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Development and maintenance of nestling size hierarchies in the European starling (Sturnus vulgaris)

Ohlsson, Thomas LU and Smith, Henrik G. LU (1994) In The Wilson Bulletin 106. p.448-455
Abstract
In this paper we show that nestling mass hierarchies in the European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) are due to asynchronous hatching. The parents may, by starting to incubate the day the penultimate egg is laid, or earlier, affect the degree of hatching asynchrony and thereby the nestling weight hierarchy. Intra-clutch variation in egg size had no effect on nestling weight hierarchies, explaining only 0.4% of the variation in nestling mass at two days of age. Nestlings kept their relative size to siblings throughout a substantial part of the nestling period. Furthermore, the degree of variation in mass at two days of age affected the variation in mass at least until nine days. This relationship was stronger in larger broods.
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
The Wilson Bulletin
volume
106
pages
448 - 455
publisher
Wilson Ornithological Society
external identifiers
  • scopus:0028066249
ISSN
0043-5643
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
b2017c1a-1135-47bd-8910-39c8c851c711
alternative location
http://www.jstor.org/stable/4163444
date added to LUP
2017-07-11 09:25:47
date last changed
2024-01-14 00:34:01
@article{b2017c1a-1135-47bd-8910-39c8c851c711,
  abstract     = {{In this paper we show that nestling mass hierarchies in the European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) are due to asynchronous hatching. The parents may, by starting to incubate the day the penultimate egg is laid, or earlier, affect the degree of hatching asynchrony and thereby the nestling weight hierarchy. Intra-clutch variation in egg size had no effect on nestling weight hierarchies, explaining only 0.4% of the variation in nestling mass at two days of age. Nestlings kept their relative size to siblings throughout a substantial part of the nestling period. Furthermore, the degree of variation in mass at two days of age affected the variation in mass at least until nine days. This relationship was stronger in larger broods.}},
  author       = {{Ohlsson, Thomas and Smith, Henrik G.}},
  issn         = {{0043-5643}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{448--455}},
  publisher    = {{Wilson Ornithological Society}},
  series       = {{The Wilson Bulletin}},
  title        = {{Development and maintenance of nestling size hierarchies in the European starling (Sturnus vulgaris)}},
  url          = {{http://www.jstor.org/stable/4163444}},
  volume       = {{106}},
  year         = {{1994}},
}