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Biparental incubation patterns in a high-Arctic breeding shorebird: how do pairs divide their duties?

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  • Martin Bulla
  • Mihai Valcu
  • Anne L. Rutten
  • Bart Kempenaers

Abstract

In biparental species, parents may be in conflict over how much they invest into their offspring. To understand this conflict, parental care needs to be accurately measured, something rarely done. Here, we quantitatively describe the outcome of parental conflict in terms of quality, amount, and timing of incubation throughout the 21-day incubation period in a population of semipalmated sandpipers (Calidris pusilla) breeding under continuous daylight in the high Arctic. Incubation quality, measured by egg temperature and incubation constancy, showed no marked difference between the sexes. The amount of incubation, measured as length of incubation bouts, was on average 51min longer per bout for females (11.5h) than for males (10.7h), at first glance suggesting that females invested more than males. However, this difference may have been offset by sex differences in the timing of incubation; females were more often off nest during the warmer period of the day, when foraging conditions were presumably better. Overall, the daily timing of incubation shifted over the incubation period (e.g., for female incubation from evening–night to night–morning) and over the season, but varied considerably among pairs. At one extreme, pairs shared the amount of incubation equally, but one parent always incubated during the colder part of the day; at the other extreme, pairs shifted the start of incubation bouts between days so that each parent experienced similar conditions across the incubation period. Our results highlight how the simultaneous consideration of different aspects of care across time allows sex-specific investment to be more accurately quantified.

Suggested Citation

  • Martin Bulla & Mihai Valcu & Anne L. Rutten & Bart Kempenaers, 2014. "Biparental incubation patterns in a high-Arctic breeding shorebird: how do pairs divide their duties?," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 25(1), pages 152-164.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:beheco:v:25:y:2014:i:1:p:152-164.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/beheco/art098
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. András Kosztolányi & Innes C. Cuthill & Tamás Székely, 2009. "Negotiation between parents over care: reversible compensation during incubation," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 20(2), pages 446-452.
    2. Will Cresswell & S. Holt & J. M. Reid & D. P. Whitfield & R. J. Mellanby, 2003. "Do energetic demands constrain incubation scheduling in a biparental species?," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 14(1), pages 97-102, January.
    3. Rufus A. Johnstone & Camilla A. Hinde, 2006. "Negotiation over offspring care--how should parents respond to each other's efforts?," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 17(5), pages 818-827, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Daiping Wang & Wolfgang Forstmeier & Mihai Valcu & Niels J Dingemanse & Martin Bulla & Christiaan Both & Renée A Duckworth & Lynna Marie Kiere & Patrik Karell & Tomáš Albrecht & Bart Kempenaers, 2019. "Scrutinizing assortative mating in birds," PLOS Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(2), pages 1-20, February.
    2. Martin Bulla & Will Cresswell & Anne L. Rutten & Mihai Valcu & Bart Kempenaers, 2015. "Biparental incubation-scheduling: no experimental evidence for major energetic constraints," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 26(1), pages 30-37.

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