Presentation Details
| Breeding experience and pair-bond duration increase reproductive success in a cooperative breeder. Sahas Barve1, Guy Beauchamp2, Tori D.Bakley1, John W.Fitzpatrick3, . 1Archbold Biological Station, Venus, FL, USA.2Independent Researcher, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.3Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA |
Abstract
Long term-monogamy may increase familiarity and coordination within pairs leading to increased fitness and survival. One challenge in the study of long-term monogamy is to disentangle the effects of age, breeding experience, and pair-bond duration on fitness and survival. We investigated the effect of pair-bond duration and breeding experience in Florida Scrub-Jays (Aphelocoma coerulescens) using longitudinal and cross-sectional approaches taking advantage of frequent re-pairing in older individuals. Based on 35 years of data, we found that that both breeding experience and pair-bond duration independently increased reproductive success (number of nutritionally independent young), controlling for other important factors like age, territory size, population density etc. Neither breeding experience nor pair-bond duration influenced survival in the non-breeding season, but survival in the breeding season slightly increased for experienced birds. We also found that mating with an older partner reduced survival in the non-breeding season. This study highlights the importance of experience in determining reproductive success especially when experience is acquired with the same partner.
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No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author.
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