Mine or my neighbours’ offspring: an experimental study on parental discrimination of offspring in a colonial seabird, the little auk Alle alle
Abstract Individual recognition (IR) abilities may result from various ecological and naturally selected features of a species. Complex IR mechanisms should develop when the risk of misidentification of a chick is high. For colonial seabirds, the ability to identify their own brood is crucial to ens...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:eb62e38516fc418d8ba9e788435c2e5f 2023-10-09T21:44:22+02:00 Mine or my neighbours’ offspring: an experimental study on parental discrimination of offspring in a colonial seabird, the little auk Alle alle Dorota Kidawa Katarzyna Wojczulanis-Jakubas Dariusz Jakubas Rupert Palme Mateusz Barcikowski 2023-09-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-41925-5 https://doaj.org/article/eb62e38516fc418d8ba9e788435c2e5f EN eng Nature Portfolio https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-41925-5 https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322 doi:10.1038/s41598-023-41925-5 2045-2322 https://doaj.org/article/eb62e38516fc418d8ba9e788435c2e5f Scientific Reports, Vol 13, Iss 1, Pp 1-11 (2023) Medicine R Science Q article 2023 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-41925-5 2023-09-24T00:42:53Z Abstract Individual recognition (IR) abilities may result from various ecological and naturally selected features of a species. Complex IR mechanisms should develop when the risk of misidentification of a chick is high. For colonial seabirds, the ability to identify their own brood is crucial to ensure parental fitness. Vocalizations seem to be a key component of most parent–offspring interactions, although few studies have assessed the interindividual differences in seabird chick calls and their potential usage in IR. The little auk (Alle alle), which breeds in dense colonies, constitutes a perfect model for testing IR. In this study, we (1) examined chick calls at different stages of the nesting period, and (2) cross-fostered chicks to examine the rate of acceptance/nonacceptance of chicks by parents. We found significant interindividual differences in chick begging and fledging calls. Surprisingly, all cross-fostered chicks in our experiments were accepted by their foster parents, and male parents were as equally likely to accept cross-fostered chicks as females, even though the sexes would be expected to differ in offspring recognition due to different postfledging interactions with the chick. The revealed individuality of chick calls suggests the potential for chick vocal recognition in the studied species, but parent birds may disregard the individual characteristics enabling chick discrimination. This may take place as long as the chick is found in the nest because of the high likelihood that the chick present there is the focal one. However, IR during and after fledging requires further study. Studying the complexity of IR mechanisms is important for better understanding various avian social relationships and interactions. Article in Journal/Newspaper Alle alle little auk Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Scientific Reports 13 1 |
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Medicine R Science Q Dorota Kidawa Katarzyna Wojczulanis-Jakubas Dariusz Jakubas Rupert Palme Mateusz Barcikowski Mine or my neighbours’ offspring: an experimental study on parental discrimination of offspring in a colonial seabird, the little auk Alle alle |
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Medicine R Science Q |
description |
Abstract Individual recognition (IR) abilities may result from various ecological and naturally selected features of a species. Complex IR mechanisms should develop when the risk of misidentification of a chick is high. For colonial seabirds, the ability to identify their own brood is crucial to ensure parental fitness. Vocalizations seem to be a key component of most parent–offspring interactions, although few studies have assessed the interindividual differences in seabird chick calls and their potential usage in IR. The little auk (Alle alle), which breeds in dense colonies, constitutes a perfect model for testing IR. In this study, we (1) examined chick calls at different stages of the nesting period, and (2) cross-fostered chicks to examine the rate of acceptance/nonacceptance of chicks by parents. We found significant interindividual differences in chick begging and fledging calls. Surprisingly, all cross-fostered chicks in our experiments were accepted by their foster parents, and male parents were as equally likely to accept cross-fostered chicks as females, even though the sexes would be expected to differ in offspring recognition due to different postfledging interactions with the chick. The revealed individuality of chick calls suggests the potential for chick vocal recognition in the studied species, but parent birds may disregard the individual characteristics enabling chick discrimination. This may take place as long as the chick is found in the nest because of the high likelihood that the chick present there is the focal one. However, IR during and after fledging requires further study. Studying the complexity of IR mechanisms is important for better understanding various avian social relationships and interactions. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Dorota Kidawa Katarzyna Wojczulanis-Jakubas Dariusz Jakubas Rupert Palme Mateusz Barcikowski |
author_facet |
Dorota Kidawa Katarzyna Wojczulanis-Jakubas Dariusz Jakubas Rupert Palme Mateusz Barcikowski |
author_sort |
Dorota Kidawa |
title |
Mine or my neighbours’ offspring: an experimental study on parental discrimination of offspring in a colonial seabird, the little auk Alle alle |
title_short |
Mine or my neighbours’ offspring: an experimental study on parental discrimination of offspring in a colonial seabird, the little auk Alle alle |
title_full |
Mine or my neighbours’ offspring: an experimental study on parental discrimination of offspring in a colonial seabird, the little auk Alle alle |
title_fullStr |
Mine or my neighbours’ offspring: an experimental study on parental discrimination of offspring in a colonial seabird, the little auk Alle alle |
title_full_unstemmed |
Mine or my neighbours’ offspring: an experimental study on parental discrimination of offspring in a colonial seabird, the little auk Alle alle |
title_sort |
mine or my neighbours’ offspring: an experimental study on parental discrimination of offspring in a colonial seabird, the little auk alle alle |
publisher |
Nature Portfolio |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-41925-5 https://doaj.org/article/eb62e38516fc418d8ba9e788435c2e5f |
genre |
Alle alle little auk |
genre_facet |
Alle alle little auk |
op_source |
Scientific Reports, Vol 13, Iss 1, Pp 1-11 (2023) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-41925-5 https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322 doi:10.1038/s41598-023-41925-5 2045-2322 https://doaj.org/article/eb62e38516fc418d8ba9e788435c2e5f |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-41925-5 |
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Scientific Reports |
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13 |
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1 |
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1779309687887364096 |