Sex, melanic coloration, and sibling competition during the postfledging dependence period

Pablo Vergara and Juan A. Fargallo

Behavioral Ecology, 2008, vol. 19, issue 4, 847-853

Abstract: Success in sibling competition is one of the main factors determining individual body condition in the early stages of life and consequently offspring survival and fitness. In birds, most studies on this topic have been focused on the nesting period, but sibling competition still continues during the postfledging period. We studied sibling competition over 3 years during the postfledgling dependence period in the Eurasian kestrel Falco tinnunculus, a reversed sexually size dimorphic species. Contrary to that in the nesting stage, male fledglings showed a higher competitive capacity than females resulting from their greater success in capturing larger prey items delivered by parents. Furthermore, male fledglings showing grayer coloration in the rump captured greater number of larger prey than browner males. Our results suggest that patterns of sibling competition in nestlings can differ from those found during postfledging, revealing the importance of studying this period in order to achieve a more complete view of sibling competition. In addition, kestrel fledglings with grayer rumps were more likely to have larger prey items, suggesting that this character can be interpreted as a phenotypic indicator of quality. Copyright 2008, Oxford University Press.

Date: 2008
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/beheco/arn035 (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:beheco:v:19:y:2008:i:4:p:847-853

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://academic.oup.com/journals

Access Statistics for this article

Behavioral Ecology is currently edited by Louise Barrett

More articles in Behavioral Ecology from International Society for Behavioral Ecology Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().