖYRI VILLE,
HEMMINKI OSSI
Publication year - 2001
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/j.1474-919x.2001.tb04892.x
Subject(s) - offspring , paternal care , hatching , desertion , biology , nest (protein structural motif) , brood , ecology , predation , zoology , demography , geography , pregnancy , biochemistry , genetics , archaeology , sociology
The reasons for female desertion of offspring and the evolution of predominantly male care among monogamous bird species are not clearly understood. We studied parental effort during the incubation and chick rearing periods in the Eurasian Curlew Numenius arquata in western Finland, and compared timing of brood desertion with other populations in Europe. Males and females contributed equally to incubation and showed no differences in the intensity of mobbing behaviour towards a potential nest predator (stuffed crow) shortly after hatching. However, females deserted their offspring approximately halfway through the brooding period ( c. 16 d after hatching), while males remained with chicks until independence ( c. 35 d). Females with late‐laid clutches deserted their offspring sooner after hatching than those with clutches produced earlier in the season. Curlew females deserted younger chicks in northeast Europe, where laying dates were later, breeding seasons shorter and migration distances were longer, than in western and central Europe. We suggest that the most likely reasons for offspring desertion by females may be associated with increased female survivorship and maintenance of pairbond between years.