(Press-News.org) In choosing a mate both males and females rely on visual cues to determine which potential partner will supply the best genes, best nesting site, best territory, and best parenting skills. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Frontiers in Zoology shows that male blue tits' (Cyanistes caeruleus) parental behavior is determined by female ornamentation (ultraviolet coloration of the crown), as predicted by the differential allocation hypothesis (DAH).
DAH makes the assumption that aesthetic traits indicate quality and arises from the needs of a parent's current need to ensure current reproductive success and the reproductive success of their offspring. Ornamentation and its maintenance is a cost which reduces energy available for reproduction, but without the ornamentation an individual may not be able to secure a mate. Ornamentation also plays a role in competition between males and between females, as well as signaling potential reproductive success.
But reproductive success does not only depend on the best genes and the best nest, it also depends on parenting skills. Researchers from Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, supported by the "Sparkling-Science" Program, investigated the effect of female ornamentation on the chick-rearing behavior of their mates. Both males and female blue tits have feathers on the top of their heads which reflect UV light. After their chicks had hatched, female blue tits were captured and their crowns smeared with either duck preen gland oil containing UV-blocking chemicals or the oil alone.
Although the UV-blocking chemicals did not alter the behavior of the females, their mates made fewer hunting trips to feed their brood. However the males made the same effort to protect their nest and defend their chicks as males with oil-only treated females.
Dr Matteo Griggio, co-author of this study, commented, "This is the first study to show that male blue tit behavior depends on female ornamentation. Even though our experiment was minimally invasive to avoid partners not being able to recognize each other, the behavior of male blue tits in this study matched the DAH. DAH also predicts that less attractive females should increase their parental investment but we found no compensatory female behavior."
INFORMATION:
Media Contact
Dr Hilary Glover
Scientific Press Officer, BioMed Central
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3192 2370
Mob: +44 (0) 778 698 1967
Email: hilary.glover@biomedcentral.com
Notes to Editors
1. Female attractiveness affects paternal investment: experimental evidence for male differential allocation in blue tits
Katharina Mahr, Matteo Griggio, Michela Granatiero and Herbert Hoi
Frontiers in Zoology (in press)
Please name the journal in any story you write. If you are writing for the web, please link to the article. All articles are available free of charge, according to BioMed Central's open access policy.
Article citation and URL available on request on the day of publication.
2. Frontiers in Zoology is an open access, peer-reviewed online journal publishing high quality research articles and reviews on all aspects of animal life.
3. BioMed Central (http://www.biomedcentral.com/) is an STM (Science, Technology and Medicine) publisher which has pioneered the open access publishing model. All peer-reviewed research articles published by BioMed Central are made immediately and freely accessible online, and are licensed to allow redistribution and reuse. BioMed Central is part of Springer Science+Business Media, a leading global publisher in the STM sector.
Better looking birds have more help at home with their chicks
2012-06-25
[Attachments] See images for this press release:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Offenders need integrated, on-going, mental health care
2012-06-25
Offenders with mental health problems need improved and on-going access to health care, according to the first study to systematically examine healthcare received by offenders across the criminal justice system.
A new report from Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry, Plymouth University, and the Centre for Mental Health, suggests that prison and community sentences offer the best opportunities to provide this. If improvements to mental health are to contribute to breaking the cycle of repeat offending, unemployment and ill-health, advantage should be taken of ...
Learn that tune while fast asleep
2012-06-25
EVANSTON, Ill. – Want to nail that tune that you've practiced and practiced? Maybe you should take a nap with the same melody playing during your sleep, new provocative Northwestern University research suggests.
The research grows out of exciting existing evidence that suggests that memories can be reactivated during sleep and storage of them can be strengthened in the process.
In the Northwestern study, research participants learned how to play two artificially generated musical tunes with well-timed key presses. Then while the participants took a 90-minute nap, the ...
