Parental care patterns are associated with mating opportunities in the Chinese penduline tit Remiz consobrinus

Description

Parental care is one of the most diverse social behaviours, since the type and duration of care and the sex of the care provider may vary both within and between species. Theoretically, by caring for or deserting the offspring the parents are expected to trade-off the benefits of offspring provisioning and thereby increase their survival against costs such as lost mating opportunities. Although theoretical studies have emphasized the significance of mating opportunities influencing parental decisions, the empirical evidence from wild populations is scanty. Here, we investigated the Chinese penduline tit Remiz consobrinus, a passerine bird that exhibits four types of parenting within a single population: biparental care, female-only care, male-only care and biparental desertion. We showed sexually divergent parental care patterns in this species, since nests built early in the season are more likely be deserted by males and cared for by females, whereas late nests are cared for by males and deserted by females. Furthermore, we provide evidence that the shift from deserting to caring by males is associated with seasonal declines in mating opportunities, since late-breeding males take a significantly longer time and experience a lower probability of finding a mate than early-breeding males. We also suggest male and female Chinese penduline tits are making parental care decisions independently, regardless of their partner.

Periode	16-apr.-2019
Evenementstitel	Netherlands Society for Evolutionary Biology Meeting 2019
Evenementstype	Conference
Conferentienummer	2
Locatie	Ede, NetherlandsToon op kaart
Mate van erkenning	International