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Parental Behaviour (parental + behaviour)
Selected AbstractsParental behaviour of a precocial species: implications for juvenile survivalJOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY, Issue 4 2009Victoria J. Dreitz Summary 1., Parents determine habitat selection for precocial young by leading their young to foraging areas until the chicks attain full independence. There are potential benefits and costs to reproductive success associated with changing habitats while caring for young. This study investigated the relationship between different types of habitats and their quality on chick survival and brood movements of a declining upland shorebird, the mountain plover Charadrius montanus. 2., From 2004 to 2006, a total of 153 mountain plover broods were monitored on the primary breeding habitats in eastern Colorado, USA; two shortgrass prairie habitats that were either occupied or unoccupied by black-tailed prairie dogs Cynomys ludovicianus and agricultural lands. Habitat quality hypotheses were tested using newly developed statistical applications to estimate survival of chicks and brood movement patterns. 3., Chick survival and brood movements were influenced by habitat. Chick survival over the 30-day brood-rearing period was substantially higher on nesting habitat of shortgrass occupied by prairie dogs compared with agricultural land and shortgrass unoccupied by prairie dogs. The rate of brood movement away from shortgrass with prairie dogs was lower than shortgrass without prairie dogs, but higher than agricultural lands for each year of the study. 4., This study suggests that complex processes influence how different habitats affect brood-rearing activity of mountain plovers. Even though broods moved off nesting habitat of shortgrass occupied by prairie dogs, this habitat had the highest survival rate and is highly important to mountain plover reproductive success. 5.,Synthesis and applications. In order to develop effective conservation strategies, the provision of adequate breeding habitat should include information on patterns of habitat selection for all stages of the breeding cycle, including the nesting and dependent young periods. From a conservation perspective, understanding the habitat use of young birds is critical when population dynamics show great sensitivity to survival of young. Previous studies on mountain plovers have suggested that nest success is similar among shortgrass prairie habitats and agricultural lands. Thus, conservation measures that increase nest success may be ineffective for mountain plovers unless they are accompanied by measures promoting chick survival. [source] Non-urgent presentations to a paediatric emergency department: Parental behaviours, expectations and outcomesEMERGENCY MEDICINE AUSTRALASIA, Issue 5-6 2005Mary Ryan Abstract Objectives:, To identify factors that influence the attendance of children with non-urgent medical problems to a tertiary paediatric ED and to define parental expectations of the hospital visit. Methods:, A questionnaire administered to a convenience sample of 200 parents/carers who attended the paediatric ED and whose children were categorized as having non-urgent problems that had been present for at least 4 weeks. Subsequent outpatient attendances were then analysed retrospectively. Results:, Most patients had visited a general practitioner but remained unhappy with the outcome of the consultation. The hospital was expected to provide immediate diagnosis and initiate appropriate treatment by the vast majority of parent. Only four patients required admission. Conclusions:, The expectations of parents who attend the paediatric ED with children who have non-urgent chronic complaints are high. Rapid access to outpatient clinics might provide an acceptable alternative for these patients, and free valuable ED resources. [source] Extended Mother,Offspring Relationships in Crayfish: The Return Behaviour of Juvenile Procambarus ClarkiiETHOLOGY, Issue 10 2008Laura Aquiloni Crayfish shows a relatively complex parental behaviour compared with other invertebrates, but the literature provides only anecdotal accounts of this phenomenon. In Procambarus clarkii, we described the ,return' behaviour of third-stage juveniles when offered four types of adults: biological mothers, foster mothers, non-brooding females and males. Then, we analysed the posture and behaviour of the adults to understand the role played by the putative mother in attracting the juveniles. Contrary to non-brooding individuals, both biological and foster mothers displayed a relatively rare locomotion, executed few cleaning and feeding acts, and never attempted to prey on juveniles. They often assumed a ,spoon-like telson posture' that seemed to facilitate offspring's approaches. Juveniles increased the frequency of tail-flips away in the presence of non-brooding adults; conversely, they accepted foster mothers, along with biological mothers, but not as fast as the latter. Taken together, these results suggest that mother,offspring relationships in P. clarkii are more refined than previously thought, being possibly a key factor enabling this species to thrive in harsh environmental conditions. [source] The Process and Causes of Fledging in a Cavity-Nesting Passerine Bird, the House Wren (Troglodytes aedon)ETHOLOGY, Issue 9 2004L. Scott Johnson Little is known about the process or causes of fledging or nest-leaving in passerine birds because researchers can rarely predict when fledging will occur in a given nest. We used continuous videotaping of nests to both document the process of fledging in the house wren, Troglodytes aedon, a small, cavity-nesting