Behavioral Ecology Vol. 13 No. 5: 713-721
© 2002 International Society for Behavioral Ecology
Biparental care in house sparrows: negotiation or sealed bid?
a Department of Zoology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019, USA b Population and Evolutionary Biology Research Group, School of Biological Sciences, University of Liverpool, PO Box 147, Liverpool L69 3BX, UK
Address correspondence to P.L. Schwagmeyer. E-mail: plsch{at}ou.edu.
We explored the responses of monogamous house sparrow parents to deviations in their mates' contributions to nestling provisioning. Following 1-2 days of baseline measurement of parental food delivery rates, we applied small lead fishing weights to the tail feathers of either male or female parents. Weighting had much greater immediate impact on male parental care than on female care, but the handicapping had little long-term effect on either male or female provisioning behavior. When parental performance of handicapped males was most impaired, their mates did not show significant increases in parental care as compensation, nor did females mated to handicapped males reduce their provisioning as their mates recovered from weighting. Similarly, males mated to handicapped females did not respond to their partners' recovery with declines in their own efforts; paradoxically, these males showed a sustained elevation of provisioning throughout the post-treatment interval, despite no significant reduction in provisioning by weighted females. The apparent insensitivity of both males and females to changes in their mates' parental behavior, and the ineffectiveness of current partner behavior at predicting an individual's provisioning effort, fail to conform to assumptions of biparental care models that require facultative responses to partner deviations in effort. Instead, the remarkable consistency of each individual's behavior supports the notion of "sealed bids" and suggests that variation in nestling provisioning is largely attributable to factors that are independent of the mate's current behavior, such as differences in individual quality.
Key words: biparental care, evolutionarily stable strategy, house sparrows, monogamy, parental care, Passer domesticus.
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  A. Z. Lendvai, Z. Barta, and O. Chastel Conflict over parental care in house sparrows: do females use a negotiation rule? Behav. Ecol., May 1, 2009; 20(3): 651 - 656. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
A. Kosztolanyi, I. C. Cuthill, and T. Szekely Negotiation between parents over care: reversible compensation during incubation Behav. Ecol., March 1, 2009; 20(2): 446 - 452. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 C. A Hinde and R. M Kilner Negotiations within the family over the supply of parental care Proc R Soc B, January 7, 2007; 274(1606): 53 - 60. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
R. A. Johnstone and C. A. Hinde Negotiation over offspring care--how should parents respond to each other's efforts? Behav. Ecol., September 1, 2006; 17(5): 818 - 827. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
M. A Cant and S.-F. Shen Endogenous timing in competitive interactions among relatives Proc R Soc B, January 22, 2006; 273(1583): 171 - 178. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
C.A. Hinde Negotiation over offspring care?--a positive response to partner-provisioning rate in great tits Behav. Ecol., January 1, 2006; 17(1): 6 - 12. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
K. C. Hamer, P. Quillfeldt, J. F. Masello, and K. L. Fletcher Sex differences in provisioning rules: responses of Manx shearwaters to supplementary chick feeding Behav. Ecol., January 1, 2006; 17(1): 132 - 137. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
M. Griggio, G. Matessi, and A. Pilastro Should I stay or should I go? Female brood desertion and male counterstrategy in rock sparrows Behav. Ecol., March 1, 2005; 16(2): 435 - 441. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|