Local Environment but Not Genetic Differentiation Influences Biparental Care in Ten Plover Populations

Peer reviewe

Parental cooperation in a changing climate: fluctuating environments predict shifts in care division

Aim: Parental care improves the survival of offspring and therefore has a major impact on reproductive success. It is increasingly recognized that coordinated biparental care is necessary to ensure the survival of offspring in hostile environments, but little is known about the influence of environmental fluctuations on parental cooperation. Assessing the impacts of environmental stochasticity, however, is essential for understanding how populations will respond to climate change and the associated increasing frequencies of extreme weather events. Here we investigate the influence of environmental stochasticity on biparental incubation in a cosmopolitan ground-nesting avian genus. Location: Global. Methods: We assembled data on biparental care in 36 plover populations (Charadrius spp.) from six continents, collected between 1981 and 2012. Using a space-for-time approach we investigate how average temperature, temperature stochasticity (i.e. year-to-year variation) and seasonal temperature variation during the breeding season influence parental cooperation during incubation. Results: We show that both average ambient temperature and its fluctuations influence parental cooperation during incubation. Male care relative to female care increases with both mean ambient temperature and temperature stochasticity. Local climatic conditions explain within-species population differences in parental cooperation, probably reflecting phenotypic plasticity of behaviour. Main conclusions: The degree of flexibility in parental cooperation is likely to mediate the impacts of climate change on the demography and reproductive behaviour of wild animal populations.</p

Geographic variation in breeding system and environment predicts melanin-based plumage ornamentation of male and female Kentish plovers

Sexual selection determines the elaboration of morphological and behavioural traits and thus drives the evolution of phenotypes. Sexual selection on males and females can differ between populations, especially when populations exhibit different breeding systems. A substantial body of literature describes how breeding systems shape ornamentation across species, with a strong emphasis on male ornamentation and female preference. However, whether breeding system predicts ornamentation within species and whether similar mechanisms as in males also shape the phenotype of females remains unclear. Here, we investigate how different breeding systems are associated with male and female ornamentation in five geographically distinct populations of Kentish plovers Charadrius alexandrinus. We predicted that polygamous populations would exhibit more elaborate ornaments and stronger sexual dimorphism than monogamous populations. By estimating the size and intensity of male (n = 162) and female (n = 174) melanin-based plumage ornaments, i.e. breast bands and ear coverts, we show that plumage ornamentation is predicted by breeding system in both sexes. A difference in especially male ornamentation between polygamous (darker and smaller ornaments) and monogamous (lighter and larger) populations causes the greatest sexual dimorphism to be associated with polygamy. The non-social environment, however, may also influence the degree of ornamentation, for instance through availability of food. We found that, in addition to breeding system, a key environmental parameter, rainfall, predicted a seasonal change of ornamentation in a sex-specific manner. Our results emphasise that to understand the phenotype of animals, it is important to consider both natural and sexual selection acting on both males and females

Sexual selection, breeding systems and melanin-based plumage colouration in plovers Charadrius spp

Documenting behavioural and morphological differences across populations reflecting local adaption is of large interest to biologists. Yet, natural, geographic variation in targets and intensity of selection within species has been vastly underexplored. Here I focus on how the extraordinary diversity of breeding systems exhibited across multiple populations of plovers may influence ornamentation. Using data from nine geographically distinct populations of Kentish (Charadrius alexandrinus) and snowy plovers (C nivosus) I explore the variation in brood care and found extensive differences across populations in the duration of care and timing of brood desertion. Biogeographical parameters seem to partly explain the observed diversity of care patterns. I subsequently show that the differences in melanin-based plumage ornamentation across populations were predicted by the breeding system and geographic and climatic factors. I argue that geographic variation in intensity of sexual selection as associated with the diversity in breeding systems may shape individual phenotypes. To corroborate that proposition, I investigate whether the signalling function of the ornaments varies across populations. I show that melanin-based plumage traits are honest signals of parental care in two distinct populations, despite differences between both populations in the extent and direction to which both sexes adjust parental care in response to ornamentation. In my final chapter I aim to explore a potential mechanistic basis of the diversity in ornamentation by investigating correlations between melanic plumage traits. The correlations between plumage traits are highly variable across populations. Such apparent phenotypic plasticity suggests that local selection pressures influence the expression of melanisation. In sum, in my thesis I show that the behavioural and morphological outcomes of local adaptive regimes provide a wealth of diversity in natural history between populations. Exploring this natural variation at a behavioural, physiological and genetic level is likely to substantially advance our understanding of what constitutes a wild animal's phenotype.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Data from: Cooperative investment in public goods is kin directed in communal nests of social birds

The tragedy of the commons predicts social collapse when public goods are jointly exploited by individuals attempting to maximise their fitness at the expense of other social group members. However, animal societies have evolved many times despite this vulnerability to exploitation by selfish individuals. Kin selection offers a solution to this social dilemma, but in large social groups mean relatedness is often low. Sociable weavers (Philetairus socius) live in large colonies that share the benefits of a massive communal nest, which requires individual investment for construction and maintenance. Here, we show that despite low mean kinship within colonies, relatives are spatially and socially clustered and that nest-building males have higher local relatedness to other colony members than do non-building males. Alternative hypotheses received little support, so we conclude that the benefits of the public good are shared with kin and that cooperative investment is, despite the large size and low relatedness of these communities, kin-directed

Thatch building per individual

Thatch building per individua

Matrices of distance between nest chambers

Matrices of distance between nest chamber

The effects of environmental variables on total incubation (%) and female share of incubation (%).

<p>Analysis for the full day (0–24 h), daytime (6–18 h) and night (18–6 h) data are shown separately.</p><p><u>Notes.</u></p><p>The full models included time period, ambient temperature, breeding site (mainland, island) and time period × temperature as fixed terms. The effect of temperature was estimated separately for each population by a random slope term. Nest ID was in the models as a random intercept term to control for pseudoreplication. Temperature was a second degree orthogonal polynomial. The significance of each predictor was assessed by eliminating it from the full model and comparing the fit of the two models using likelihood ratio test. Population effect was tested in two ways: (i) by removing the random intercept and slope term from the model, (ii) by replacing the random intercept and slope term with a random intercept term in the full model and removing this term. Temperature was tested by removing temperature, period × temperature and the random slope term for temperature from the model. The slope difference for temperature between populations was tested by removing the random slope term and keeping only the random intercept term in the model. The quadratic effect of temperature was tested by replacing the second degree orthogonal polynomial term with a linear term.</p

Species, locality, country, breeding site (island (I) or mainland (M)), geographic coordinates and method of behaviour recording of 10 breeding plover populations for which we collected incubation data.

<p>Species, locality, country, breeding site (island (I) or mainland (M)), geographic coordinates and method of behaviour recording of 10 breeding plover populations for which we collected incubation data.</p

The effects of life history variables on % total incubation and % female share.

<p>Analysis for the full day (0–24 h), daytime (6–18 h) and night (18–6 h) data are shown separately.</p><p><u>Notes.</u></p><p>The full models included time period, clutch age, egg laying date as fixed terms and population random intercept term. The significance of each predictor was assessed by eliminating it from the full model and comparing the fit of the two models using likelihood ratio test.</p