songbird, and test hypotheses as to what might cause fledging to begin. Fledging began any time from 14 to 19 d after hatching commenced. Slower-developing broods fledged later than faster-developing broods. Fledging typically began within 5 h of sunrise and over 80% of all nestlings fledged before noon. All nestlings fledged on the same day at 65% of nests and over two consecutive days in most other nests. We found no evidence that fledging was triggered by changes in parental behaviour. Parental rate of food delivery to nestlings did not decline during a 3-h period leading up to the first fledging, nor was the rate of feeding just prior to the first fledging lower than the rate at the same time the day before. Moreover, parents did not slow the rate of food delivery to nests after part of the brood had fledged. Hatching is asynchronous in our study population which creates a marked age/size hierarchy within broods. At most nests, the first nestling to fledge was the most well-developed nestling in the brood or nearly so (as measured by feather length). This suggests that fledging typically begins when the most well-developed nestlings in the brood reach some threshold size. However, at about one-fifth of nests, the first nestling to fledge was only moderate in size. At these nests, severe competition for food may have caused smaller, less competitive nestlings to fledge first to increase their access to food. We found no strong support for the suggestion that the oldest nestlings delay fledging until their least-developed nestmate reaches some minimum size, although further experimental work on this question is warranted. [source] Incubation Behaviour in Northern Lapwings: Nocturnal Nest Attentiveness and Possible Importance of Individual Breeding QualityETHOLOGY, Issue 3 2004Terje Lislevand Previous studies of sex roles in the polygynous Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus have shown that males incubate less than females, perhaps suggesting that sexual selection is important in shaping the parental behaviour of this species. The purpose of this study was to (1) examine for the first time the possibility that males compensate for low diurnal nest attentiveness by increasing their nocturnal assistance and (2) evaluate the hypotheses that sexual selection and individual breeding quality determines incubation behaviour in lapwings. Males were never found incubating at night in 19 nests, although median diurnal male attentiveness was 15.3% in 16 of the same pairs. Nor were there any differences among monogamous and polygynous males in the time spent in four categories of behaviour (incubation, guarding, maintenance and mating activities). The time males spent in mating and incubation behaviours was weakly negatively correlated, and the time spent incubating varied considerably among males (0,74%). Further, female body condition was positively related with male nest attentiveness and there was a negative relationship between nest attentiveness and date of arrival to the study area in monogamous, but not in polygynous, males. We argue that sexual selection could not alone explain all sides of Northern Lapwing incubation, and suggest that individual differences in breeding quality may also be important. [source] Why do Both Parents Incubate in the Kentish Plover?ETHOLOGY, Issue 8 2003András Kosztolányi Incubation by both parents is a common parental behaviour in many avian species. Biparental incubation is expected if the survival prospects of offspring are greatly raised by shared care, relative to the costs incurred by each parent. We investigated this proposition in the Kentish plover Charadrius alexandrinus, in which both parents incubate the clutch, but one parent (either the male or the female) usually deserts after hatching of the eggs. We carried out a mate-removal and food supplementation experiment to reveal both the role of the sexes and food abundance in maintaining biparental incubation by removing either the male or the female from the nest for a short period of time. In some nests we provided supplementary food for the parent that remained at the nest to reduce the costs of incubation, whereas other nests were left unsupplemented. Although males spent more time on incubation after their mate had been removed, females' incubation did not change. Notwithstanding the increased male incubation, total nest attentiveness was lower at uniparental nests than at biparental controls. However, incubation behaviour was not influenced by food supplementation. We conclude that offspring desertion during incubation is apparently costly in the Kentish plover, and this cost cannot be ameliorated with supplementary food. [source] Eating disorders and attachment: the effects of hidden family processes on eating disorders,EUROPEAN EATING DISORDERS REVIEW, Issue 2 2007Francoise Ringer Abstract Aim This study examined pattern of attachment in cohort of women with an eating disorder to determine what types of self-protective strategies they used, and further whether there was a specific relationship between strategy and diagnosis. Method The participants were 62 young women with an eating disorder (19 with anorexia nervosa, 26 with bulimia nervosa and 17 with bulimic anorexia). Attachment was assessed using the Adult attachment interview (AAI), classified using Crittenden's Dynamic-Maturational Method. Results The results indicated that all women with an eating disorder were anxiously attached. About half used an extreme coercive Type C strategy while most of the others combined coercion with an extreme dismissing Type A strategy. The content of the AAIs suggested lack of resolution of trauma or loss among the mothers and also of hidden family conflict between the parents. This in turn elicited extreme strategies for generating parent,child contingency from the daughters. Conclusions Central in almost all cases was the women's confusion regarding how parental behaviour was tied causally to their own behaviour. Questions are raised regarding the focus of treatment. