Brood-guarding duration in black-browed albatrosses: Thalassarche melanophris: temporal, geographical and individual variation

Catry, Paulo; Phillips, Richard A.; Forster, Isaac P.; Matias, Rafael; Lecoq, Miguel; Granadeiro, Jose P.; Strange, Ian J.. 2010 Brood-guarding duration in black-browed albatrosses: Thalassarche melanophris: temporal, geographical and individual variation. Journal of Avian Biology, 41 (4). 460-469. 10.1111/j.1600-048X.2010.05029.x

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Abstract/Summary

In birds, the period spent brooding or guarding young chicks is highly variable, but such variation has seldom been studied. Previous single-year studies of Antarctic petrels Thalassoica antarctica and grey-headed albatrosses Thalassarche chrysostoma revealed a pronounced seasonal decline in brood-guarding duration and gave rise to the 'synchronisation hypothesis', which suggests that some of the variation in the length of the brood-guarding stage is related to predictable seasonal changes in the risk of chick predation. We tested the predictions of this and three other hypotheses in a two-site, four-year study of the black-browed albatross T. melanophris. The existence of a pronounced seasonal decline in brood-guarding duration was apparent at both sites, and in years of contrasting food availability, providing further support for the 'synchronisation hypothesis'. Alternative explanations for this pattern are that short brood-guarding periods for late-hatched chicks result from a seasonal decline in food availability or from the fact that early nesting birds are of higher individual quality. However, these explanations are at odds with the absence of a seasonal decline in early chick growth or in probability of chick survival. Furthermore, adult quality (measured as past reproductive performance) had a weak and inconsistent effect on the duration of brood-guarding. Weather changes explained some of the variation in brood-guarding, but there were no differences between regions of contrasting climates. Individual pairs displayed a degree of inter-annual consistency in brood-guarding duration and, at least in some years, longer brood-guarding resulted in higher fledging probability. We speculate that a higher investment in brood-guarding increases the cost of reproduction, which counteracts other selective pressures that would otherwise lead to longer brood-guarding durations.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	10.1111/j.1600-048X.2010.05029.x
Programmes:	BAS Programmes > Global Science in the Antarctic Context (2005-2009) > DISCOVERY 2010 - Integrating Southern Ocean Ecosystems into the Earth System
ISSN:	0908-8857
NORA Subject Terms:	Zoology
Date made live:	24 Aug 2010 13:15 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/10566

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

10.1111/j.1600-048X.2010.05029.x

Programmes:

BAS Programmes > Global Science in the Antarctic Context (2005-2009) > DISCOVERY 2010 - Integrating Southern Ocean Ecosystems into the Earth System

ISSN:

0908-8857

NORA Subject Terms:

Zoology

Date made live:

24 Aug 2010 13:15 +0 (UTC)