Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Hatching asynchrony and offspring sex influence the subsequent exploratory behaviour of zebra finches
AU - Mainwaring, Mark C.
AU - Hartley, Ian R.
PY - 2013/1
Y1 - 2013/1
N2 - The ecological and evolutionary consequences of variation in behaviour between individuals are well studied, yet the causes of such variation remain poorly understood. Parents can generally exert a great deal of influence on the early life of their offspring, so one possibility is that the mode of parental investment determines subsequent offspring behaviours. In birds, hatching asynchrony occurs when females begin incubation prior to clutch completion, and the subsequent hatching regime creates phenotypic disparities between early and late-hatched offspring. By experimentally manipulating hatching patterns in zebra finches, Taeniopygia guttata, we examined the influence of hatching asynchrony on subsequent exploratory behaviour during adulthood. Late-hatched birds from asynchronous broods explored the novel environment more than their siblings which hatched earlier or came from synchronous broods, although there were no differences in exploratory behaviour towards a novel object. Additionally, females were bolder towards a novel object than were males, independently of hatching regime, but there were no sex differences in exploration of the novel environment. Our results support the idea that both hatching asynchrony and sex have previously underappreciated influences on offspring behaviours, and highlight the importance of variation in parental investment in generating and maintaining behavioural variation. (C) 2012 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
AB - The ecological and evolutionary consequences of variation in behaviour between individuals are well studied, yet the causes of such variation remain poorly understood. Parents can generally exert a great deal of influence on the early life of their offspring, so one possibility is that the mode of parental investment determines subsequent offspring behaviours. In birds, hatching asynchrony occurs when females begin incubation prior to clutch completion, and the subsequent hatching regime creates phenotypic disparities between early and late-hatched offspring. By experimentally manipulating hatching patterns in zebra finches, Taeniopygia guttata, we examined the influence of hatching asynchrony on subsequent exploratory behaviour during adulthood. Late-hatched birds from asynchronous broods explored the novel environment more than their siblings which hatched earlier or came from synchronous broods, although there were no differences in exploratory behaviour towards a novel object. Additionally, females were bolder towards a novel object than were males, independently of hatching regime, but there were no sex differences in exploration of the novel environment. Our results support the idea that both hatching asynchrony and sex have previously underappreciated influences on offspring behaviours, and highlight the importance of variation in parental investment in generating and maintaining behavioural variation. (C) 2012 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
KW - ANIMAL PERSONALITY
KW - CONSEQUENCES
KW - BOLDNESS
KW - zebra finch
KW - TAENIOPYGIA-GUTTATA
KW - RISK-TAKING BEHAVIOR
KW - exploration
KW - hatching asynchrony
KW - Taeniopygia guttata
KW - parental investment
KW - FITNESS
KW - PASSERINE BIRD
KW - GROWTH
KW - sex difference
KW - SOCIAL-CONTEXT
KW - EVOLUTION
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84872320432&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.anbehav.2012.10.009
DO - 10.1016/j.anbehav.2012.10.009
M3 - Journal article
VL - 85
SP - 77
EP - 81
JO - Animal Behaviour
JF - Animal Behaviour
SN - 0003-3472
IS - 1
ER -