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Nest-building males trade off material collection costs with territory value

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Healy_2016_Emu_Nest_building_CC.pdf (290.3Kb)
Date
25/01/2016
Author
Bailey, Ida E.
Morgan, Kate V.
Oschadleus, H. Dieter
DeRuiter, Stacy L.
Meddle, Simone L.
Healy, Susan D.
Keywords
Distance
Flight costs
Individuality
Location
Material properties
Weaverbirds
QH301 Biology
Animal Science and Zoology
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Nature and Landscape Conservation
NDAS
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Abstract
Building a structurally robust nest is crucial for reproductive success in many birds. However, we know little about the criteria birds use to select material or where they go to collect it. Here we observed the material collection of male Cape Weavers (Ploceus capensis). Males typically selected long, strong material to build their nests and each male collected material from different locations. Males that built more nests nested in a different area of the colony and flew further to collect nest material than did males that built fewer nests. As these males that flew further to collect material had longer tails and wings and attracted more females to their territories than did males that flew shorter distances, they may have traded off the travel costs of collecting nest materials with benefits gained from holding a territory in a more 'desirable' part of the colony. Nest construction, then, appears to be a multi-dimensional task whereby birds take into account material's structural properties, material proximity to the nest site and territory quality. Males that do this effectively both attract more mates and provide structurally sound nests for their young.
Citation
Bailey , I E , Morgan , K V , Oschadleus , H D , DeRuiter , S L , Meddle , S L & Healy , S D 2016 , ' Nest-building males trade off material collection costs with territory value ' , Emu , vol. 116 , no. 1 , pp. 1-8 . https://doi.org/10.1071/MU15022
Publication
Emu
Status
Peer reviewed
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1071/MU15022
ISSN
0158-4197
Type
Journal article
Rights
This is an Open Access article published under a CC BY-NC-ND licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.en_US).
Description
This work was supported by the BBSRC (BB/I019502/1 to SDH and SLM) and Roslin Institute Strategic Grant funding from the BBSRC (SLM).
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  • University of St Andrews Research
URL
http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84957633326&partnerID=8YFLogxK
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/9164

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