Abstract
We here report the results of a dynamic programming model of the breeding season of a bird, patterned after the Black-capped Chickadee (Parus atricapillus) nesting near Ithaca, New York. Optimal breeding seasons fall largely before the peak in food distribution, and this shift appears to be because peak metabolic demands of the brood are coordinated with the peak in food density and because the risk of adult mortality selects for earlier breeding than would otherwise be favored. This latter effect, first proposed by Fisher, may explain the nearly universal observation that early breeding appears to be favored in birds from a wide range of habitats and phylogenies.
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Goutis, C., Winkler, D.W. Hungry chicks and mortal parents: A state-variable approach to the breeding seasons of birds. Bltn Mathcal Biology 54, 379–400 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02464839
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02464839