Delayed Age at First Breeding and Experimental Removals Show Large Non-Breeding Surplus in Pied Flycatchers (original) (raw)
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Causes of Hatching Failure in the Pied Flycatcher
The Condor, 1996
Correlates of egg hatchability in Pied Flycatchers were investigated during a four year study. Hatchability decreased in small eggs, the effect of egg size being more marked among fertile eggs, than in infertile eggs. There was a significant decrease in egg hatchability with increasing clutch size. Hatching success was higher for clutches with larger eggs and was associated with larger numbers of breeding recruits. However, hatching success was unrelated to female condition during incubation or to clutch initiation date. Hatching failure as a whole, and egg infertility in particular, followed a concave-up trajectory across the laying sequence, indicating an optimum for egg hatchability in intermediate positions of the clutch. No single cause can explain the relationship of egg hatchability to laying order. Although hatching success did not differ across female or male ages, it was significantly lower in pairs formed by yearling males and older females than in other pair/age combinations. Results are discussed in the light of possible trade-offs between clutch size and egg size and parental investment theory determining differential effort by males and females depending on their residual reproductive value.
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