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Female Feeding (female + feeding)
Selected AbstractsAssessing the Semelparity Hypothesis: Egg-guarding and Fecundity in the Malaysian Treehopper Pyrgauchenia tristaniopsisETHOLOGY, Issue 10 2002Ulrich E. Stegmann According to the semelparity hypothesis, iteroparous insects should provide either no maternal care or less care than related semelparous species. We present field data on reproductive output and maternal care in the Southeast Asian treehopper Pyrgauchenia tristaniopsis (Mt. Kinabalu, Borneo) relevant to a preliminary assessment of the hypothesis. In a mark-recapture experiment, more females than expected under semelparity were found to have oviposited a second clutch (37%). Female longevity was a of 75 d. Both these estimates were highly conservative. Oviposition was successive resulting in a of 46 eggs per clutch. Females provided care for eggs only, occasionally scraping their legs along the sides of the clutch apparently attempting to deter Brachygrammatella sp. egg parasitoids (Trichogrammatidae). Females straddled their clutch for a of 27 d, i.e. until 8 d after the beginning of first instar hatching. First instars hatched successively over a period of 11 d. When a female deserted her clutch, it contained about 37% yet unhatched eggs. Egg-guarding effectively reduced egg mortality: the earlier a female was experimentally removed from her clutch the higher the egg mortality. Displacement experiments demonstrated that egg-guarding is a behaviour actively maintained despite disturbances and specifically directed towards the egg clutch but not to the feeding site. We interpret our findings as being in accordance with the weaker claim of the semelparity hypothesis, i.e. the iteroparous P. tristaniopsis provided less maternal care than semelparous membracid species. Continued female feeding is discussed as a mechanism to display some level of care despite iteroparity. [source] Maternal carotenoid supplementation does not affect breeding performance in the Great Tit (Parus major)FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY, Issue 4 2007VLADIMÍR REME Summary 1Carotenoids are micronutrients with many beneficial health-related effects. They are effective antioxidants and stimulants of the immune system. Carotenoids cannot be synthesized in animals and must be obtained from food. As such, they may limit reproductive output and performance, and on the proximate level mediate reproductive trade-offs. 2We studied carotenoid limitation in wild Great Tits (Parus major) by supplementing prelaying and laying females with lutein, the most abundant carotenoid in this species. We followed the effects of this supplementation on egg yolk carotenoid composition, and offspring and parental performance. 3Females transferred the supplemented lutein into egg yolks, increasing lutein concentration to the upper limit of naturally occurring concentrations in control pairs. Concentrations of zeaxanthin, ,-carotene and ,-carotene did not differ between supplemented and control pairs. 4Effects on offspring and parental performance were generally absent or weak. There were no effects on timing of laying, clutch size, hatching success, nestling survival, nestling mass (day 6 and 14), tarsus length or T-cell mediated immune response. Males on supplemented nests fed their young more than those on control nests. There was no positive effect on female feeding or mass. 5Negligible effects of lutein supplementation on offspring and parental performance might be explained by high natural abundance of carotenoids or other antioxidants, where additional carotenoids bear no strong advantage to the birds. Additionally, conflicting results of different studies may be explained by species-specific features of their life-histories. [source] Prey size and ingestion rate in raptors: importance for sex roles and reversed sexual size dimorphismJOURNAL OF AVIAN BIOLOGY, Issue 6 2007Tore Slagsvold Compared to other birds, most raptors take large prey for their size, and feeding bouts are extended. However, ingestion rate has largely been overlooked as a constraint in raptors, foraging and breeding ecology. We measured ingestion rate by offering avian and mammalian prey to eighteen wild raptors temporarily kept in captivity, representing seven species and three orders. Ingestion rate was higher for small than for large prey, higher for mammalian than for avian prey, higher for large than for small raptors, and higher for wide-gaped than for narrow-gaped raptors. Mammalian prey were ingested faster by raptors belonging to species with mainly mammals in their diet than by raptors with mainly birds in their diet, but the drop in ingestion rate with increasing prey size was more rapid for the former than for the latter. We argue that the separate sex roles found in raptors, i.e. the male hunting and the female feeding the young, is a solution of the conflict between the prolonged feeding bouts at the nest, and the benefit of rapid resumption of hunting in general, and rapid return to the previous capture site in particular (the prey size hypothesis). Thus, the sex roles differ more when prey takes longer to feed, i.e. from insects to mammals to birds. We then argue that the reversed sexual size dimorphism in raptors, i.e. smaller males than females, results from a conflict between the benefit of being small during breeding to capture the smallest items with the highest ingestion rate among these agile prey types (mammals and bird), and the benefit of being large outside the breeding season to ensure survival by being able to include large items in the diet when small items are scarce (the ingestion rate hypothesis). This hypothesis explains the observed variation in reversed sexual size dimorphism among raptors in relation to size and type of prey, i.e. increasing RSD from insects to mammals to birds as prey. [source] Activity budgets and activity rhythms in red ruffed lemurs (Varecia rubra) on the Masoala Peninsula, Madagascar: seasonality and reproductive energeticsAMERICAN JOURNAL OF PRIMATOLOGY, Issue 1 2005Natalie Vasey Abstract The activity budgets and daily activity rhythms of Varecia rubra were examined over an annual cycle according to season and reproductive stage. Given the relatively high reproductive costs and patchy food resources of this species, I predicted that V. rubra would 1) travel less and feed more during seasonal resource scarcity in an attempt to maintain energy balance, and 2) show sex differences in activity budgets due to differing reproductive investment. Contrary to the first prediction, V. rubra does not increase feeding time during seasonal food scarcity; rather, females feed for a consistent amount of time in every season, whereas males feed most during the resource-rich, hot dry season. The results are consistent with other predictions: V. rubra travels less in the resource-scarce cold rainy season, and there are some pronounced sex differences, with females feeding more and resting less than males in every season and in every reproductive stage except gestation. However, there are also some provocative similarities between the sexes when activity budgets are examined by reproductive stage. During gestation, female and male activity budgets do not differ and appear geared toward energy accumulation: both sexes feed and rest extensively and travel least during this stage. During lactation, activity budgets are geared toward high energy expenditure: both sexes travel most and in equal measure, and rest least, although it remains the case that females feed more and rest less than males. These similarities between female and male activity budgets appear related to cooperative infant care. The high energetic costs of reproduction in V. rubra females may require that they allot more time to feeding year round, and that their overall activity budget be more directly responsive to seasonal climate change, seasonal food distribution, and reproductive schedules. Am. J. Primatol. 66:23,44, 2005. [source] | ||||||||||