Behavioral Ecology Advance Access originally published online on September 19, 2007
Behavioral Ecology 2007 18(6):967-973; doi:10.1093/beheco/arm089
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Sex-specific development of avian flight performance under experimentally altered rearing conditions
a Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, 8888 University Drive, British Columbia V5A 1S6, Canada b Zoology Department, University of British Columbia, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada
Address correspondence to O.P. Love. E-mail: olovea{at}sfu.ca. E.H. Chin is now at the Biology Department, Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario K9J 7B8, Canada.
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Abstract |
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Numerous studies have examined predation risk resulting from the costs of impaired flight performance associated with many key life-history stages such as reproduction and migration. Interestingly, although avian nestlings experience multiple resource-based physiological trade-offs and undergo considerable morphological and physiological changes during postnatal development, there is no data available on how nestlings manage the competing demands of growth and the development of flight ability at this critical life-history stage. We examined numerous morphological traits to determine which are responsible for variation in flight performance in juvenile European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris), a sexually size-dimorphic passerine. We then manipulated maternal quality during chick rearing (via feather clipping) to examine sex-specific sensitivity of fledgling flight performance to the quality of the rearing environment. Results suggest that the mechanics underlying variation in juvenile flight performance are relatively simple, being principally determined by the ratio of pectoral muscle mass to body mass (BM) and the surface area of the wings. Interestingly, although the maternal quality manipulation decreased BM and structural size in daughters, only the flight performance of sons was negatively affected. Our results suggest that a survival-related trait can be significantly affected in the larger sex when raised under stressful conditions. Furthermore, measuring only BM and structural size may not be sufficient in understanding how the sexes are affected by stressful rearing conditions in sexually size-dimorphic species.
Key words: development, escape performance, european starling, flight ability, predation risk, sexual size dimorphism.
Received 5 July 2006; revised 3 March 2007; accepted 5 March 2007.
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  E. H Chin, O. P Love, J. J Verspoor, T. D Williams, K. Rowley, and G. Burness Juveniles exposed to embryonic corticosterone have enhanced flight performance Proc R Soc B, February 7, 2009; 276(1656): 499 - 505. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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