Rank-dependent hoarding effort in willow tits (Parus montanus): a test of theoretical predictions
(2003) In Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 54(6). p.587-592- Abstract
- Many birds and mammals store energy as hoarded food supplies. A supply of stored food is beneficial during periods when food is scarce, but building up and managing such a supply also entails costs. The optimal number of caches will be reached when the net benefit is at its maximum. If dominants can steal more stored food from subordinates than the other way around, the optimum will differ between these categories. A previous theoretical model of hoarding in groups with dominant and subordinate members produced three testable predictions: (1) hoarders should store more food as anticipated future conditions get worse; (2) subordinate flock members should store more food than dominants; and (3) dominants should increase hoarding relatively... (More)
- Many birds and mammals store energy as hoarded food supplies. A supply of stored food is beneficial during periods when food is scarce, but building up and managing such a supply also entails costs. The optimal number of caches will be reached when the net benefit is at its maximum. If dominants can steal more stored food from subordinates than the other way around, the optimum will differ between these categories. A previous theoretical model of hoarding in groups with dominant and subordinate members produced three testable predictions: (1) hoarders should store more food as anticipated future conditions get worse; (2) subordinate flock members should store more food than dominants; and (3) dominants should increase hoarding relatively more than subordinates as conditions get worse. Here we present a field experiment on willow tits (Parus montanus) designed to test these predictions. We found support for all three. Hoarding increased as conditions got worse, subordinates stored at a higher rate than dominants, and dominants increased their hoarding effort relatively more than subordinates as conditions worsened. These results support the incorporation of information on dominance and food availability into models predicting food storage behaviour. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/135442
- author
- Brodin, Anders LU and Lundborg, Ken LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2003
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
- volume
- 54
- issue
- 6
- pages
- 587 - 592
- publisher
- Springer
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000185601200009
- scopus:0142123220
- ISSN
- 1432-0762
- DOI
- 10.1007/s00265-003-0661-9
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 293309db-edb6-47be-81c9-21625afc712c (old id 135442)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 17:09:19
- date last changed
- 2022-04-23 03:04:09
@article{293309db-edb6-47be-81c9-21625afc712c,
abstract = {{Many birds and mammals store energy as hoarded food supplies. A supply of stored food is beneficial during periods when food is scarce, but building up and managing such a supply also entails costs. The optimal number of caches will be reached when the net benefit is at its maximum. If dominants can steal more stored food from subordinates than the other way around, the optimum will differ between these categories. A previous theoretical model of hoarding in groups with dominant and subordinate members produced three testable predictions: (1) hoarders should store more food as anticipated future conditions get worse; (2) subordinate flock members should store more food than dominants; and (3) dominants should increase hoarding relatively more than subordinates as conditions get worse. Here we present a field experiment on willow tits (Parus montanus) designed to test these predictions. We found support for all three. Hoarding increased as conditions got worse, subordinates stored at a higher rate than dominants, and dominants increased their hoarding effort relatively more than subordinates as conditions worsened. These results support the incorporation of information on dominance and food availability into models predicting food storage behaviour.}},
author = {{Brodin, Anders and Lundborg, Ken}},
issn = {{1432-0762}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{6}},
pages = {{587--592}},
publisher = {{Springer}},
series = {{Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology}},
title = {{Rank-dependent hoarding effort in willow tits (Parus montanus): a test of theoretical predictions}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00265-003-0661-9}},
doi = {{10.1007/s00265-003-0661-9}},
volume = {{54}},
year = {{2003}},
}