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association. [source] Nest protection in mallards Anas platyrhynchos: untangling the role of crypsis and parental behaviourFUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY, Issue 5 2008J. Kreisinger Summary 1The covering of clutches with nest material is generally considered to improve the thermal environment of developing embryos. Here we tested an alternative hypothesis: that this behaviour reduces the risk of clutch detection by predators and hence, fulfils a cryptic anti-predation function in a ground-nesting non-passerine bird, the mallard. In addition, we assess the anti-predation function of the direct presence of an incubating parent on the nest for the first time in a ground-nesting non-passerine bird. 2We compared predation rates of real mallard nests with two types of artificial clutches: (i) covered with nest material and (ii) uncovered. In addition, the cryptic effectiveness of nest material, female body presence, and uncovered clutch were assessed using a simulated search for nests on photographs by human volunteers. This allowed us to evaluate separately the impact of overall crypsis (covering of the clutch by nest material and colouration of the female feather) and the direct protective capacity of the incubating female. 3Our data demonstrate that in mallards, concealment of the clutch with nest material reduces the risk of nest predation. Although the incubating female seems to provide less effective crypsis to the nest than nest material alone, the presence of the female on the clutch enhanced nest survival, suggesting a significant anti-predation capacity of the incubating parent in this species. 4Contrary to some previous studies, the relative effects of crypsis and parental anti-predation behaviour on nest survival did not differ with respect to nest concealment by surrounding vegetation. [source] Are parental care trade-offs in shorebirds driven by parental investment or sexual selection?JOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, Issue 4 2009V. A. OLSON Abstract Sexual selection, mating systems and parental behaviour are closely linked, although the exact nature of their relationship is controversial. The parental investment hypothesis (PIH) states that parental care disparity drives sexual selection intensity, because the sex providing less care competes for the sex that provides more. In contrast, the sexual selection hypothesis (SSH) asserts that more intense sexual selection on males leads to reduced male parental investment. We tested these hypotheses using directional phylogenetic comparative methods in shorebirds, which have an unusually diverse array of breeding systems. Changes in parental care and sexual selection intensity were tightly correlated, and we carried out three sets of analyses focusing on changes in male behaviour, female behaviour and in either sex. The results from the analyses were consistent with both PIH and SSH, although the patterns in male transition were sensitive to model values. We propose two explanations for these results. First, phylogenetic transitions may be idiosyncratic so that they depend on the ecological circumstances of individual species. Second, transitions in social traits, such as breeding systems, may be rapid and take place in ecological time, so directional phylogenetic methods that work through longer time scales may not infer accurately the timing and direction of all changes. [source] The social parasite wasp Polistes atrimandibularis does not form host racesJOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, Issue 5 2005D. FANELLI Abstract Parasites that exploit the parental behaviour of several host species may be selected to form distinct host-specific genetic lineages. This process is well documented in bird brood parasites, but not in insect social parasites. Polistes atrimandibularis is the only paper-wasp social parasite known to exploit four host species. It does not form genetically distinct host races according to analyses based on microsatellite loci. Also, there were no size-matching between parasites and host species. Instead, P. atrimandibularis queens seemed to be successful as parasites in this population only when they originated from nests of P. dominulus, the largest species. The other host species are a sink for P. atrimandibularis since adult females emerging from those nests appear too small to usurp colonies themselves. Traits that may help P. atrimandibularis infiltrate multiple species may include its nonaggressive usurpation tactics and its ability to acquire host cuticular hydrocarbon recognition labels. [source] Hypothalamic Vasopressin Gene Expression Increases in Both Males and Females Postpartum in a Biparental RodentJOURNAL OF NEUROENDOCRINOLOGY, Issue 2 2000Z. X. Wang In previous studies, the closely related neuropeptide hormones oxytocin and vasopressin have been implicated in the central mediation of parental behaviour. Several studies in rats and sheep have demonstrated a role for oxytocin in the initiation of maternal behaviour. Recently, a few studies in a biparental species, the prairie vole (Microxytocinus ochrogaster) have suggested that vasopressin is important for paternal care. The present study investigated this latter possibility by measuring changes in vasopressin and oxytocin hypothalamic