Early mortality saves energy: estimating the energetic cost of excess offspring in a seabird
Offspring are often produced in excess as insurance against stochastic events or unpredictable resources. This strategy may result in high early-life mortality, yet age-specific mortality before offspring independence and its associated costs have rarely been quantified. In this study, we modelled a...
Published in: | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
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crroyalsociety:10.1098/rspb.2016.2724 2024-06-02T08:05:28+00:00 Early mortality saves energy: estimating the energetic cost of excess offspring in a seabird Vedder, Oscar Zhang, He Bouwhuis, Sandra Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek 2017 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2016.2724 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2016.2724 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rspb.2016.2724 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences volume 284, issue 1849, page 20162724 ISSN 0962-8452 1471-2954 journal-article 2017 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2016.2724 2024-05-07T14:16:04Z Offspring are often produced in excess as insurance against stochastic events or unpredictable resources. This strategy may result in high early-life mortality, yet age-specific mortality before offspring independence and its associated costs have rarely been quantified. In this study, we modelled age-specific survival from hatching to fledging using 24 years of data on hatching order (HO), growth and age of mortality of more than 15 000 common tern ( Sterna hirundo ) chicks. We found that mortality peaked directly after hatching, after which it declined rapidly. Mortality hazard was best described with the Gompertz function, and was higher with later HO, mainly due to differences in baseline mortality hazard, rather than age-dependent mortality. Based on allometric mass–metabolism relationships and detailed growth curves of starving chicks, we estimated that the average metabolizable energy intake of non-fledged chicks was only 8.7% of the metabolizable energy intake of successful chicks during the nestling phase. Although 54% of hatchlings did not fledge, our estimates suggest them to have consumed only 9.3% of the total energy consumption of all hatched chicks in the population before fledging. We suggest that rapid mortality of excess offspring is part of an adaptive brood reduction strategy to the benefit of the parents. Article in Journal/Newspaper Common tern Sterna hirundo The Royal Society Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 284 1849 20162724 |
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The Royal Society |
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crroyalsociety |
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English |
description |
Offspring are often produced in excess as insurance against stochastic events or unpredictable resources. This strategy may result in high early-life mortality, yet age-specific mortality before offspring independence and its associated costs have rarely been quantified. In this study, we modelled age-specific survival from hatching to fledging using 24 years of data on hatching order (HO), growth and age of mortality of more than 15 000 common tern ( Sterna hirundo ) chicks. We found that mortality peaked directly after hatching, after which it declined rapidly. Mortality hazard was best described with the Gompertz function, and was higher with later HO, mainly due to differences in baseline mortality hazard, rather than age-dependent mortality. Based on allometric mass–metabolism relationships and detailed growth curves of starving chicks, we estimated that the average metabolizable energy intake of non-fledged chicks was only 8.7% of the metabolizable energy intake of successful chicks during the nestling phase. Although 54% of hatchlings did not fledge, our estimates suggest them to have consumed only 9.3% of the total energy consumption of all hatched chicks in the population before fledging. We suggest that rapid mortality of excess offspring is part of an adaptive brood reduction strategy to the benefit of the parents. |
author2 |
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Vedder, Oscar Zhang, He Bouwhuis, Sandra |
spellingShingle |
Vedder, Oscar Zhang, He Bouwhuis, Sandra Early mortality saves energy: estimating the energetic cost of excess offspring in a seabird |
author_facet |
Vedder, Oscar Zhang, He Bouwhuis, Sandra |
author_sort |
Vedder, Oscar |
title |
Early mortality saves energy: estimating the energetic cost of excess offspring in a seabird |
title_short |
Early mortality saves energy: estimating the energetic cost of excess offspring in a seabird |
title_full |
Early mortality saves energy: estimating the energetic cost of excess offspring in a seabird |
title_fullStr |
Early mortality saves energy: estimating the energetic cost of excess offspring in a seabird |
title_full_unstemmed |
Early mortality saves energy: estimating the energetic cost of excess offspring in a seabird |
title_sort |
early mortality saves energy: estimating the energetic cost of excess offspring in a seabird |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2016.2724 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2016.2724 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rspb.2016.2724 |
genre |
Common tern Sterna hirundo |
genre_facet |
Common tern Sterna hirundo |
op_source |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences volume 284, issue 1849, page 20162724 ISSN 0962-8452 1471-2954 |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2016.2724 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
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284 |
container_issue |
1849 |
container_start_page |
20162724 |
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1800750279244644352 |