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Social and ecological factors affecting paternity allocation in American robins with overlapping broods

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Abstract

Factors that affect extra-pair mating in birds are likely to vary across the breeding season. Changing densities of active nests may alter the opportunities for extra-pair mating, and parental duties may alter a male’s opportunity to guard his mate from extra-pair mating. The latter affects species with multiple broods, where males care for fledglings from first nests while females initiate second nests. We studied a population of multi-brooded American robins (Turdus migratorius) to assess how seasonal changes in nesting density and changes in mate-guarding opportunity influenced paternity patterns over successive breeding attempts. Extra-pair paternity (EPP) occurred in 71.9% of broods and accounted for 48.1% of young. High nesting densities in the study population may explain the high overall rate of EPP, but seasonal variation in breeding density did not explain patterns of EPP among nests. Contrary to the predictions of the mate-guarding hypothesis, EPP did not increase in the second nests that followed successful first nests, and the percentage of extra-pair young in second nests did not decline as the overlap between successive nests increased. The fact that EPP was actually lower when the interval between clutches was shorter suggests that the sooner the males can assume sole care of first broods and allow their mates to renest (indicative of superior paternal quality), the more paternity they realize in the next nest. These results suggest that mate-guarding opportunity does not influence paternity in this population of American robins and that female robins may allocate paternity based on their assessment of male parental performance at first nests.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Robin Buzinski, Zachary Cravens, Sarah Kocher, and Kyle Kopatz, for their help in the field, and Lyndon Brooks for statistical advice. We thank Lisle Gibbs for helping us identify suitable microsatellites and Ken Paige and Kim Hughes for allowing us use of their labs. Special thanks to the Shoemaker family for allowing us access to their land. This manuscript was improved significantly from the comments of two anonymous reviewers. Financial support for this research was provided by the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign, the American Ornithologists’ Union, the Animal Behavior Society, and the American Museum of Natural History. This research was conducted in accordance with the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign Animal Care and Use Permits no. 01074 and 04007.

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  1. Karen M. C. Rowe

    Present address: Centre for Animal Conservation Genetics, Graduate Research College, Southern Cross University, P. O. Box 157, Lismore, NSW 2480, Australia

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Program in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, 202 Shelford Vivarium, 606 E. Healey Street, Champaign, IL, 61820, USA

    Karen M. C. Rowe

  2. Program in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, 203 Shelford Vivarium, 606 E. Healey Street, Champaign, IL, 61820, USA

    Patrick J. Weatherhead

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  1. Karen M. C. Rowe
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Correspondence to Karen M. C. Rowe.

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Communicated by S. Pruett-Jones

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Rowe, K.M.C., Weatherhead, P.J. Social and ecological factors affecting paternity allocation in American robins with overlapping broods. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 61, 1283–1291 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-007-0359-5

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