gene expression 1 day and 6 days following parturition in prairie voles which show paternal care and in montane voles (M. montanus) which lack paternal care. In prairie voles, vasopressin gene expression increased in both males and females postpartum, relative to sexually naive controls. In the non-paternal montane vole, no change in vasopressin gene expression was observed in either sex. In contrast to this species difference in vasopressin gene expression, hypothalamic oxytocin gene expression increased in both prairie and montane vole females, but not in males of either species. To augment measures of gene expression, we assessed vasopressin (V1a) and oxytocin receptor binding in both species. Although forebrain vasopressin V1a receptor binding was not altered following parturition in either species, oxytocin receptor binding increased in the ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus in females, but not males, in both prairie and montane voles. In summary, vasopressin gene expression increases in both males and females postpartum in a biparental species and oxytocin gene expression and receptor binding increase selectively in females. These results are consistent with earlier reports of a role for vasopressin in paternal care and for oxytocin in maternal behaviour. [source] Prevention of child abuse and neglect and improvements in child developmentCHILD ABUSE REVIEW, Issue 1 2009Mogens Nygaard Christoffersen Abstract The aim of the study was to evaluate the implementation of a section in the Danish Social Assistance Act which encourages local authorities to offer families services in order to support children at risk of child maltreatment. The specific purpose of the present paper is to answer the question: Will the socio-psychological development of children known to social services be improved when abuse and neglect are reduced? A sample of 1,138 children was drawn at random from new social services cases starting in 1998. Subsequently, about 80 per cent were evaluated by local caseworkers on the basis of a standardised questionnaire covering a period of four years. The most damaging family conditions seemed to be psychological maltreatment, physical/sexual abuse and neglect. Maltreated children were more often in a depressed state, unhappy, socially isolated, or they had an eating disorder, inadequate or under-nutrition, suicidal tendencies, lack of concentration, or disturbed behaviour, compared to those children who were not exposed to abuse and neglect. If parental behaviour improved, effects on children's well-being were also observed and positive changes in children's socio-psychological development were identified. The questionnaire explored the impact of various interventions, including services geared to strengthen the child's network, but results indicated that the child displayed reduced risk of reactive symptoms only when parental behaviour improved and abuse and neglect were reduced. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Recollections of parent,child relationships in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder and panic disorder with agoraphobiaACTA PSYCHIATRICA SCANDINAVICA, Issue 4 2002L. Turgeon Objective:,In previous studies, patients with different psychiatric conditions, as compared with matched controls, have reported that their parents were more protective and less caring towards them when they were children. However, studies investigating associations between parental behaviours and anxiety disorders have yielded inconsistent results. The aim of this study was to compare recalled parental behaviours in out-patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), in out-patients with panic disorder with agoraphobia (PDA), and in non-anxious controls. Method:,The sample included 43 out-patients with OCD, 38 with PDA, and 120 controls. Participants completed the Parental Bonding Instrument and the Egna Minnen Beträffande Uppfostran or Own Memories of Parental Rearing Experiences in Childhood. Results:,No differences were found between the two anxious groups. However, compared with the control group, anxious patients recalled their parents as more protective. Conclusion:,Our findings suggest that child rearing practices such as overprotection may be a risk factor in the development of anxiety disorders. [source] Treatment of child anxiety: an exploratory study of the role of maternal anxiety and behaviours in treatment outcomeCLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHOTHERAPY (AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THEORY & PRACTICE), Issue 1 2008Cathy Creswell Anxiety disorders are common among parents of anxious children and have been found to impede child treatment outcomes, yet it is unclear whether it is parental anxiety that needs to be targeted in therapy or associated parental behaviours. Twenty-two children (6,12 years) with a current anxiety disorder and their mothers received cognitive,behavioural treatment (CBT) for child anxiety. In addition, of the 12 mothers who met criteria for a current anxiety disorder, 6 received CBT for their own disorder. Assessments were made of the mother,child interaction. The main findings were: (1) children did less well from treatment where their mothers had a current anxiety disorder; (2) treatment of maternal anxiety disorder did not improve child treatment outcome; and (3) maternal overinvolvement and expression of fear was associated with child treatment outcome. The results suggest that in the context of maternal anxiety disorder, child treatment outcome may be improved by specifically targeting parenting behaviours. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] | ||||||||||||||||