Premium
EVOLUTION OF AVIAN COOPERATIVE BREEDING: COMPARATIVE TESTS OF THE NEST PREDATION HYPOTHESIS
Author(s) -
Poiani Aldo,
Pagel Mark
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.84
H-Index - 199
eISSN - 1558-5646
pISSN - 0014-3820
DOI - 10.1111/j.1558-5646.1997.tb02404.x
Subject(s) - passerine , predation , nest (protein structural motif) , biology , ecology , zoology , biochemistry
Comparative analyses carried out on two different phylogenies of cooperatively and noncooperatively breeding Australian passerine birds (parvorder Corvida) were unable to detect a significant difference in nest predation rates after controlling for body mass and risk of predation due to location of the nest (nest safety). Nest predation rates, however, decrease as nest safety and body mass increase. We suggest that cooperative breeding does not bring about a current net change in rates of nest predation among Australian passerines. Species breeding cooperatively may have developed antipredator strategies that produce results similar to those adopted by noncooperatively breeding species. The function of cooperative breeding may lie outside of antipredator strategies.