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Data from: Condition-dependent begging elicits increased parental investment in a wild bird population

Cite this dataset

Bowers, Emerson Keith et al. (2018). Data from: Condition-dependent begging elicits increased parental investment in a wild bird population [Dataset]. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.53885k7

Abstract

The resolution of parent-offspring conflict has long been thought to involve offspring need driving begging and parental care, leaving other hypotheses underexplored. In a population of wild birds, we tested experimentally whether begging serves as a negatively condition-dependent signal of need or a positively condition-dependent signal of quality. Across multiple years, we food-supplemented nestling house wrens shortly after hatching, and simultaneously manipulated corticosterone levels to simulate the hunger-induced increase in glucocorticoids thought to mediate begging. This allowed us also to test whether begging is simply a proximate signal of hunger. Days after supplementation ended, food-supplemented nestlings were in better condition than non-supplemented nestlings and begged for food at an increased rate; their parents, in turn, increased provisioning to a greater extent than parents of non-supplemented young, as begging positively predicted provisioning. Food-supplemented nestlings, therefore, attained above-average condition, which predicted their recruitment as breeding adults in the local population. Glucocorticoids increased begging in the short-term, but this transient effect depended on nestling satiety. Thus, glucocorticoids promoted begging as a proximate response to hunger, whereas the longer-term changes in nestling condition, begging, and food provisioning suggest that begging ultimately signals offspring quality to elicit increased parental allocation, thereby enhancing offspring survival.

Usage notes

Funding

National Science Foundation, Award: IBN-0316580, IOS-0718140, IOS-1118160