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Female nutritional state affects the rate of male incubation feeding in the pied flycatcher Ficedula hypoleuca

Smith, H. G. LU ; Källander, H. LU ; Hultman, Johan LU and Sanzén, B. (1989) In Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 24(6). p.417-420
Abstract

Male pied flycatches Ficedula hypoleuca regularly feed their mates during incubation. By experimentally supplying some females with extra food we studied how the female's nutritional state affected her incubation schedule and the rate at which her mate fed her. Females that received extra food spent more time on the nest and shorter periods away from it, compared with control females. This suggests that nest attentiveness is governed by the amount of energy available to the female. When females reccived extra food, males decreased their rate of incubation feeding. They also did so in response to increasing ambient temperatures, whereas incubation schedules were unaffected. We, therefore, conclude that our results support the "female... (More)

Male pied flycatches Ficedula hypoleuca regularly feed their mates during incubation. By experimentally supplying some females with extra food we studied how the female's nutritional state affected her incubation schedule and the rate at which her mate fed her. Females that received extra food spent more time on the nest and shorter periods away from it, compared with control females. This suggests that nest attentiveness is governed by the amount of energy available to the female. When females reccived extra food, males decreased their rate of incubation feeding. They also did so in response to increasing ambient temperatures, whereas incubation schedules were unaffected. We, therefore, conclude that our results support the "female nutrition hypothesis", i.e., that the food provided by the male constitutes a significant nutritional contribution to the incubating female.

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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
volume
24
issue
6
pages
4 pages
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • scopus:0024925112
ISSN
0340-5443
DOI
10.1007/BF00293270
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
84be1aac-378f-4024-bf91-d1b94cebf3e3
date added to LUP
2016-07-06 20:12:04
date last changed
2021-04-18 04:45:31
@article{84be1aac-378f-4024-bf91-d1b94cebf3e3,
  abstract     = {{<p>Male pied flycatches Ficedula hypoleuca regularly feed their mates during incubation. By experimentally supplying some females with extra food we studied how the female's nutritional state affected her incubation schedule and the rate at which her mate fed her. Females that received extra food spent more time on the nest and shorter periods away from it, compared with control females. This suggests that nest attentiveness is governed by the amount of energy available to the female. When females reccived extra food, males decreased their rate of incubation feeding. They also did so in response to increasing ambient temperatures, whereas incubation schedules were unaffected. We, therefore, conclude that our results support the "female nutrition hypothesis", i.e., that the food provided by the male constitutes a significant nutritional contribution to the incubating female.</p>}},
  author       = {{Smith, H. G. and Källander, H. and Hultman, Johan and Sanzén, B.}},
  issn         = {{0340-5443}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{6}},
  pages        = {{417--420}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology}},
  title        = {{Female nutritional state affects the rate of male incubation feeding in the pied flycatcher Ficedula hypoleuca}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00293270}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/BF00293270}},
  volume       = {{24}},
  year         = {{1989}},
}