Egg size in relation to sex of embryo, brood sex ratios and laying sequence in northern lapwings ( Vanellus vanellus)

Abstract This study focuses on possible sources of egg size variation in the northern lapwing Vanellus vanellus , a polygynous shorebird with more variable male than female reproductive success. From the hypothesis that female birds allocate more resources into male than female eggs to improve their...

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Published in:Journal of Zoology
Main Authors: Lislevand, Terje, Byrkjedal, Ingvar, Borge, Thomas, Sætre, Glenn‐Peter
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2005
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0952836905007260
https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1017%2FS0952836905007260
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1017/S0952836905007260
https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1017/S0952836905007260
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spelling crwiley:10.1017/s0952836905007260 2024-06-02T08:15:42+00:00 Egg size in relation to sex of embryo, brood sex ratios and laying sequence in northern lapwings ( Vanellus vanellus) Lislevand, Terje Byrkjedal, Ingvar Borge, Thomas Sætre, Glenn‐Peter 2005 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0952836905007260 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1017%2FS0952836905007260 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1017/S0952836905007260 https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1017/S0952836905007260 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Journal of Zoology volume 267, issue 1, page 81-87 ISSN 0952-8369 1469-7998 journal-article 2005 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1017/s0952836905007260 2024-05-03T10:46:00Z Abstract This study focuses on possible sources of egg size variation in the northern lapwing Vanellus vanellus , a polygynous shorebird with more variable male than female reproductive success. From the hypothesis that female birds allocate more resources into male than female eggs to improve their sons' abilities to compete for mates, male eggs were predicted to be larger than female eggs, and the proportion of sons was predicted to increase with mean egg volume of clutches. However, no size differences between male and female eggs were found. Corresponding with earlier reports in the species, egg size was positively correlated with female body condition, but no relationship between offspring sex ratios and intra‐clutch mean egg volumes was detected. These results suggest that a higher variation in reproductive success among males than among females is not sufficient for sexually dimorphic eggs to evolve in birds. Moreover, previous studies have suggested that shorebird eggs are subject to stabilizing selection for equal size within clutches. In contrast, this study demonstrates a consistent variation in egg size, with a significant increase in egg breadth between first and second eggs, and decreases in both breadth and volume between the third and the final fourth egg. The volume of last‐laid eggs was on average 2.3% smaller than the mean size of the preceding three eggs. Among the shorebirds studied so far, this consistent pattern of intra‐clutch egg size variation is unique to lapwings. Article in Journal/Newspaper Vanellus vanellus Wiley Online Library Journal of Zoology 267 01 81
institution Open Polar
collection Wiley Online Library
op_collection_id crwiley
language English
description Abstract This study focuses on possible sources of egg size variation in the northern lapwing Vanellus vanellus , a polygynous shorebird with more variable male than female reproductive success. From the hypothesis that female birds allocate more resources into male than female eggs to improve their sons' abilities to compete for mates, male eggs were predicted to be larger than female eggs, and the proportion of sons was predicted to increase with mean egg volume of clutches. However, no size differences between male and female eggs were found. Corresponding with earlier reports in the species, egg size was positively correlated with female body condition, but no relationship between offspring sex ratios and intra‐clutch mean egg volumes was detected. These results suggest that a higher variation in reproductive success among males than among females is not sufficient for sexually dimorphic eggs to evolve in birds. Moreover, previous studies have suggested that shorebird eggs are subject to stabilizing selection for equal size within clutches. In contrast, this study demonstrates a consistent variation in egg size, with a significant increase in egg breadth between first and second eggs, and decreases in both breadth and volume between the third and the final fourth egg. The volume of last‐laid eggs was on average 2.3% smaller than the mean size of the preceding three eggs. Among the shorebirds studied so far, this consistent pattern of intra‐clutch egg size variation is unique to lapwings.
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Lislevand, Terje
Byrkjedal, Ingvar
Borge, Thomas
Sætre, Glenn‐Peter
spellingShingle Lislevand, Terje
Byrkjedal, Ingvar
Borge, Thomas
Sætre, Glenn‐Peter
Egg size in relation to sex of embryo, brood sex ratios and laying sequence in northern lapwings ( Vanellus vanellus)
author_facet Lislevand, Terje
Byrkjedal, Ingvar
Borge, Thomas
Sætre, Glenn‐Peter
author_sort Lislevand, Terje
title Egg size in relation to sex of embryo, brood sex ratios and laying sequence in northern lapwings ( Vanellus vanellus)
title_short Egg size in relation to sex of embryo, brood sex ratios and laying sequence in northern lapwings ( Vanellus vanellus)
title_full Egg size in relation to sex of embryo, brood sex ratios and laying sequence in northern lapwings ( Vanellus vanellus)
title_fullStr Egg size in relation to sex of embryo, brood sex ratios and laying sequence in northern lapwings ( Vanellus vanellus)
title_full_unstemmed Egg size in relation to sex of embryo, brood sex ratios and laying sequence in northern lapwings ( Vanellus vanellus)
title_sort egg size in relation to sex of embryo, brood sex ratios and laying sequence in northern lapwings ( vanellus vanellus)
publisher Wiley
publishDate 2005
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0952836905007260
https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1017%2FS0952836905007260
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1017/S0952836905007260
https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1017/S0952836905007260
genre Vanellus vanellus
genre_facet Vanellus vanellus
op_source Journal of Zoology
volume 267, issue 1, page 81-87
ISSN 0952-8369 1469-7998
op_rights http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor
op_doi https://doi.org/10.1017/s0952836905007260
container_title Journal of Zoology
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