Rapid adaptive adjustment of parental care coincident with altered migratory behaviour

The optimal duration of parental care is shaped by the trade-off between investment in current and expected future reproductive success. A change in migratory behaviour is expected to affect the optimal duration of parental care, because migration and non-migration differ in expectations of future r...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Evolutionary ecology Vol. 26; no. 3; pp. 657 - 667
Main Authors: Jonker, Rudy M., Kurvers, R. H. J. M., van de Bilt, A., Faber, M., Van Wieren, S. E., Prins, H. H. T., Ydenberg, R. C.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.05.2012
Springer
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects:
adults
Animal Ecology
Animal populations
Aquatic birds
barnacle geese
Biomedical and Life Sciences
bird
Bird migration
Branta
Branta leucopsis
breeding
Ecological conditions
Ecology
evolution
Evolutionary Biology
Geese
Life cycles
Life history
Life Sciences
life-history evolution
meerkats
migratory behavior
mortality
Offspring
Original Paper
Parenting
parents
Parents & parenting
Plant Sciences
population
predation
progeny
Reproduction
selection
Wildfowl
Parent-offspring conflict
Branta leucopsis
Migration
Colonization
Barnacle geese
Life-history evolution
ISSN:0269-7653, 1573-8477
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The optimal duration of parental care is shaped by the trade-off between investment in current and expected future reproductive success. A change in migratory behaviour is expected to affect the optimal duration of parental care, because migration and non-migration differ in expectations of future reproductive success as a result of differential adult and/or offspring mortality. Here we studied how a recent emergence of non-migratory behaviour has affected the duration of parental care in the previously (until the 1980s) strictly migratory Russian breeding population of the barnacle geese Branta leucopsis . As a measure of parental care, we compared the vigilance behaviour of parents and non-parents in both migratory and non-migratory barnacle geese throughout the season. We estimated the duration of parental care at 233 days for migratory and 183 days for non-migratory barnacle geese. This constitutes a shortening of the duration of parental care of 21% in 25 years. Barnacle geese are thus able to rapidly adapt their parental care behaviour to ecological conditions associated with altered migratory behaviour. Our study demonstrates that a termination of migratory behaviour resulted in a drastic reduction in parental care and highlights the importance of studying the ecological and behavioural consequences of changes in migratory behaviour and the consequences of these changes for life-history evolution.
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ISSN:0269-7653
1573-8477
DOI:10.1007/s10682-011-9514-6