Parental defense of offspring and life history of a long-lived raptor
Animals with parental care defend their offspring with an intensity reflecting parental investment. Parental investment theory predicts that parents should take risks relative to their residual reproductive value. Therefore, parental defense should change consistently with age reaching a peak at mid...
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fthighwire:oai:open-archive.highwire.org:beheco:25/6/1505 2023-05-15T13:00:42+02:00 Parental defense of offspring and life history of a long-lived raptor Møller, Anders Pape Nielsen, Jan Tøttrup 2014-11-01 00:00:00.0 text/html http://beheco.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/25/6/1505 https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/aru130 en eng Oxford University Press http://beheco.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/25/6/1505 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/beheco/aru130 Copyright (C) 2014, International Society for Behavioral Ecology Original Article TEXT 2014 fthighwire https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/aru130 2015-02-28T18:11:55Z Animals with parental care defend their offspring with an intensity reflecting parental investment. Parental investment theory predicts that parents should take risks relative to their residual reproductive value. Therefore, parental defense should change consistently with age reaching a peak at middle age, and it should vary consistently with age at start and end of reproduction. We recorded the intensity of parental defense of offspring in 410 female goshawks Accipiter gentilis throughout their lives, ranging from timid females that barely approached a human intruder at the nest to aggressive females that physically attacked the human. Females were consistent in their level of defense throughout life, and aggressive females were mated to aggressive males. Investment in reproduction as reflected by laying date, clutch size, and brood size showed a bell-shaped relationship with age. Females that started to breed at a young age were less aggressive than females that started late. Likewise, females that finished reproduction at a young age behaved less aggressively than females that finished at an old age. The intensity of defense of offspring peaked at an intermediate age followed by a decrease into old age and senescence. Females that started to breed early during the season were more aggressive than late breeders. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that the intensity of parental defense of their offspring reflects parental investment and patterns of aging. Text Accipiter gentilis HighWire Press (Stanford University) Behavioral Ecology 25 6 1505 1512 |
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HighWire Press (Stanford University) |
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Original Article |
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Original Article Møller, Anders Pape Nielsen, Jan Tøttrup Parental defense of offspring and life history of a long-lived raptor |
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Original Article |
description |
Animals with parental care defend their offspring with an intensity reflecting parental investment. Parental investment theory predicts that parents should take risks relative to their residual reproductive value. Therefore, parental defense should change consistently with age reaching a peak at middle age, and it should vary consistently with age at start and end of reproduction. We recorded the intensity of parental defense of offspring in 410 female goshawks Accipiter gentilis throughout their lives, ranging from timid females that barely approached a human intruder at the nest to aggressive females that physically attacked the human. Females were consistent in their level of defense throughout life, and aggressive females were mated to aggressive males. Investment in reproduction as reflected by laying date, clutch size, and brood size showed a bell-shaped relationship with age. Females that started to breed at a young age were less aggressive than females that started late. Likewise, females that finished reproduction at a young age behaved less aggressively than females that finished at an old age. The intensity of defense of offspring peaked at an intermediate age followed by a decrease into old age and senescence. Females that started to breed early during the season were more aggressive than late breeders. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that the intensity of parental defense of their offspring reflects parental investment and patterns of aging. |
format |
Text |
author |
Møller, Anders Pape Nielsen, Jan Tøttrup |
author_facet |
Møller, Anders Pape Nielsen, Jan Tøttrup |
author_sort |
Møller, Anders Pape |
title |
Parental defense of offspring and life history of a long-lived raptor |
title_short |
Parental defense of offspring and life history of a long-lived raptor |
title_full |
Parental defense of offspring and life history of a long-lived raptor |
title_fullStr |
Parental defense of offspring and life history of a long-lived raptor |
title_full_unstemmed |
Parental defense of offspring and life history of a long-lived raptor |
title_sort |
parental defense of offspring and life history of a long-lived raptor |
publisher |
Oxford University Press |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
http://beheco.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/25/6/1505 https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/aru130 |
genre |
Accipiter gentilis |
genre_facet |
Accipiter gentilis |
op_relation |
http://beheco.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/25/6/1505 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/beheco/aru130 |
op_rights |
Copyright (C) 2014, International Society for Behavioral Ecology |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/aru130 |
container_title |
Behavioral Ecology |
container_volume |
25 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
1505 |
op_container_end_page |
1512 |
_version_ |
1766257784580472832 |