Type 2 diabetes cured by weight loss surgery returns in one-fifth of patients
2012-06-25
A new study shows that although gastric bypass surgery reverses Type 2 diabetes in a large percentage of obese patients, the disease recurs in about 21 percent of them within three to five years. The study results will be presented Saturday at The Endocrine Society's 94th Annual Meeting in Houston.
"The recurrence rate was mainly influenced by a longstanding history of Type 2 diabetes before the surgery," said the study's lead author, Yessica Ramos, MD, an internal medicine resident at Mayo Clinic Arizona in Scottsdale. "This suggests that early surgical intervention ...
Study identifies causes for high rates of allergic reactions in children with food allergies
2012-06-25
A team of researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine and four other institutions have found that young children with documented or likely allergies to milk and/or eggs, whose families were instructed on how to avoid these and other foods, still experienced allergic reactions at a rate of almost once per year. Of severe cases, less than a third received epinephrine, a medication used to counter anaphylaxis, a life-threatening allergic condition.
The findings are from an ongoing Consortium of Food Allergy Research (CoFAR) study that has been following more than 500 ...
Mount Sinai researcher finds timing of ADHD medication affect academic progress
2012-06-25
A team of researchers led by an epidemiologist at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and University of Iceland has found a correlation between the age at which children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) begin taking medication, and how well they perform on standardized tests, particularly in math.
The study, titled, "A Population-Based Study of Stimulant Drug Treatment of ADHD and Academic Progress in Children," appears in the July, 2012, edition of Pediatrics, and can be viewed online on June 25. Using data from the Icelandic Medicines Registry and the ...
Study identifies factors related to violence in veterans
2012-06-25
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – A national survey identifies which U.S. military veterans may be at most risk of aggression after deployment and what strategies could potentially help reduce likelihood of violence when service members return home.
The study examined protective factors that are important in preventing violence, including employment, meeting basic needs, living stability, social support, spiritual faith, ability to care for oneself, perceived self-determination, and resilience (ability to adapt to stress). Veterans with these factors in place were 92 percent less ...
Severe reactions to food more common than thought in young children
2012-06-25
VIDEO:
National Jewish Health registered nurse Emily Cole explains how to use an EpiPen, a potentially lifesaving medication for children and adults suffering a severe allergic reaction.
Click here for more information.
Young children with allergies to milk and egg experience an unexpectedly high number of reactions to these and other foods, according to researchers at National Jewish Health. More than 70 percent of preschool children with documented or suspected food allergies ...
Exercise, even mild physical activity, may reduce breast cancer risk
2012-06-25
A new analysis done by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers has found that physical activity – either mild or intense and before or after menopause – may reduce breast cancer risk, but substantial weight gain may negate these benefits.
Published early online in Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the findings indicate that women can reduce their breast cancer risk by exercising and maintaining their weight.
While studies have shown that physical activity reduces breast cancer risk, many questions remain. For example, how ...
Remapping gang turf: Math model shows crimes cluster on borders between rivals
2012-06-25
A mathematical model that has been used for more than 80 years to determine the hunting range of animals in the wild holds promise for mapping the territories of street gangs, a UCLA-led team of social scientists reports in a new study.
"The way gangs break up their neighborhoods into unique territories is a lot like the way lions or honey bees break up space," said lead author P. Jeffrey Brantingham, a professor of anthropology at UCLA.
Further, the research demonstrates that the most dangerous place to be in a neighborhood packed with gangs is not deep within ...
Second Annual REI Expo Great Success
2012-06-25
There is considerable buzz surrounding real estate investing across the country. There seems to be mysticism surrounding the industry to those who know little about it. Late night television programs promise massive wealth if you "call now" and order someone's DVD set. There are reality shows, magazines, radio shows, websites, blogs and any other form of media you can think up devoted to real estate investing. You want the inside scoop, but where do you get it? The answer is simple, from the people that do it all the time. Last weekend those people assembled in ...